SEGi: Slowdown will not hamper student intake

SEGi: Slowdown will not hamper student intake
By Zuraimi Abdullah
Published: 2008/12/03
BT

SEG International Bhd (SEGi) (9792) is confident that student intake at its campuses will not be hampered by the slowing economy.Main-board listed SEGi now has over 18,000 students at its six campuses and has projected the number to hit 20,000 in 2009.Its president Datuk Dr Patrick Teoh said the company has also not dropped plans to build a hospital. "It is still something in our wish list. But there are a lot of things to be done."

SEGi chief operating officer K.C. Lee said it is in the process of developing the curriculum for its medical and healthcare courses."This work alone should easily take one to two years," he said.Lee said education is typically the last sector to be affected by an economic downturn."Education is different from many other sectors. During the economic slowdown, people will cut spending on many things but not education," he said.

Teoh and Lee spoke after the signing of a lease agreement with Tirai Prospektif Sdn Bhd in Kota Damansara yesterday.SEGi is leasing two of the three Cova Villa apartment blocks from Tirai Prospektif for three years initially.The apartments will house some 2,100 students from SEGi's flagship campus, SEGi University College, in Kota Damansara.The campus began operation in June last year with a capacity for 12,000 students. It should have 4,300 students by the end of 2008 before rising to 7,000 next year, Lee said.

Meanwhile, Tirai Pros-pektif director Othman Merah said the whole Cova project should rake in a gross development value of RM340 million. Besides Cova Villa, the project also includes a Cova Square commercial centre and Cova Suites condominiums.Cova Square has been completed, while Cova Villa and Cova Suites are due in January and by September next year respectively.The Cova development is owned by the Andaman group, while Tirai Prospektif is its sales and marketing agent.