The group of businessman Eusebio Tanco has invested P450 million in Philippine Women’s University, giving it a 40-percent stake in the nearly century-old educational institution.
In a briefing Friday, PWU president Jose Francisco Benitez said the infusion would allow the school to renovate its buildings and upgrade its equipment.
PWU’s curriculum would still be largely the same, he said, but some improvements would be made to ensure that courses offered would be able to keep pace with technological changes.
“We have a lot of dreams for the university. The entry of the Tanco group strengthens and liberates the university to pursue those dreams. It opens the door to everything that we’ve always wanted to do. Sky is the limit,” he said.
Tanco group spokesperson Monico Jacob said they aimed to increase PWU’s student population from the current 4,000 to 15,000 over the next five years.
The university’s reach would also be expanded over the medium to long term with the addition of five new campuses in Metro Manila and even in the provinces, Tanco said.
Jacob said the Tanco group also planned to strengthen PWU’s basic education offering as well as set up schools of law and of health, nutrition and wellness. The university’s existing graduate school of business and liberal arts and humanities offerings would also be improved.
“We want to give their arts programs a digital component. I want to see an integration of arts of sciences,” Jacob said.
He said other members of the Tanco group, particularly the STI Education Services group, would also benefit from the PWU buy-in.
“The benefits are not one way. We’ll adopt best practices from both sides. We’ll also learn from PWU,” he said.
Other Tanco group companies, such as preneed firm PhilPlans, would also benefit from the acquisition. Jacob said PWU could be recommended to plan holders who would be looking for a school for their beneficiaries.
Apart from PWU, Tanco said his group was in discussions with other educational institutions for possible acquisition, mostly those in Northern Luzon and the Visayas.