ef education yacht and ef language . ef education first logo originally designed by paul rand type private industry education founded 1965 founder bertil hult headquarters switzerland number of employees 40 500 website www.ef.edu ef education first headquarters in lucerne switzerland ef education first abbreviated as ef is an international education company that specializes in language training educational travel academic degree programs and cultural exchange . the company was founded in 1965 by bertil hult in the swedish university town of lund . the company is privately held by the hult family and is headquartered in lucerne switzerland . ef has approximately 40 000 staff and 500 offices and schools located in more than 50 countries . 1 ef celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015 . 2 contents 1 history 2 leadership 3 company overview 3.1 divisions and business units 3.1.1 ef language and schools division 3.1.2 ef educational travel division 3.2 affiliated organizations 3.2.1 hult international business school 3.2.2 cultural exchange programs 3.2.3 hult prize 3.3 notable projects and partnerships 4 references 5 external links history edit bertil hult launched ef in 1965 from the basement of his university dormitory . 3 bertil s childhood struggles with dyslexia served as his inspiration for ef . 3 after dropping out of school due in part to his inability to learn english bertil took a job as an errand boy for a swedish bank . 3 his supervisors quickly recognized his work ethic and sent him to london on work exchange as a reward . 3 only a few months after relocating bertil could speak english . his time in the u.k. taught bertil that learning by doing could have an equal if not greater impact on educational outcomes as traditional classroom methods . 3 leadership edit philip hult and alex hult are the company s co chairmen overseeing ef s day to day operation as well as its language and academic businesses . 4 dr. edward hult is ceo north america overseeing ef s educational travel and cultural exchange divisions . 5 company overview edit divisions and business units edit ef education first is organized in two separate divisions ef language and schools and ef educational travel . 3 specific business units within these two main divisions include ef language and schools division edit ef international language centers ef local english language centers for adults ef local english language centers for kids and teens ef english live ef corporate language learning solutions ef learning labs ef educational travel division edit ef explore america ef educational tours ef college study tours ef college break ef go ahead tours ef education first worldwide affiliated organizations edit ef is also affiliated with an independent not for profit business school hult international business school and two independent exchange programs ef high school exchange year and cultural care au pair . hult international business school edit hult international business school graduate school hult international business school undergraduate school cultural exchange programs edit ef high school exchange year cultural care au pair hult prize edit notable projects and partnerships edit ef is the official supplier of language training services to the 2016 rio olympic games in brazil . ef served in the same capacity for the 2014 olympic games in sochi russia the 2008 olympic games in beijing china and the 1988 olympic games in seoul south korea . in the years leading up to the 2016 olympics ef will be working to provide english language training to an estimated 1 million brazilians including olympics volunteers and 550 000 school children across the country . ef learning labs publishes the annual ef english proficiency index the world s first and largest ranking of english skills by country . 6 the latest report was released in november 2013 . 7 the ef epi claims to show a link between a country s adult english proficiency and its competitiveness . 8 ef has developed a standardized english test which it compares in methodology and precision to the toefl or ielts exam . the ef standard english test is free for all test takers . 9 each year the united nations alliance on civilizations partners with ef to host the unaoc ef summer school which brings together 100 youth leaders from all over the world to work on youth engagement in decision making processes in their home countries . 10 hult prize is the world s largest student competition for social good . 11 each year president clinton challenges mba and undergraduate students from universities around the world to solve a pressing social challenge . 11 the student teams compete in a series of regional challenges before five finalists are selected to present their ideas at the clinton global initiative annual meeting . 11 ef s founding family awards 1 million usd in seed funding to support the winning team as they launch their idea . 11 hult international business school is the prize s lead sponsor . references edit mass . team will help brazil learn english for 2016 olympics . the boston globe . april 9 2014 . ef hello 50 homepage . ef education first . a b c d e f education first aims to bridge barriers with exchange . the boston globe . february 3 2014 . bring in people who are better than you . the new york times . december 9 2013 . bbj names 2013 s 40 under 40 honorees . boston business journal . september 9 2013 . english where she is spoke . the economist . october 24 2012 . english proficiency falters among the french . the new york times . november 10 2013 . countries with better english have better economies . harvard business review . november 15 2013 . take a new test aimed at the world s english language learners . npr . october 1 2014 . five tips for twentysomethings who want to make a difference . huffington post . september 11 2013 . a b c d hult prize accelerator preps competitors for 1m . the boston globe . august 15 2013 . external links edit ef education first worldwide ef education first united states ef education first united kingdom ef educational tours cultural care au pair ef english first go ahead tours retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ef education first & oldid 734601210 categories ef education first navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages e tinadanskdeutschespa olfran ais bahasa indonesiamagyar norsk bokm lpolskiportugu s suomisvenska t rk eti ng vi t edit links this page was last 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