China’s largest listed HE provider has purchased a local private college

China Education Group has bought the owner of King’s Own Institute, which offers undergraduate, grad certificate, diplomas and masters in business disciplines and TESOL. KOI teaches international students at three campuses in the Sydney CBD.

CEO Doug Hinchcliffe told staff yesterday the purchase will allow KOI to “explore new growth opportunities” in the China market and “roll-out new campuses in other attractive cities.”

For staff, it is business as usual, “I could not be more optimistic about the future of KOI,” Dr Hinchcliffe says.

TEQSA registered KOI’s owner, the Australian Institute of Business and Management, for four years in 2016, with two conditions – that it “endeavour” to maintain a 30:1 ratio of students to academic staff and report annually on student attrition, progression, completion and the distribution of marks.

China Education Group is listed in Hong Kong and has 180 000 students enrolled in nine institutions. It claims both the largest private university and private technical school in China.

KOI is named both for the Asian fish and a British regiment Dr Hinchcliffe was associated with.