EF Education First

International education company EF Education FirstLogo originally designed by Paul RandTypePrivateIndustryEducationFounded1965FounderBertil HultHeadquartersZurich, SwitzerlandKey peoplePhilip Hult, ChairmanEddie Hult, CEONumber of employees52,000Websitewww.ef.com EF Education First (abbreviated as EF) is an international education company that specialises in language training, educational travels, academic degree programmes, and cultural exchanges. It 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. History 1965–1979 Bertil Hult dropped out of college to launch EF's initial product, English immersion trips to the UK for Swedish students. He had struggled to learn English in school, but while interning for a shipbroker in London he found that he picked English up more easily. He came to think that "learning by doing" could be as effective as traditional methods. In the 1970s, EF opened language schools in Western Europe and Asia. It opened its first school in Japan in 1972, around the same time that English keyboards were introduced there.