[2] Bertil Hult dropped out of college to launch EF's initial product: English immersion trips to the UK for Swedish students.

It differentiated itself from competitors by marketing its international footprint and hiring native English-speaking teachers from abroad.

[26] The same year, EF reconstructed the Jalapa Devi HSS School in Sindhupalchowk following an earthquake in Nepal.

[35] The COVID-19 pandemic presented significant challenges to EF's travel-oriented businesses;[36] however, it also led to growth in the company's online programmes.

[37] In 2022, the company opened a new campus in Pasadena, California to support enrollment growth in its private boarding school product, EF Academy.

[38] The following year, EF served as the Official Language Training Services Supplier for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

The case ignited discussions about EF's hiring practices, leading to its suspension from the China Association for Non-Government Education.

EF said 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.

He has pled guilty in a Missouri court to sexual exploitation of a minor and to receiving and distributing child pornography.

[44] On 17 February 2022 Claudio Mandia, an Italian student participating in the IB Diploma programme of the EF Academy in New York, took his life following his expulsion after being caught cheating repetitively.

[45] 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 New York Thornwood to the accusations of Claudio's family members.