Global education provider Navitas has flagged its ambitions to be more strategic in its focus on students and higher education partners, in a bid to improve learner outcomes and increase value from its established relationships.
The comments, made by Scott Jones, CEO, came shortly after his first 100 days in his new role.
Jones said the approach stemmed from meeting with partners around the world – leading to three guiding principles of strategic planning, agent focus and effective sales and marketing.
While Jones highlighted potential opportunities to develop further TNE partnerships in addition to those already in Singapore, Dubai, and Sri Lanka, he said the company would remain solely within higher and tertiary education, rather than looking to new areas of study.
The ambitions, outlined by new chief executive Scott Jones, mark Navitas’ first strategic change of plan after being taken over by a consortium led by BGH and co-founder Rod Jones.
“We need to listen and learn a bit more to shape where it needs to go”
“Transactions come and go and that’s not what we want to be as an organisation. We want to be a relationships-focused business, we want to work closely with our partners and we want to support those growth initiatives through the good and bad,” he said.
Speaking at Navitas’ annual partners’ conference in Kuala Lumpur, Jones said the company wanted to work with its university and higher education partners as well as students to stay ahead of upcoming change in the education space.
“Too often we feel like we’ve got the solutions without actually asking the questions,” he said.
“We can try and make those decisions, be at the forefront, but we need to listen and learn a bit more to shape where it needs to go.”
Among the changes identified, Jones said digital literacy needed to improve in the classroom, as well as pedagogy and better plans for student mental health and wellbeing.
The change in outward focus will also be coupled with more internal work, Jones added, including additional professional development opportunities for staff, the development of a corporate responsibility plan, and continued work within its education trust to assist developing countries.
Jones added the company wanted to shift its aim from being “one of the best” to “the best”.
“Relationships are always stronger… if you’re willing to support one another,” Jones said.
