SEGi University and Colleges and HEI Schools, a Finnish early education company have signed an agreement to cooperate in developing SEGi’s Early Childhood Education Teacher Diploma programme. With this new partnership, the SEGi Group of Colleges will incorporate and use the content of the HEI Schools Teacher Certificate programme in its 2.5-year Diploma in Early Childhood Education (DECE) programme across four college campuses (Kuala Lumpur, Subang Jaya, Sarawak and Penang) beginning in June 2021. The students enrolled in SEGi’s 2.5 year DECE programme will receive the HEI Schools Teacher Certificate on progressive Finnish ECE when graduating from the program.
The HEI Schools Teacher Certificate program consists of ten modules that cover the principles of Finland’s early education pedagogy, from special needs and inclusion to play-based learning. Experienced Finnish teachers worked closely with Professor Lasse Lipponen from the University of Helsinki and other early education experts to create a cutting-edge online program. They utilized the latest educational research provided by the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Helsinki, which ranked 22nd in the world according to QS University Rankings. The SEGi students enrolled in the 2.5 year DECE programme will also receive HEI Schools Teacher Certificate when graduating.
Professor Lipponen commented, “I have had the privilege to lecture and connect with many early education professionals and academics in Southeast Asia, and I have seen firsthand the growing interest in Finnish early education in Malaysia and other countries in the region. The cooperation between HEI Schools and SEGi University and Colleges in raising a new generation of teachers in Malaysia is a great opportunity for growth on both sides, and I look forward to seeing where this partnership will lead.”
This is the first partnership SEGi has entered into with a Finnish education concept. SEGi has long been recognised as a premier leader in early childhood teacher training, championing professionalism in the early childhood industry since 1999. In 2011 SEGi was appointed by the Malaysian Government under the Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) to champion the upskilling of the nation’s preschool teachers and for the past ten years, SEGi has also been on the executive committee of the Malaysian ECCE Council.
“We see this collaboration as part of our ongoing efforts to strive for educational excellence,” says Ms Stella Lau, CEO, SEGi Group of Colleges. “The HEI Schools Teacher Certificate program offers us a perfect platform for incorporating the successful Finnish ECE approach into our Early Childhood diploma. With the HEI programme embedded nicely within our diploma, we are confident that our students will be immersed in a stimulating and powerful learning experience that impresses upon them the lifelong impact that they will have on young children. They will graduate with the confidence and skillsets sought after by discerning employers, both within and beyond Malaysia. Early childhood practitioners in our country need more than just the mandatory Diploma in Early Childhood to make a difference. For this reason, SEGi has chosen to partner HEI Schools.”
Milla Kokko, Co-Founder and CEO of HEI Schools, also commented: “At HEI Schools, our mission is to bring high-quality education to as many children and families in the world as possible. With this partnership, we will get much closer to achieving that goal and we cannot wait to get started.”
Students will begin enrolling in the SEGi Teacher Diploma program including the HEI Schools Teacher Certificate program in June 2021
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