Over the course of Esperanto’s existence, a number of university faculty have successfully introduced courses on Esperanto, Esperanto studies and interlinguistics within their institutions. The most durable such tradition can be found at the University of Liverpool, thanks to John Buchanan, who established a fund in 1931 for the teaching of Esperanto and interlinguistics. This fund continues to support lectures, workshops and scholarships for doctoral candidates.

In the Netherlands, Esperanto has been taught at the University of Amsterdam since 1948. In 1997, at the initiative of Hans Erasmus, a Special Chair in Interlinguistics and Esperanto was established. Originally held by Marc van Oostendorp, in 2002 the Special Chair was taken up by Wim Jansen, who held it for 11 years. In 2013 Federico Gobbo was appointed as Jansen’s successor and remains in that role to this day. The Chair holder teaches two courses a year, on Esperanto and interlinguistics, and carries out research in the field of interlinguistics with particular attention to theoretical and practical aspects of planned languages.

In Hungary, in Budapest to be exact, István Szerdahelyi founded an extensive Esperanto studies department at ELTE University in 1966, offering a master’s-level degree. He trained several current leaders in the university-level teaching of Esperanto, among them Ilona Koutny, who, after relocating to Poland, founded the postgraduate programme in Interlinguistic Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University (UAM), in Poznań. The first cohort in Interlinguistic Studies began in 1998 and has been followed by a new cohort every third year up to the present day. On the basis of three years of study, this programme produces researchers and instructors with a solid and broad theoretical foundation and useful practical knowledge. It is also possible to obtain a PhD on themes related to interlinguistics and Esperanto at the UAM.

In Germany, from 1988 to 2007, Detlev Blanke lectured on interlinguistics at Humboldt University in Berlin. Subsequently, up until 2023, Sabine Fiedler offered courses on interlinguistics at the University of Leipzig. Both scholars played leading roles in the Gesellschaft für Interlinguistik, the most active national organization in that field in the world.

In China in 2018, a Department of Esperanto was established at Zaozhuang University; it awards a bachelor’s degree to students who complete a four-year programme of study. Although other universities in China, South Korea and Japan host courses in Esperanto and sometimes in interlinguistics, there is no up-to-date overview of those activities.

In several universities around the world, Esperanto and/or interlinguistics are taught on occasion (see a more complete list here). The International League of Esperanto Teachers is also active in this field, in addition to its primary focus on the teaching of Esperanto in schools. CED’s challenge is to encourage more of such initiatives.