STS’ history
It all began in 1958 with one man’s prophetic vision of where the world was headed and what was necessary to improve the future for the next generations. A future in which good communication, an understanding of diversity, and a sense of connection to all of humanity was crucial for peace, prosperity and progress. Lars Magnusson made it his life’s mission to prepare young students for the future. He came up with a revolutionary idea, something no company had ever done before on a large scale. He decided to organize a trip for young students to explore the world without their parents, to grow as people, learn a language – and become citizens of the world.
We’ve been changing lives since 1958
STS stands for Student Travel Schools and since the beginning in 1958, over a million young adventurers have had the chance to see new places, explore new cultures, and learn new languages with us. In that time, they have made new friends all over the world, tackled personal challenges, recovered from sunburns, shared tears of joy, and survived emotional farewells. But above all: they have done so while learning about new cultures and getting a feel for a global society. So how did we end up here?
The first language trip took a small group of Swedish youth to Mattsee, Austria. Together, they enjoyed a few summertime weeks and practiced their German. The trip was a success and the next year, over 600 students traveled to England. Soon, over 2,000 students were going on language trips with STS every year. The rapid growth allowed us to expand our selection to new areas over the years.
We are now active in 12 countries and send thousands of young students to 20 countries around the world every year on high school exchanges, building bridges between people. We need a future in which good communication, an understanding of diversity, and a sense of connection to all of humanity are crucial for peace, prosperity, and progress.
STS Education is now owned by Educatius, but was formerly a family business. Today, we are focusing on our core program: high school exchanges. We believe that this is the program that can offer the most advantages to young people today. We believe that experience-based learning is the best way to grow, mature, be challenged, and improve self-confidence.