Opening Ceremony of TEG International College

New Campus, new lease of life sources from The New Paper 4 Nov 2009

Students of TEG International College (formerly known as Tyndale Education Group) have Mr John Lee, the group's chief executive officer, to thank for their new campus in Phoenix Park along Tanglin Road. They moved there two weeks ago from their old campus along Middle Road. The new campus, with a built-in floor areas of about 30,000 sq ft is three times bigger than the old campus.

Mr Lee first wanted to expand the campus six months ago because he felt there were not enough facilities for his students in the old campus. Since 1990, Tyndale Education Group has provided higher education courses through partnerships with institutions like University of Sunderland, which was ranked by The Guardian Newspaper in the UK as England's best new university in 2001.

Tyndale currently has about 500 full-time and part-time students. Mr Lee said: "I felt there was a need for a campus with better and more facilities, especially for the full-time foreign students who spend five to seven hours every day in school." The new campus at Phoenix Park has over 19 classrooms, including computer laboratories, electronics lab and video-conferencing room. There is also a resource centre with more than 70 brand-new computers. In the next few months more facilities will be added in.

Mr Lee, who planned the renovation works said they cost about S$400,000/-. He has looked into transport options for the students too. "Right now, there are half-hourly shuttle buses provided by Phonenix Park managment that go to Rehill and Orchard MRT. I intend to get our own school bus in the future to increase the frequency to every 15 minutes," he said.

At the opening ceremony of the new campus last Wednesday, guest-of-honour Professor Peter Fidler, Vice Chancellor of the University of Sunderland, was impressed. He said,"It's got a campus feel, where students have places to eat and study, rather than that of an office block where perople work. With all the trees and greenery, it's a park environment that is very popular with students.

Students have been looking forward to the move, said Ms Niniek Natalia, 28, programme manager for Tyndale Education Group. She said. "Student feedback was taken into consideration when deciding on the new campus." For example, the students asked for a canteen to sell light snacks and drinks. This was provided for them as the campus is quite far from any convenience store. Another change welcomed by the students is the increase in the number of carpark lots. In the past, there were only five free lots, but it has increased to over 50.

After only a day in the new campus, Mr Daniel Phyowaikoko,19, an electronics and electrical engineering student from Myanmar, said the school is "pretty cool". "Last time, it was just an old building, so we couldn't do much. But now there are places for us to chill out," he said