KinderWorld Education Group has been offering high-quality international education in Asia since 1986 under its two education brands: Singapore International School (SIS) and KinderWorld International Kindergarten (KIK). Its unique integration of international curricula enhances the learning experience of students and provides them with the essential skills required for a technology-driven and globalised world.
KinderWorld began its first investment in Vietnam in 2000 with the establishment of two preschool centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The group has since expanded to 15 campuses in Vietnam’s major cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Binh Duong and Vung Tau, offering both international and integrated education programmes for students from Preschool to University Foundation.
The reason the KinderWorld investors decided to extend operations into the Vietnam market is that they have foreseen extremely strong potential for development in Vietnam, especially in education. As a rapidly progressing country, many Vietnamese are able to find high income jobs. Together with strong economic development, society pays now much more attention to education. Parents want to find good schools to nurture their children and they have entrusted the KinderWorld Group with the task. KinderWorld believes in offering a combination of Eastern values with an International outlook on education.
Besides building many schools in cities in Vietnam, KinderWorld’s biggest achievement is being known as one of the leading service providers in the area of international education in Vietnam. The group is also working closely with Education Departments in Australia, Singapore and Vietnam to ensure that its school system meets international standards. This is reflected in its proven and successful study pathway to international universities around the world. It includes international quality assurance and accreditation benchmark standards, namely the International Primary School Leaving Examination (iPSLE), the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), and, finally, the Global Assessment Certificate or the Cambridge International AS and A Level Programme.
Not only focusing on providing quality education for its students, KinderWorld also actively engages in numerous social and community activities such as co-organising the Asia Pacific Mathematical Olympiads for Primary Schools (APMOPS) in Vietnam in 2009, 2010 and 2011 or providing opportunities for high performing Vietnamese students from less-privileged family backgrounds to gain access to its education programmes through an annual scholarship scheme.
In order to get those achievements over more than 10 years, KinderWorld has also encountered many challenges during its journey to Vietnam. First of all, the rules and regulations in the education and training sector are sometimes unclear, which cause difficulties for any investor entering this sector for the first time in Vietnam. Another big challenge is changing the Vietnamese thinking about education as strictly a community sector and organizations working in this sector being non-profit organizations. As such, if a school is a business, they worry that profits will take precedent over quality. In addition, at the time when KinderWorld entered Vietnam, people were not familiar with the international education system and there were very few international schools here. Therefore, with much higher fees for international schools, parents were very reluctant to send their children to these schools. This is the reason KinderWorld faced a really tough time for the first three years without return on investment of a few hundred thousand USD.
As a whole, the current education system and the whole experience that KinderWorld has gone through has been very satisfying. The group has enjoyed professional relationships with relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Education and Training and provincial leadership. KinderWorld greatly appreciates the Government support it has received over nearly 11 years of investment in education and training in Vietnam.
Beginning with one campus in 2000, KinderWorld’s network will continue to expand to twenty-five campuses across Vietnam and will provide placements to more than 20,000 students in the next 5 years. Furthermore, in order to provide a complete study pathway for students beyond high school, the group is embarking on a major initiative to set up an International University in Vietnam. In the initial stage, this initiative will be realised through setting up the Pegasus International UniCollege (PIU) which will provide higher learning programmes in Hospitality, Tourism and Commercial Cookery, Business and Commerce, Information & Communications Technology (ICT), English Language, and Teachers’ Education and Training. This will help meet the rising demand for highly skilled and qualified Vietnamese graduates for the country’s development.
“Our simple belief is that we are here in Vietnam not only to build schools or offer a different way of learning. More importantly, we are here to support parents in providing a better preparation and foundation for their children’s future. Achieving this goal is already a great success for us,” said Mr Ricky Tan, Chairman and CEO of the KinderWorld Group.
Vietnamese
