Our history

The Institute's history is the story of an idea ahead of its time: that women's education would change Spain.

Timeline

• 1892 — Alice Gordon Gulick founds the International Institute for Girls in Spain in Boston.
• 1903 — The Institute moves to Madrid and becomes a pioneer of women's higher education in Spain.
• 1910 — The building at Calle Miguel Ángel 8 opens, designed by architect Joaquín Saldaña, today a listed landmark.
• 1910–1936 — Collaboration with the Institución Libre de Enseñanza and María de Maeztu's Residencia de Señoritas. María Goyri, Zenobia Camprubí and Victoria Kent all passed through its classrooms.
• 1980s — The Institute becomes Madrid's reference for English and American culture and home to U.S. university programs.
• Today — A space for education, culture, art and technology open to the city, with the ALMA library at its heart.