HEI Schools is an edtech company that brings Finnish-style early childhood education to the world. It does this by licensing full-scale learning centers to partners around the world, providing a digital curriculum service for existing schools and kindergartens, and offering an online teacher certification program for any individual wanting to learn more about play-based pedagogy. HEI School has been selected for the HundrED 2019, 2020, and 2021 Global Collections for their impactful and scalable work in education globally.
HEI Schools, a Finnish early education company, and SEGi University and Colleges in Malaysia have signed an agreement to cooperate in developing SEGi’s Early Childhood Education Teacher Diploma program in Malaysia. With this new partnership, the SEGi University and Colleges will incorporate and use the content of the HEI Schools Teacher Certificate program in its 2.5 year ECE Teacher Diploma program across three college campuses (Kuala Lumpur, Subang Jaya and Penang) beginning this June.
The students enrolled in SEGi's 2.5 year Teacher Diploma program will receive the HEI Schools Teacher Certificate on progressive Finnish ECE when graduating from the program.
“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.”
- Milla Kokko, Co-Founder and CEO of HEI Schools
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 the 2021 QS University rankings. The SEGi students who enrol in the 2.5 year Teacher Diploma program will also receive the HEI Schools Teacher Certificate when graduating.
“I have had the privilege to lecture and connect with many early education professionals and academics in Southeast Asia, and I have seen first-hand the growing interest in Finnish early education in Malaysia and other countries in the region. The cooperation between HEI Schools and SEGi University 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”, says professor Lipponen.
This is the first partnership SEGi has entered into with a Finnish education concept. SEGi has long been recognized as a premier leader in early childhood teacher training, promoting professionalism in the early childhood industry since 1999. In 2011, the Malaysian government appointed to champion the improvement of the nation’s preschool teachers under the Economic Transformation Plan. SEGi has also been on the executive committee of the Malaysian Early Childhood Care & Education Council for the past ten years.
"We see this collaboration as part of our ongoing efforts to strive for educational excellence,” says Ms. Stella Lau, CEO, SEGi Group of Colleges.
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 this June.
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