A holistic partner for study abroad

Your partner for international education

EF Education First's mission is to Open the World Through Education. Within our higher-education division, we believe the way to do that is through academic and programming innovation, and dismantling barriers to access. We are the study abroad partner for institutions that are passionate about designing study abroad programs grounded in academic and operational excellence with the support of a strategic, experienced, and supportive ally.

On this page: Benefits of working with EF | Our programs | How we work together | Access | More about EF

The benefits of working with EF

Learn more

  • Academic excellence

    Rigorous academic experiences and resources built upon EF's Global Learning Model

  • Crisis management

    Almost 60 years of experience seeing and planning for every incident imaginable

  • Flexible policies

    Tailored communication and payment systems to meet the needs of your school

  • Sourcing access

    Worldwide scale and partnerships to bring your students the best of what the world has to offer

  • Strategic planning

    Internationalization road mapping aligned with your institutional objectives

  • Development for faculty

    Holistic faculty preparation via trainings, orientations, and networking opportunities

  • Team support & stability

    Strategic thinkers and problem solvers who become an extension of your campus teams

Customized future-ready global learning opportunities

  • Course Abroad programs

    Designed to maximize break periods through a full, credit-bearing course abroad

  • Embedded Immersion programs

    Designed to integrate a study abroad component into a home-campus course​

  • Global Enrichment programs

    Designed to offer students across campus an interdisciplinary experience

  • First Year programs

    Coming soon! Designed to offer a solution for first year deferred students, or offset campus capacity challenges

đź‘“ Don't see what you're looking for? We can build it for you.

How we work with you

Our approach to strategic alignment with higher-ed institutions centers around deeply understanding your needs and goals, and building a uniquely customized roadmap solution that's methodical, easy to implement, and provides value.

Our process includes:
  1. Understanding your institutional objectives across recruitment and admissions, student mobility and engagement, and completion
  2. Strategizing ideas and delivering you a proposal to meet your goals
  3. Creating policies that align with your own institution's
  4. Identifying faculty leaders to bring programs to life and supporting your staff with professional development, training, and with the recruiting students
  5. Operating as a right-hand partner throughout the whole process while managing in-country operations, logistics and incident response on your behalf
Download our Partnership Guide

Access

We understand how important it is for students—across identities and across the broad socioeconomic spectrum—to have access to study abroad. That is why one of our core organizational goals is to provide financial and support resources that dismantle barriers to study abroad. Check out just a few ways we aim to deliver on this.

Explore more unique EF offerings

  • Future Nobel Laureate Scholarship Program

    A first-of-its kind global scholarship for students which includes a project-based course and international field study in Sweden to attend the Nobel Week Dialogues. Created in partnership with The Forum on Education Abroad and EF's education partner, the Nobel Prize Museum.

    See the scholarship

  • Hult Prize

    As an affiliated organization of EF, the Hult Prize challenges young people around the world to solve the planet's most pressing issues through social entrepreneurship. Every year, one team receives $1 million in funding to make their ideas a reality.

    Check out the prize

  • Research & innovation

    As the world leader in international education, EF is pioneering new ways to improve how people learn now and in the future—leveraging technology, research, and design.

    See our research

  • Impact

    At EF, we seek to be a force for good—in people's lives, in the community, and on the planet at large. As such, we have developed several different impact initiatives, including partnerships with World Animal Protection and the Olympics, and by establishing sustainability and responsible travel commitments.

    Explore our impact

Build your future-ready study abroad program with EF

Schedule an exploratory call with our Academic Affairs and University Partnerships Team