iPeople

“With the merger of AC Education and iPeople, we have established a group of 7 schools across the nation, with 28 campuses in NCR, Calabarzon, Bicol and Mindanao. Our schools serve approximately 60,000 students and are committed to delivering quality and accessible education to as many as possible.”

- Alfredo I. Ayala, COO, iPeople Besides being known as one of the best engineering schools in the country, Mapua also has a curriculum that promotes environment
and sustainable development with courses related to protection and conservation of the environment.

WHO WE ARE
Following the merger between AC Education and iPeople in May 2019, iPeople has become the listed holding company for Ayala’s investments in education. The merger brought together seven schools in diverse socio-economic and geographic market segments across the nation, including the National Capital Region, the Calabarzon region, the Bicol region, and Mindanao.

 

A partnership between the Yuchengco Group of Companies and Ayala, iPeople aims to empower Filipino families by delivering accessible, quality education that enables significantly improved employability for our high school and college graduates. It is iPeople’s corporate vision to innovate education and research towards leading-edge outcomes for its students. This will be achieved through proprietary student value-add programs, systematic teacher training, professional management operations, and strong industry partnerships.

 

As a background, AC Education founded APEC (Affordable Private Education Centers) Schools in 2013 with one school site and 130 students. Since then, it has scaled up to become the largest chain of stand-alone affordable, private high schools, with 23 branches across Mega Manila and approximately 16,000 students. APEC offers Junior High School and Senior High School with an innovative and progressive approach to both learning and employability at an affordable price point.

 

In 2015, AC Education acquired University of Nueva Caceres, which provides basic and higher education to approximately 8,800 students at its campus in Naga City, Camarines Sur. Founded over 70 years ago, UNC is the oldest university and the largest private university in the Bicol region.

 

In 2018, AC Education acquired the National Teachers College. Founded over 90 years ago, NTC is the pioneering private institution for teacher education in the country, with approximately 12,700 students.

 

After the merger of iPeople and AC Education, Ayala’s investments in education expanded to include four new institutions namely: Mapua University, Malayan Colleges Laguna, Malayan Colleges Mindanao and Malayan High School of Science.

Mapua University is one of the country’s leading engineering and technical universities and was founded in 1925. It has the distinction of being a world ranked QS-3 star university and is the school with the most CHED (Commission of Higher Education) Centers of Excellence in engineering. Mapua has a population of approximately 13,400 students in senior high school, college, and graduate school with programs covering engineering and architecture, computer and information science, business, arts and sciences, and media studies.

Founded in 2006, Malayan Colleges Laguna is the best board exam performing private higher education institution in the Calabarzon region and was founded in 2006. Offering senior high, undergraduate degrees and masters programs, the school has 6,119 students for SY 2019-2020.

Malayan Colleges Mindanao in Davao City is the youngest member of the Mapua schools, having opened its doors in 2018. Now with 2,460 students, MCM offers undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, computer and information science, engineering and architecture, and senior high school.

Malayan High School of Science is a private junior high school focused on preparing its students for STEM programs in college. MHSS is well-known for winning interscholastic science competitions in the country.

 

MARKET OUTLOOK
The Philippine education industry continues to be highly regulated and fragmented. According to the CHED, in school-year 2017-2018, there were 2,353 higher education institutions in operation serving almost 3 million students. Out of this number, 71 percent is privately owned, serving almost 1.6 million students.

 

The past year marked three key developments for the sector. Firstly, tertiary education institutions welcomed the second batch of freshmen since 2015. There were no incoming freshmen in school years 2016-17 and 2017-2018 due to the implementation of the K-12 Law, as graduates from Grade 10 entered Grade 11 in senior high school, rather than college. In the current SY 2019-2020, tertiary education institutions have full freshmen and sophomore batches, but incomplete junior and senior batches. The tertiary education institutions will be back to full strength for a complete year beginning 2022.

National Teachers College now houses a population of more than 12,000 students, with more than 30 percent taking up a degree in
education.

Secondly, the government allotted ₱16 billion for the Tertiary Education Subsidy to help about 300,000 college students in more than 1,000 private higher education institutions. According to CHED, 91 percent was paid or obligated to 190 state and local universities or colleges. The TES enables students from the lowest socio-economic segments to cover all or part of the costs of going to private colleges or universities.

 

Thirdly, the government funded a budget of ₱23.93 billion for its Senior High School vouchers, which helps students to cover part of the cost of attending private high schools. This budget is an increase of ₱5 billion or 28 percent versus the previous year.

BUSINESS REVIEW
Ayala’s participation in the education sector has grown from 38,500 students pre-merger, from 38,500 students pre-merger, to more than 59,500 students as of the start of school year 2019-2020. The merger has significantly broadened Ayala’s education footprint, both geographically and in terms of socio-economic segments.

 

On a full year basis, iPeople’s schools grew revenues by 19 percent to ₱3.45 billion in 2019 and net income by 30 percent to ₱393 million.

Mapua is hailed as the Philippines’ premiere school for engineering, generating 374 board topnotchers since 2000.

The merger has resulted in several synergies such as 1) faculty and administrators’ training in key areas such as blended-learning and outcomes-based education, 2) partnership with one of the top massive open online course providers globally, which enables our students to earn certificates from world-renowned universities, and 3) creation of a “straight to Master’s degree” program with a UNC undergraduate degree leading to a Mapua master’s degree in engineering, which students can avail of without leaving Bicol.

 

In 2019, our schools achieved several key milestones:
• APEC Schools continued with their employability programs with positive results. 3,287 high school students successfully graduated in 2019 and 483 of them sought jobs right after. 93 percent of those who looked for work were given job offers, wherein 71 percent accepted, receiving an average monthly wage of ₱16,330.
• UNC embedded micro-credential/industry-recognized certificates in almost all its degree programs, giving graduates an advantage in the job market.

• NTC’s freshmen enrollment surged in SY 2018-19 with 3,777 enrollees, 51 percent higher than SY 2018-2019 and 94 percent up versus SY 2015-2016, the last year before the K-12 implementation.
• Mapua University’s civil engineering program was recognized by UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers. Mapua graduates now do not need to apply for an academic assessment to gain a UK professional qualification.
• Malayan Colleges Laguna was given Autonomous Status by CHED. It is the youngest higher education institution to achieve such distinction at just 12 years of operation.
• Malayan Colleges Mindanao implemented blended learning in its senior high school division and its college general education programs.
• Malayan High School of Science laid the groundwork to launch its Mapua-designed coding curriculum in the coming school year.

 

In 2020, iPeople will continue to expand its reach and impact, through organic growth, partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions.