CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. November 11, 2015 — WorldStrides, the largest and most trusted educational travel company in the United States, has acquired International Studies Abroad (ISA) of Austin, Texas. ISA is the market leader in undergraduate study abroad, as well as a leader in providing service-learning and internships for university students, custom academic programs for universities, and gap year and service-learning programs for high school students.
Founded in 1987 and managed by a team of over 300 professionals, ISA annually coordinates study abroad programs for students from more than 700 U.S. universities. Programs operate at more than 100 international host universities in 30 countries throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Australia/New Zealand. Additionally, internships, service-learning programs and gap year opportunities are available through ISA in more than 10 countries. ISA distinguishes itself through its innovative study abroad programs and the personalized attention offered to each of the nearly 10,000 students who travel annually on their programs.
“We are extremely excited that ISA has joined the WorldStrides family,” said Jim Hall, President and CEO of WorldStrides. “ISA represents a transformational acquisition for WorldStrides which takes us into a new market segment and reinforces our position as a global leader in experiential education.” He added, “With more than 1,000 global employees in 40 offices on six continents, WorldStrides continues to chart new territory in offering educational opportunities outside of the classroom.”
Gustavo Artaza, founder of ISA added, “We could not be more excited about joining the WorldStrides team. Our university partners will benefit from the incredible resources that WorldStrides brings to ISA, and we are now ideally positioned to continue improving and expanding on the educational experiences we offer students.”
About WorldStrides
WorldStrides, headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, is the largest educational travel company in the United States. The company was founded in 1967 to provide middle school travel programs to Washington, D.C., and has grown to provide global educational programs for 350,000 students annually at more than 5,000 K12 schools and universities. WorldStrides is owned by management and institutional investors including The Carlyle Group. For more information on WorldStrides, visit www.worldstrides.com.
About The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group is a global alternative asset manager with more than $188 billion of assets under management across 126 funds. Founded in 1987 in Washington, D.C., Carlyle has grown into one of the world’s largest and most successful investment firms, with more than 1700 professionals operating out of 35 offices in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.
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