Hermods was founded in 1898 by Hans Svensson Hermod as the oldest Swedish school for distance learning in Malmö. In 1918, 250 courses in various languages were offered, which were attended by 20,000 students. Since 1958, the school has had the right to hold examinations and to this day offers the opportunity to take state-recognized final examinations for primary and secondary school as well as grammar school.

The magazine "Korrespondens", which was published until 1975, had a circulation of 300,000. A separate publishing house for textbooks and reference books was eventually taken over by the internationally active publishing house Liber.

Today, around 250 employees at twelve different locations organize international correspondence courses for tens of thousands of students.

On September 6, 1937, the director of Hermods, Gustav Carne, visited Wiesbaden as part of a study trip. During this traditional visit by Swedish academics, the guest signed the city's Golden Book at a reception in the town hall.