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.
As of 2017, EF had approximately 52,000 employees in 116 countries.[2]
History
Bertil Hult dropped out of college to launch EF in 1969. He had earlier dropped out of junior high and gone to work for a ship broker in London, where he learned English by immersion; he had been unable to learn it in school due to dyslexia. The company started selling a French language course to Swedish students seeking to study in France, but he thought English was a bigger market and started offering services throughout Europe. In 1972 a friend convinced him to open a school in Japan, just when English-language keyboards were introduced there, and the company experienced explosive growth. The company expanded to the US in 1983, first establishing headquarters in California and then in Boston in 1988.[3]
Hult never took outside investment and instead grew the company through revenue.[3] By 2014, EF had approximately 37,000 employees in 55 countries.[4] By that time, Hult had stopped running the company and had passed leadership to his sons.[3][5]
The company also offers an e-learning program for adults called "EF English Live," which was formerly known as "EF Englishtown."[9] EF English Live program has been certified for pedagogical quality by the Education Alliance Finland.[10] Through a division called EF Tours, the company offers educational tours, service learning tours,[11] and conferences.[12]
Controversy
In 2019, seven of its English teachers in Xuzhou allegedly tested positive for drugs. The case ignited discussions about EF's hiring practices, leading to its suspension from China Association for Non-Government Education.[13]
In 2020, a former teacher of EF was charged for exploiting a previous pupil in China. The defendant, an American national, threatened to post video footage of the student's sexually explicit conduct online unless she sends him more images and a video of herself engaged in similar acts. EF said that the alleged crime happened after the man returned to the US when his contract in China had already been terminated for violating the company's code of conduct. The company's spokesperson declined to explain the specifics of the violation. He has pled guilty in a Missouri court to sexual exploitation of a minor and to receiving and distributing child pornography.[14]
EF has been highly criticized for the maladministration of students taking its courses. On 17 February 2022 Claudio Mandia an Italian student participating in the program of the EF Academy in New York, took his own life after four days of punitive isolation in a White room, in which he had been placed waiting for his expulsion after being caught copying a math homework.[15] The school has always denied the circumstance that the young man was in a state of confinement, the room "was not locked" and "could have social interaction", was the reply of the Academy of Thornwood to the accusations of Claudio's family members.[16] However, according to the family and friends Claudio was told by school staff that he "did not have permission to leave the room and that the corridor had CCTV".
Following the story of Claudio Mandia, the Italian television show "Chi l'ha visto?" have brought to light many testimonies from students who participated in the EF Academy study trips. Among the testimonies, there are cases as students being hosted by drunk parents, and even one host parent that shot a neighbor.[17][18][19]
