MANY experts agree that it is crucial for children to start learning at a young age as education is the foundation of a person’s development and growth.
Being a long-time advocate of early childhood care and education (ECCE), SEGi University & Colleges has collaborated with Whytehouse Education Group to host an international conference to propel the ECCE industry forward.
Themed “Nurturing Well-Being in Early Childhood” the SEGi-Whytehouse Early Years International Conference was held from Aug 13–20 and was free-for-all to participate so more people can play an active role in sustainable child development.
“SEGi’s partnership with the Whytehouse Education Group began last year. The production of 12 free virtual lectures in the SEGi-Whytehouse Early Years Lecture Series was very well-received, which led to the birth of this unique international conference in our continual effort to promote ECCE good practices and subsequently improve the quality of ECCE services in the country,” said SEGi University & Colleges vice-chancellor Prof Dr Azrin Esmady Ariffin.
The week-long conference opened in a hybrid format at SEGi College Penang before going fully virtual.
It had a packed schedule of keynote addresses, presentations, and discussions by 40 esteemed speakers and virtual school tours to select ECCE centres in Malaysia, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Singapore, and Indonesia.
The SEGi-Whytehouse Early Years International Conference received a tremendous response from the public with over 600 registered participants and more than 1,700 views, and other partnering universities, namely the University of Greenwich (UK), University of Auckland (New Zealand), Deakin University (Australia), Southern University College, Open University Malaysia, and Saito University College.
SEGi has been a pioneer and trusted provider of ECCE programmes, producing thousands of highly qualified ECCE practitioners since 1999.
SEGi’s commitment to professionalising the ECCE industry also goes far and beyond the classroom.
In 2010, SEGi was appointed the champion for early childhood teacher training by PEMANDU for the National Key Economic Area (NKEA) Entry Point Project (EPP) 2.
It was also selected by the Government to upskill the industry under the Economic Transformation Programme and became an executive committee of the ECCE Council Malaysia the following year.
SEGi’s involvement in the international early childhood education arena began as early as 2005 when it was invited to conduct Montessori training in Iran.
On July 1, 2022 SEGi University and the National Child Development Research Centre (NCDRC) of Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) officially launched the Early Childhood Care and Education Quality Series.
The three-book series was published as part of its deliverables of the Development of a Comprehensive and Integrated Model of Quality Malaysian Early Childhood Care and Education – a long-term research grant provided by the Finance Ministry – that allowed them to discover a gap in the ECCE policy literacy.
SEGi University is renowned for being an Outstanding QS 5 Stars Plus University (for the assessment year 2022–2024).
This prestigious recognition places SEGi as one of only 20 universities worldwide and one of only two Malaysian universities to achieve an overall QS 5 Stars Plus Rating.
SEGi attained QS 5 Stars rating in eight evaluations, including Internationalisation, Academic Development, Teaching and Inclusiveness.
For more information about all the programmes available at SEGi, visit www.segi.edu.my. – Sept 5, 2022
