Hew Moi Lan Presents SEGi University: A Leading Private Tertiary Education Provider in Malaysia

Interview with Ms Hew Moi Lan, CEO of SEGi University

What is the state of the educational sector in Malaysia?

Malaysia has tried to be an education hub for Far East Asia over the years. The Malaysian government has been working very hard with private institutes like us to create a platform to attract foreign students to come to Malaysia to study or to pursue a tertiary education. I believe we are quite successful in this aspect. We have a lot of control mechanisms in terms of quality assurance and in terms of ensuring students get what they need to be employable after they graduate.

Are there any sort of scholarships, government assistance for students or any sort of assistance that the university receives from the government?

We are very focused on striking a good balance between doing our CSR exercise and also ensuring that we are still profitable as a continuity entity. We do offer quite a fair bit of scholarships to needy students and high schoolers. Also, the government has given a grant for us to do a lot of research to assist in certain aspects of the students’ study. Many times, it is partially sponsored or fully sponsored by the government. It depends on the topic. In 2019, we held an international conference organized by SEGi and our Prime Minister of Malaysia officiated the International IR 4.0 Conference. These are some of the things that the government has been doing very aggressively to propel education not only in the classroom, but also to give students very good exposure to real life today – what they need to know, what society is like, and what the environment is like for them once they graduate.

Do you have any sort of job placements or internships or assistance that you give students after graduation?

In the next three to five years, we hope to have a great impact of SEGi as a whole as a university. We want to show that education in this country is equivalent to anywhere else. Malaysia is still a very affordable country in terms of cost of living, in terms of tuition fees, in terms of the environment. We meet all the requirements.

At SEGi, we put a lot of emphasis on student employability. We have created a tracking system from the first day when the student joins us to ensure the employability is there. We want to ensure they have the right soft skills and the right attitude. So, we put in place a lot of soft skills training, a lot of exposure for the student, internships with industry and linkages for them. We have a full mapping of this and we give each of them a report card, from day one to the day they graduate, how employable they are, how prepared they are. We have a very comprehensive plan. Our students are really very engaged in this program. Students want to enjoy life. They say the best time in life is during the college years, so we are not depriving them of that. But, we want to ensure they have the right attitude. At the end of the day, it is the career, the employment that counts and we want to ensure that students get what they need before they graduate. This is our responsibility and we take it very seriously. Students are the leaders of the future. They are the successors of today’s generation. If we do not prepare them well in tertiary education, we waste their time, we waste their parents’ effort. There are a lot of repercussions. Education, unlike other industry, is a very important responsibility. We touch people’s lives and we must ensure they get the right things at the end of the day. We prioritize their needs.

What do you offer students that are attending SEGi in terms of student life, the campus environment, programs or degrees?

At SEGi University, we have a wide range of programs from diploma right to PhD programs. We are very industry driven which means we revamp the syllabus frequently to meet the needs of society and industry. We have a lot of industrial experts joining us as advisors in each of our programs. For our health sciences program, we have medical, dentistry, pharmacy, optometry, and even biomedical. We have a few hundred medical students. We also work very closely with Duke University in the US. We also are involved in a lot of medical research. We also have a full range engineering program. We are already more than 40 years old. We were established in 1977. I have been here for 35 years. I started as a lecturer or rank and file right to the CEO level. SEGi is in my blood. I handle every aspect from academic to operational. I am quite hands on in what I am doing. That is why I can feel for the student. Students have to take education seriously. Yes, you can enjoy yourself during your SEGi life, but at the same time, we must be mindful of your future. SEGi is a stepping stone for you for how far you go and where you go in the future. People with a formal education can go very far.

How has education become this important societal and employability aspect with you at SEGi and with Malaysia and Asia in general?

From a very broad perspective, we must be able to assess everyone on the same platform. The best platform to assess someone before you know the person well is always through their qualifications. If I go into a company for a position as a senior manager or administrative officer, the first thing people will assess is your qualifications to be able to fit into the position that is available. We need a universal passport to do that and education is that universal passport. If you tell me education is not important, you are wrong. I have been in education for so many years. I have seen many types of students. Education shapes a person’s life to a great extent. When a new student enters university, they might not know what they want, how far they will go. But these are formative years for them for the future, especially tertiary education. If you talk about a secondary school, O levels, A levels, it is a very government controlled environment. When it comes to tertiary, you are exposed to your own skill, your own environment. How far you go, how far you push yourself, it is all you. Do not take it lightly. Your future life is in your own hands. I always tell my students to value your life, value the future, value the nation because you are the future for all of this.

What are the challenges to education in Malaysia? What challenges has SEGi University faced, specifically, and how have you overcome them?

Education touching someone’s life is dependent on your own attitude. As senior personnel of SEGi, I must always play a fine balance: I must ensure the sustainability of the organization because we are private sector, but at the same time, I must also value the quality assurance aspect of the student, the academic qualification they are getting at the end of the day. I must ensure both are able to achieve the same objective simultaneously. This is very important. Every country has their own regulation in the quality assurance of the qualification that we are giving to the student. So, some of these can be a bit of a challenge because we need to meet to the needs of various countries. If we are interested to recruit students from all over the world, we must be able to adapt to the various needs of these students. The needs are very different in countries in the Far East like China, India, or Bangladesh. We must be able to work closely with the regulatory body in the government department to share our view and strike this fine balance. Another challenge we all face as every parent knows is that younger generations are very different. We were very obedient. If our parents said not to go out late night, we came back by 10pm. Nowadays, students are very different. So, we must be able to play the role of a parent, especially for overseas students, we must care for their welfare, we must make sure that they understand that there are certain parameters that they cannot go beyond and that it is for their own good. I do feel for the parents sending their child out to another country, the worry for their safety, making sure they walk on the right path. You can enjoy your life because student life is very limited. I am sure they want to have the maximum enjoyment. But at the same time, we have permittable parameters. At the end of the day, it is the core values. I want to ensure all my students have certain core values, and that is very important.

What are the core values that SEGi University tries to impart on students or holds very important?

As a good CEO, in every possible meeting, I always tell my subordinates, my colleagues, everyone, I value transparency, truthfulness, honesty, team spirit and being able to work together. These are also fundamental, core values for every student. You must be very truthful in what you are doing, you must be very honest, you must be able to communicate, and you must be able to be fair. Justice must prove you at all times.

Where do you recruit students from?

Mainly from East Asia. Mainland Chinese is our main component of students today in SEGi. We do have a fair number of Middle Eastern students, also from India and Bangladesh. We do also recruit from other smaller countries. We have a mini United Nations in SEGi now. We have students from over 50 different countries. We must also be mindful of their culture. Students must learn about other people and their environments so they can adapt. The best exposure is in a study environment. There is no competition, you are just one of the many students in the same classroom. You learn to adapt to each other. You learn to accommodate each other’s needs. This is the basic survival instinct in society now. The world is one, we are all connected, so we must learn to accommodate each other. There is no such thing as superior and lower, or being from a lower, less developed country. We are all equal. We are on an equal platform. We must be able to share this value with everyone.

How do you attract these students from these other countries outside of Malaysia?

We have a university collaboration where we work with the schools, especially in Mainland China. We have a strong network of personnel recruiting the students on behalf of SEGi through our digital platform where we are very strong. We are very active in recruiting foreign students. We were one of the first few that went overseas to recruit students, so we do have the framework. Over the years, people got to know about us, but we can still do a lot more work to bring SEGi and Malaysia to the world.

What is your vision for the next three to five years?

In the next three to five years, we hope to have a great impact of SEGi as a whole as a university. We want to show that education in this country is equivalent to anywhere else. Malaysia is still a very affordable country in terms of cost of living, in terms of tuition fees, in terms of the environment. We meet all the requirements. We need to shout very loudly. We need to make sure that everyone understands, but at the same time, everything must be from the heart and truthful. When students go back to their own country, I hope they can contribute to publicizing Malaysia as a good nation for foreign students and also SEGi as a university itself.

Are there any awards, achievements, accreditations that SEGi has received that you are proud of?

A very important achievement is our rating by our Ministry of Higher Education. We obtained a five star and Qs ranking. We achieve good results. For example, one of our academic lecturers is quoted as the top 2% by Stanford University as a researcher.

What exactly is your inspiration? What drives you to keep doing what you do?

I am very proud to be in an industry like education that touches people’s lives. I want to play a role in this industry. Especially for parents, their future lies in their children. When the children do well, they are so happy. I want to play a little role in this aspect that I can contribute to bringing happiness to many families.

Has Coronavirus affected student’s learning digitally?

We are the first institution in Malaysia to have hybrid study where we combined digital with face to face. We have had an official license from the government to conduct this style of classes for the past six to seven years. It is not new, but now, many classes are fully online, not only hybrid

Did the University have to close during Corona?

Under the total lockdown, when there is no movement at all, then all the classes are online. Sometimes, the government will give directives that we can have a partial opening. But certain classes have to be hands on like lab classes, clinical exposure, etc. We were 100% operational, either on the digital platform or in person. We have never closed down.

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