July 10 (SeeNews) - Croatia’s largest privately-owned educational services provider, University College Algebra, expects to increase its revenue by around 20% this year, co-owner and board member Hrvoje Josip Balen told SeeNews on Monday.
"The rise in revenue to 25 million euro ($27 million) will come on the back of the rising number of users of Algebra's study and training programmes," Hrvoje Balen said in an interview with SeeNews.
Algebra provides education services to more than 15,000 people each year. Currently, it some 1,700 students in its bachelor and master study programmes in different IT sciences. Besides, some 5,000 people attend its educational programmes for adults, some 3,500 children come on preparation programmes for their final exams in elementary and high schools, and some 3,000 people attend Algebra’s corporate training courses for companies and individuals.
“There is a trend for a rise in the number of students on study programmes by some 15% on an annual level. This year, we see around 30% greater interest from potential students for out study programmes. We expect a continuation of that trend and to enrol this year more than 500 new students to study their first year at Algebra, which is a significant increase compared to last year,” Balen said.
University College Algebra was set up in 1998 and currently has 240 employees and 600 guests lecturers. Now it is present in more than 20 cities across Croatia. It is one of the largest institutions for higher education in Croatia, which is dominated by state-owned universities. At the state universities, the fees for local students are minimal.
“We are a business existing in a very interesting market as we have to be competitive to institutions which provide the same services for free. Therefore, we always have to offer a much higher level of quality of services, in cooperation with corporations and lecturers, and for that reason we offer some programmes which are rather different,” Balen said.
Algebra University College offers to its students a possibility to study in English, on validated master study programmes in the fields of computing, design and management, and to receive a dual degree by both Algebra and Goldsmiths, University of London.
“We were the first Croatian educational establishment that introduced two years ago a dual programme, in cooperation with University of London. It is an opportunity to attract foreign students and every year we have more and more of them and it is a potential that we give both to the students and to the economy,” Balen added.
Along with its existing programmes for bachelors and masters including system engineering, software engineering, digital marketing, data science, this year Algebra will launch for the first time in Croatia a two-year master study programme for game development, in response to the expansion of the game development industry on global level, and to retain its competitive edge.
Balen said that Algebra is not interested to attract an outside investment from potential investors or a buyer but it is open to opportunities for a takeover or a merger with other sector players. "Currently, we base our business on our own growth and we invest our revenue in the development of new products, services, and expansion of capacities,” Balen said. In his words, Algebra aims to grow by attracting foreign students to study in Croatia, rather than by opening branches abroad.
In the spring of 2022, Algebra moved to a new campus in Zagreb worth 13 million euro which was designed specifically for its needs. "We are not owner of the building, but it was built particularly for Algebra and it is one of the largest investments in the modern history of Croatia," Balen said.
($ = 0.916 euro)