Mapua sets Davao campus

Yuchengco-led iPeople Inc. is investing P2 billion to build a new campus of Mapua Institute of Technology, the country’s biggest engineering school, in Davao City.

iPeople president Reynaldo B. Vea confirmed this during the company’s recent stockholders’ meeting. Set to open in 2018, the school will be called Malayan Colleges Mindanao, A Mapua School, iPeople said in a statement Tuesday.

iPeople controls the interests of the House of Investments (HI) in education and information technology.

Gema Cheng, HI’s chief operating and finance officer, estimated the capital expenditure for the new project at P2 billion.

Malayan Colleges, which operates the Mapua education brand, acquired the 2.3-hectare landbank in Davao City late last year for P425 million.

“Start-of-school-year enrollment in the Mapua school system is now about 22,000 students across its three campuses in Intramuros, Makati and Laguna,” Vea said. “This translates to a compounded growth rate of 7 percent a year over the last five years.” Apart from its college campuses, Mapua also operates a science high school in Pandacan.

In support of the government’s K+12 program starting this year, Vea said the Intramuros, Laguna and Pandacan campuses would also take in students for senior high school. This strategy is seen feeding quality freshmen to Mapua’s college programs.

Vea cited the consistently standout performance of Mapua graduates, 20 of whom ranked among the top 10 of the various board examinations in 2015, with 16 more joining the ranks of topnotchers in the first half of 2016.

In the 2014 and 2015 licensure examinations, MCL also posted a 100-percent passing rate in Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Marine Engineering, Marine Transportation and Accountancy. In the first cycle of board exams in 2015, Mapua simultaneously copped first place in four major engineering programs.

iPeople’s consolidated revenues amounted to P2.4 billion in 2015, up 5 percent from P2.3 billion in 2014. Bulk of the gains came from education-related revenues amounting to P2.24 billion, 8-percent higher than the previous year. Consolidated net income rose by 7 percent to P799 million in 2015.