ICS - A History
International Correspondence Schools has been around for some time, 120 years in fact. Since being established in 1890 ICS has gone through various incarnations and currently has its head office in Glasgow, Scotland.
From our early beginnings in the US at the end of the 19th Century, we moved to the UK, and were based in London. Early images and photos capture the fascinating detail into how businesses such as ICS were run during these times. This photograph (below left) provides an insight into how the textbook department looked towards the beginning of the 20th Century.
Notice how this department is mostly comprised of male workers, yet in other departments, such as the enrolment (below right) department, female workers were more common. Of course, today ICS is glad to commit itself to equal weighting of female and male workers in every department!
The structure of ICS has changed over time. From this period when ICS had separate divisions for textbooks, mailings, student aid, enrolments, and illustrating, ICS now has teams of people who work on producing our courses, a team who supply the courses and help students with their program of study. We also have teams who provide support to students and prospective candidates as well as the usual departments of finance, marketing, IT, and design.
Amazingly we also have examples of how our course materials looked in the first decade of the 20th Century. Here is an example of a range of materials from a previous Steam Engine course we provided back in 1906. Modules include Steam Engine Design and Simple and Compound Steam Engines.
1930s-1950s
Over the years ICS has ran a range of marketing campaigns and adverts centred on encouraging students, who want to increase their earning potential, to study with ICS. Through research we've found that this is the number one priority among our students and the main reason why they wish to further their education.
The advert on the left was used in Modern Mechanix Magazine, November 1935 and the one below was inserted in Popular Science Magazine, March 1950. Although the main reasons why individuals choose to
further their education might not have changed dramatically, audience reaction to advertising campaigns is increasingly complex and students now require a much more interactive approach to their studies.
At ICS, we are committed to using modern methods to deliver our courses and try to align our methods with students' expectations. Through further development we aim to be able to assist our students in their career progression and support them throughout their involvement with ICS.
Below is an example of an ICS certificate from 1958.
1960s-1990s
As the century carried on, ICS started to expand and advertised overseas. The International status of ICS enabled it to grow in markets abroad, including places as distant as Mexico. From a Mexican magazine placement, 1960, we have managed to find this example.
Another example of ICS advertising during this period was Pete Duncan “Drop-out” (right). This was a piece from 1968 that focussed on the problems individuals may face after leaving school with little or no qualifications. 
However, the story ends happily when Pete completes his ICS course and gains a new job, with a higher starting salary than his previous jobs where he had faced redundancy. The hard-hitting style of the advert is somewhat different to the aspirational style ICS adopts today.
As the Century progressed to its close, ICS enrolled its 10 millionth student worldwide in 1993 and has now grown to become a multinational organisation.
2000s-Today
Today ICS has five divisions – Programme Management, Product Development, Student Mentoring and Support, Sales and Marketing, and Admin and Business Services. We have grown to have over 120 employees, plus approximately 180 freelance academic staff, and provide over 150 courses.
ICS courses are accredited by a wide range of Professional Institutions and Examination Boards and ICS is partnered with three Universities based in England and Scotland. ICS continues to build on its success over the last 120 years and hopes to reiterate itself as an Education business, providing first class courses to students with market leading support packages.
We believed that every person with a spark of ambition in their soul, dreams of someday reaching a goal that lies beyond and above their present circumstances.
G. Lynn Summer
Creator of ICS advertising in 1923
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