Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom The British Poet Laureate is an honorary position appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Prime Minister. The role does not entail any specific duties, but there is an expectation that the holder will write verse for significant national occasions. The origins of the laureateship date back to 1616 when a pension was provided to Ben Jonson, but the first official holder of the position was John Dryden, appointed in 1668 by Charles II. On the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who held the post between November 1850
Laureate International Universities units, as well as the Sylvan name and trademark, to a new company, Educate, Inc., formed by Apollo Management. In 2004, Sylvan changed its name to Laureate Education, Inc, to reflect the change in focus. In 2007, the company was acquired by an investor group led by Douglas Becker and Citigroup Private Equity. Between 2007 and 2015, Laureate made 41 acquisitions with a total purchase price of about $2.0 billion. According to Laureate, a key to the company's growth was its expansion into Brazil, where Laureate owned 13 institutions with a total enrollment of about 281,000 students. By 2010, the