Into student exchange
into is a student exchange organisation, based in Cologne, Germany, with many independent offices in other European countries, such as Denmark the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and more recently opened offices in Norway , Sweden, Finland, and Spain.
into is one of the larger exchange organizations in Europe with annually approximately 700 students from Germany and 1100 students from all of Europe of which 60% go to the USA.
History
into was formed in 1976 in Great Britain under the name of DLS. This organization originally brought teenage students from Italy to the South of England on short term holiday language courses.
In 1986, the head office was moved to Germany and the name DLS was changed to Douglas Schüleraustausch (student exchanges) in Germany. Along with a new name came a new focus of the company which was to send students from the now headquarter country of Germany to the United States of America on academic year programmes. This being a successful concept, Douglas Schüleraustausch decided to focus even stronger on this activity. Despite it had been given the seal of ‘TEST GUT’ from the main German consumer magazine, the company decreased their activities in the language vacation field.
In 1991, a small organization called INter Study TOurs specializing in class/group trips wanted to close down. Douglas took over INTO and became into-Douglas. The name into was favoured for being easier to pronounce in multiple languages, stressing the international concept of the company. The Douglas logo design was equally replaced in favour of the into logo. From 1992 onwards, into-Douglas became into student exchanges.
In the same year, into founded into Holland and into Denmark. In Denmark, the concept of a Returnee Network was picked up, whereby students returning from abroad after their academic exchange, remain active and involved in exchanges.
In 1993, into started to widen their exchange programme destinations to Canada and Australia as alternatives to the USA. In the same year into Canada was founded, to be followed by into Switzerland and into Austria.
In 1995 into began to offer inbound academic year programmes. This meant that now students from other countries could go on an academic year program in countries with into offices. The first students to arrive on these programs were from Australia, Brazil and Finland, as well as students from into countries to into countries. In this year all into offices followed the example of into Denmark and began to develop a Returnee program whereby the students can still meet each other, stay in contact with each other and retain some involvement with exchange programmes and, naturally, have fun.
In 2003, into opened offices in Prague and Budapest. In 2009, offices in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Spain were established.