Tanco-led STI Education Systems Holdings Inc., which operates one of the country’s largest networks of schools, on Tuesday said its overall enrollment for school year (SY) 2021-2022 went up by 18 percent to 82,629 students from the previous 70,223.
The company said it saw a 40-percent surge in tertiary enrollment to 56,342 students from 40,176 in the previous school year.
Meanwhile, Bacolod City-based STI West Negros University (WNU) had the largest enrollment increase among the group’s member schools, registering a 36-percent jump to 7,580 this school year from the previous 5,584 students.
The increase in enrollment was still achieved even as classes are still being fully conducted online at the start of the current school year.
Online classes are being conducted under its learning model for the STI Education Services Group, WNU and iAcademy.
“The significant growth in enrollment can be attributed to the group’s consistent enrollment strategies, aggressive recruitment, and innovative online learning delivery and world-class curriculum that are responsive to the trends and challenges in the country’s educational landscape,” STI Holdings President and CEO Monico V. Jacob said.
“The Covid-19 pandemic remains in our midst, but the significant leap in our enrollment figures serves as a ray of hope for us. Clearly, people want to regain a semblance of normalcy while we are still practicing health and safety protocols for our students, faculty, staff and other members of the STI Holdings community—whether online or offline.”
Classes for tertiary and senior high school students of STI and WNU began on September 13, while WNU’s School of Graduate Studies started on October 2. iAcademy’s senior high school and tertiary classes began on August 4 and 31, respectively.
With the increase in enrollment, the group improved its financial performance year-on-year. It saw a lower net loss of P116.7 million from July 1 to September 30 this year from last year’s P203 million.
Gross revenues went up by 27 percent to P375.3 million from the previous P296.6 million.
The period of July 1 to September 30 serves as the first quarter of STI Holdings’ fiscal year.