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Since 1965, EF Education First has sent millions of people around the world to have life-changing experiences. Our gap year program is the culmination of 50 years of expertise in educational travel, language learning, and cultural exchange—our “greatest hits,” if you will. Here are some other ways EF Gap Year is unique.
EF’s global reach spans more than 100 countries in 6 continents. We understand the world because we live and work in more than half of it.
55
Years of operation
114
Countries and regions
654
Offices and schools
52,000
Staff, faculty, and teachers
Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging
EF Gap Year is committed to prioritizing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in our Gap programs through the following initiatives, policies, and outreach. Our aim is to (re)imagine, actualize, and continually audit our programs, services, language, and marketing to strengthen inclusivity in everything we do.
We commit to fostering a co-learning community of diversity for our program participants, educators, and team members. We commit to creating and maintaining safe interactions, experiences, and spaces for both participants and program leaders.
Our EF Gap Year programs are designed to prepare students for life. An important part of this
mission is providing students with opportunities to look critically at their own identities, issues of justice and equity across the globe, and how they can contribute to making
the world a better and more inclusive place. Our goal is to continuously expand the perspectives of our programming, curricula, and educational partnerships.
We encourage all qualified students to apply for an EF Gap Year or Semester program.
Whoever you are, whatever you are passionate about—we welcome you and want you to
bring that to our program. We are committed to inclusion and belonging across
race, ethnicity, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, age, religion, ability,
parental status, veteran status, experience and everything else that makes you unique. We
continually seek to build and maintain a vibrant community of program participants that
reflects the rich diversity of our world.
We recognize the importance of representation in making programs accessible, and we work to provide visual and written content on our website, social media platforms, and other outreach that portrays a diverse range of student backgrounds and experiences.
We are continuously striving to improve financial access to our programs for students from a diversity of socio-economic backgrounds. Today, we offer a range of merit-based scholarships, including a Diversity and Equity Scholarship. We also provide one-on-one support for families on how to make our programs work for a variety of financial situations.
We strive to recruit and retain EF team members that reflect the rich diversity of our world. We provide internal training and development opportunities to recognize and prevent bias and fight systemic inequality. We also endeavor to create and share educational tools, resources, and platforms to combat systemic racism and discrimination.
EF in the world
EF is committed to making a positive contribution to the global community—through key partnerships, support for good causes and cutting-edge research into improving the way people learn.
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6X Accredited
EF Gap Year is accredited throughout the US by six of the country’s most respected organizations. We are proud to meet their rigorous standards for educational excellence and follow their continuous processes for improvement and growth.