China New Higher Education Group Announces 2023 Annual Results High-quality Development with Firm Steps, Creating Value Continuously and Steadily

 

China New Higher Education Group Announces 2023 Annual Results

High-quality Development with Firm Steps,

Creating Value Continuously and Steadily

 

(November 29, 2023 – Hong Kong) A leading higher vocational education Group, China New Higher Education Group Limited (“New Higher Education Group”, collectively called the “Group” together with its affiliated companies, stock code: 2001.HK) is pleased to announce the audited annual results for the year ended August 31, 2023 (the “period”).

 

New Higher Education Group resolutely implements the strategy of high-quality development, guarantees high-quality development by continuously increasing investment, leads high-quality development through excellent talent cultivation, and tests high-quality development by superior employment, comprehensively focuses on the core needs to meet the growth of students, and accurately focuses on the education and teaching, internships and training, campus activities, employment guidance and other areas that are closely related to students. The quality of education and teaching has continued to improve, the satisfaction of students and teachers has increased significantly, high-quality employment has been fruitfully achieved and various undertakings have developed rapidly. The implementation of the high-quality development strategy also drove steady growth in benefits of the Group, with total revenue increasing by 11.7% year-on-year to RMB 2.53 billion over the reporting period, and main revenue increasing by 10.3% year-on-year to RMB 2.12 billion; Meanwhile, the net profit attributable to the parent company increased by 13.4% year-on-year to RMB 703 million, and the Group continued to maintain a steady dividend payout. As of the date of this press release, the dividend payout ratio of the Group has remained at 50%.

 

Continuously increasing high-quality investment to ensure high-quality development

The Group continued to increase investment in faculty costs, teaching software and hardware, the integration of industry and education, advantageous majors and students’ and teachers’ experience. Over the reporting period, the Group’s investment in teacher costs increased by 11%, and the Group has been expanding its double-position teachers teaching team, enhanced the remuneration and benefits of highly educated and qualified teachers, as well as introduced industry experts and academic leaders to build a team of high-quality teaching staff on an ongoing basis. The Group invested RMB 250 million in educational space and facilities and equipment, continuously upgraded teaching software and hardware such as experimental training rooms, libraries and teaching buildings, as well as renewed desks, chairs, smart blackboards and other teaching equipment to fully support the high-quality education and teaching in our universities. Furthermore, over 8 million RMB was invested to carry out “peak experience activities for the opening season/graduation season” in eight universities to enhance the experience of students and teachers, which greatly improved the satisfaction of students and teachers and the reputation of our schools.

 

Driving high-quality development by deepening the cultivation of high-quality talents continuously

The Group has continued to deepen the integration of industry and education by engaging in deep collaboration with more than 1,000 well-known enterprises, and has built a total of 51 modern industry colleges, 108 employment-oriented classes for famous enterprises and 991 experimental and training bases.  Meanwhile, the Group strengthens the construction of advantageous majors and has been newly granted 8 “FOUR NEW” majors that are urgently needed for national strategic development or local regional development. Seven advantageous majors at the Northeast School have been selected as 2023 China’s top application-oriented majors. Besides, students’ award achievements reached a new historical high. Students from the Group’s schools have won 40 national top awards in 56 top-level comprehensive competitions recognized by the Ministry of Education, setting a new historical record, among which Gansu School achieved outstanding results by winning gold, silver, and bronze medals in the China Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition, ranking first in both the quantity and quality of awards in the province.

 

Strengthening employment services continuously and tests high-quality development with high-quality employment

The Group insisted on high-quality employment as the foundation of its educational mission. The Group has continuously expanded employment opportunities for graduates through the establishment of three employment and entrepreneurship centers in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The Group also collaborated with platforms including Zhaopin to explore more high-quality employment resources. Meanwhile, we have incorporated employment guidance and career planning into the curriculum, and provided ongoing training to enhance the strength of graduates in employment and thus to further enhance graduates’ employment confidence and competitiveness. The initial employment rate of the graduates of 2023 as of 31 August 2023 reached 90.65% with the number of employments in famous companies which are among the world’s Top 500 companies, the China’s Top 100 companies and A-shares listed companies increasing by 67% compared with the same period of last year. More than half of the graduates in Yunnan School and Central China School who practiced in the nationally renowned General Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army (“301 Hospital”) have been retained for employment; Gansu School was honored as “Demonstration College for Student Employment in Gansu Province” and “Advanced Unit of Employment”, becoming the only college of its kind in Gansu Province to receive this honor. Yunnan School and Guizhou School stood out among the universities in their respective provinces, and were rated as the employment and entrepreneurship demonstration units for college graduates in their respective provinces, and were recommended to participate in the national employment and entrepreneurship demonstration units for college graduates.

 

Enhancing the brand competitiveness of universities continuously and further optimizing the student structure in terms of degrees and sources

Due to the steady implementation of the high-quality development strategy by the Group, the brand effect of its universities has been further highlighted, highly recognized by the regulatory authorities, society, and the industry. The utilization rate of enrollment plans has been improving year by year, and the average tuition per student has been steadily increasing. In the 2023/2024 academic year, the total number of students in our Group’s schools is approximately 140,000, with a 2.7% year-on-year increase in terms of a number of new students and a 3.4 percentage point increase in the proportion of undergraduate level students among the total number of enrolled students. Additionally, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of cross-province admissions in the Group’s schools, with a continued expansion of enrollment in provinces with a large student population and economically developed areas. The structure of student source has been further optimized; the admission cut-off scores have been continuously increased while the brand competitiveness has been further enhanced.

 

Promoting the integration of ESG concepts into the high-quality development of the Group continuously

The Group resolutely implements the strategy of high-quality development, firmly adheres to the educational philosophy of “strengthening morality through education, teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, studying for the sake of application”, takes “enabling every student to achieve career fulfillment and happiness in life” as the mission of the Group, devotes itself to building the “most student-oriented university in the PRC”. The Group continuously strengthens the teaching innovation and educational investment, comprehensively improves the quality of education, teaching and talent cultivation. At the same time, the Group attaches great importance to ESG and actively implements ESG development concepts, focuses on environmental protection, actively fulfills social responsibilities, and improves the governance of the Group and universities. The Group benchmarks against international standards and global ESG best practices, and overall improves its ESG level, firmly adhering to the path of sustainable and high-quality development.

 

Pursuing high-quality development firmly and adhering to the “three sustainability” for a promising future

Looking forward to the future, the Group will continue to further promote the “three sustainability”, continue to invest to create and provide educational opportunities with high-quality teaching, high-quality employment, and high-quality experience for students in all its universities; The Group is committed to the ESG philosophy and uses ESG as a guide to create value continuously and steadily, integrates financial indicators such as stable performance growth, steady investment returns, abundant cash flow and stable dividends with ESG, thereby realizing long-term benefits and sustainable development, and achieving a win-win situation for both investors and the Group in the long run; The Group targets to become the most “student-oriented” university and to provide education that satisfies the people. The Group aims to cultivate high-quality applied and technical talents who have comprehensive development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor skills to meet the needs of local economic and social development, so as to assist in the strengthening of a strong country of education and create greater values for the society.

 

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About China New Higher Education Group Limited:

China New Higher Education Group Limited is a leading higher vocational education Group focusing on higher vocational education for over 20 years. The Group focuses on providing high-quality higher vocational education in various fields, and is committed to cultivating high-quality applied and technical talents for the country, helping students obtain high-level employability and achieve a wonderful life. As a leader of high-quality employment, the schools of the Group have been awarded the “Top 50 National Employment” by the Ministry of Education, the implementation rates of graduation destinations for three consecutive years have been far higher than the national average. The Group’s educational network has covered multiple provinces and regions, including Yunnan, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, and Guangxi.

 

For more information, please visit the Group’s website: https://www.xingaojiao.com