{{Short description|UK for-profit online college}} {{Infobox company | name = ICS Learn | logo = | founded = USA 1889 | hq_location_city = Glasgow, Scotland | industry = Education | products = Online Learning Courses | website = [https://www.icslearn.co.uk/ ICS Learn (United Kingdom)] | logo_size = 251px }}
'''ICS Learn''', also known as '''International Correspondence Schools Ltd''', is a provider of online learning courses in the UK.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/13573508.ICS_Learn_keeping_an_eye_open_for_deals/|title=ICS Learn keeping an eye open for deals|website=Herald Scotland|access-date=2016-10-14}}</ref> It was founded in 1889 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|title="Education for Success": The International Correspondence Schools of Scranton, Pennsylvania|url=https://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/article/viewFile/45108/44829|journal=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography|volume=CXX| issue = 4 (October 1996)}}</ref> The UK branch was set up in 1904, and it now serves around 25,000 current students. Its students are based in more than 100 countries, predominantly in the UK but also across the Middle East, Asia, and Ireland.<ref name=":0" />
It has a large share of the market in CIPD Human Resources and Learning & Development courses and online GCSEs and A Levels.<ref name=":0" /> It also provides professional qualifications and apprenticeships in accountancy, IT, marketing, procurement, leadership, project management, corporate governance, and finance.<ref name=":0" />
==Accreditation== ICS Learn courses are accredited by a number of awarding bodies, including: *Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) *AQA *British Computer Society (BCS) *Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) *Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) *Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS) *Chartered Management Institute (CMI) *Edexcel *Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) *PeopleCert (PRINCE2) *The Corporate Governance Institute (CGI) *The London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF)
==History== {{Further|Distance education}} [[File:Glimpses of the largest educational institution in the world, the International Correpondence Schools, Scranton, Pa (1904) (14770533544).jpg|thumb|The building of the International Correspondence Schools erected at the St. Louis Worlds Fair.]]
ICS Learn was founded in 1889 in Scranton, Pennsylvania by journalist and editor of the ''Mining Herald*,'' Thomas J. Foster.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/150-people-who-made-scranton-great-thomas-j-foster-1.2032299|title=150 People Who Made Scranton Great - Thomas J. Foster|last=SINGLETON|first=DAVID|access-date=2016-10-14}}</ref> Alarmed by frequent mine accidents, Foster advocated better working conditions and stricter safety regulations, which led to Pennsylvania's adoption of the Mine Safety Act of 1885 and the requirement for miners to pass a safety exam.<ref name=":2" /> In order to help workers pass the new test, Foster began an advice column in the ''Mining Herald'' answering mine safety questions.<ref name=":2" />
Unsatisfied with this solution, in 1889 he founded the Colliery Engineer School of Mines, the first distance learning institution in the United States.<ref name=":2" /> The organisation changed names several times, settling on International Correspondence Schools of Scranton by 1900.<ref name=":2" />
The mission of the school was to, "provide practical men with a technical education, and technical men with a practical education."<ref name=":1" /> To achieve its goal, ICS did not instruct its students by standard textbooks, which it believed often contained extraneous amounts of material and "demand[ed] too great a knowledge of mathematics and other subjects." Instead, ICS created its own specially prepared "Instruction and Question Papers," which provided exactly the information the student needed and questioned them only on that material.<ref name=":1" />
Thomas Coates of Peckville, Pennsylvania, was the first enrolled student of ICS. He enrolled in the complete coal mining course on October 16, 1891. He advanced steadily with the Delaware and Hudson Coal Company in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, and eventually became the mine's superintendent.<ref>Scranton Times Newspaper May 2, 1902</ref>
It enrolled 3,000 new students in 1894 and, with the creation of a sales force, matriculated approximately 100,000 new students annually in the early 1900s.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties: From Self-Improvement to Adult Education in America|last=Kett|first=Joseph F.|year=1996|pages=236–8}}</ref> By 1900, one in 27 Americans had taken a correspondence course with ICS.<ref name=":2" /> The ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' states that it is "by far the largest single educational institution in America’s history".<ref name=":1" />
Foster remained the president of ICS until his death in 1936 at age 93.<ref name=":2" />
The organisation expanded to the UK in 1904 which is now known as ICS Learn. The US branch is known as Penn Foster Career School and is not connected to ICS Learn.
· *This publication was also named ''The Colliery Engineer'' and ''Colliery Engineer and Metal Miner''.<ref name=":1" />
==See also== * {{annotated link|Penn Foster}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commonscatinline}} *{{Official|https://www.icslearn.co.uk }}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Distance education institutions based in the United States Category:Educational organizations established in 1890 Category:1890 establishments in Scotland