About Us

History

Founded in 1953, International House is a global network of 150 affiliated language schools in more than 50 countries. All IH schools are independently owned and managed and are members of IH because they are committed to the very highest standards in language education face-to-face and online.

Schools in the network teach English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and a wide variety of other languages. Across our membership network, IH schools train about half of all CELTA graduates in the world. We have well over 200,000 students, and our member schools employ in excess of 5,800 teachers.

There is a section of the IH Journal dedicated to the history of International House. It was compiled by Brita Haycraft, co-founder of International House. John Haycraft was, of course, the original chronicler of IH stories, Babel in Spain (Hamish Hamilton 1958) and Babel in London (Hamish Hamilton 1965) and Adventures of a Language Traveller (Constable 1958).

We have included articles written by Brita herself, some of which have appeared in previous editions of the IH Journal, along with anecdotes and memories from those who were part of the first ground-breaking years of International House. The articles follow the journey of International House as chronicled by Brita and others from its beginning in Cordoba when the first school was opened in 1953.

Fifty Years of IH in Broad Brush Strokes
Cordoba: cradle of International House
IH in Covent Garden: then and now
IH in Shaftesbury Avenue – the formative years 1961 – 1966 with recollections from IH contemporaries from that time

IH World

International House World Organisation is the central membership office for the International House network. We manage the IH brand, work with schools who wish to affiliate to IH, develop our quality scheme and ensure these standards are met through regular inspections, and manage network communications, publicity, and news.

For affiliate schools, we arrange a number of annual conferences, offer recruitment services and list vacancies on our Jobs website, and organise events for Study Abroad schools.

We also develop and offer a suite of online teacher training courses for teachers who want to invest in their continued professional development or specialise in a particular area of interest.

International House World Organisation Ltd is a UK registered company: 04423501. Our address is Unity Wharf, 13 Mill Street, London, SE1 2BH.