A long established English language school in Victoria, BC, Stewart College, has been acquired by Asia Pacific Education Group, which also owns Canadian Tourism College.
The acquisition marks an expansion of AP Education Group, helmed by Feroz Ali who has a track record of managing education businesses in New Zealand, prior to moving to Canada.
Details of the transaction remain commercially confidential. AP Education Group has acquired the business from Randy and Kristina Stewart, who opened the school in 2001.
Randy Stewart will move on from the organisation while Kristina Stewart will oversee day to day operations of the college as the College Director.
Ali told The PIE News, “For years, the business has been declining and we are taking as a challenge to turn it around and also take it to Vancouver.”
He added, “One key strategy was to find a college which would provide the foundations for both entities to grow in Victoria and the Greater Vancouver area. In addition, the biggest priority was to find a language college that embraced a culture and values that matched the existing culture and values of CTC.”
He said the deal represented an important addition to the group’s overall strategic vision of providing training and pathways options to students looking to study in Canada.
“For SC operationally it will be business as usual, and we will work with the team to further develop what is an outstanding educational offering,” he said.
“We are continuing to build a robust and diversified group of independent educational services, true to our vision to give our students access to the best education, and help our communities lift educational performance.”
Kristina Stewart is an active member of Languages Canada and was one of a group of stakeholders who spoke to The PIE News about ill-fitting accreditation requirements in British Columbia for language schools.
