Discussion of multilingual education looks at three European models, each designed for a different population, and compares them with the Canadian immersion model. The models are: (1) trilingual education applied to the entire school population of Luxembourg; (2) multilingual education in the nine-institution, five-city European School network, intended for children of European civil servants; and (3) the Foyer Project in Brussels (Belgium) to enable immigrant populations to benefit from mainstream education in a bilingual city. In each European model, at least three languages are involved. It is concluded that all four models show how different program designs can produce high levels of language proficiency, that such proficiency is tempered by contextual more than program variables, and that the former play a considerable role in determining achievement. Common variables seen as contributing to success include: focus on relevant language input and output; teachers highly proficient in the target language; strong encouragement of parental involvement in and understanding of the specificity of bilingual education; and early emphasis on first-language literacy. A major difference between the Canadian and European models is that in the latter, the target language is taught as a subject prior to its introduction as a medium of instruction, then in parallel. (MSE)