The expansion of National University (NU) across all parts of the Philippines will be the next big thing on the plate of the Sy family.

NU Chairman Hans Sy, who just stepped down as the president of SM Prime Holdings, Inc., the country’s biggest real estate company, said he is now focusing on laying out strategies for the nationwide expansion of the 116-year institution.

“It’s moving from one frying pan to another. Right now, I’m really focusing a lot on National University because our advocacy is to be able to reach out to as much people. That’s my father’s advocacy. He wants to give out education. So the plan that we are trying to do is to see how we can expand NU within the whole country,” Sy said in an interview on the sidelines of the 5th Top Leaders Forum held in Pasay City yesterday.

“Right now, we only have one branch and we are building sports academy targeted for completion in 2018. But this time, we are more focused on how to expand it within or around our SM Malls,” he added.

According to him, over the next year or two, the company should be able to start developing the next branch of NU.

“I already have a team tasked to look for any available space and at the same time they are studying which one to prioritize,” Sy said.

Asked if the company will put a branch within SM Prime’s Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay as well as inside the 30-hectare SM Seaside City Cebu, Sy said “eventually”.

He said the intention of the group is to scatter NU branches in different locations in the country, especially in areas where SM Prime already has a presence.

By the end of 2017, SM Prime would already have 67 malls nationwide

NU is currently at the planning stage of the planned expansion.

“There is so much regulatory requirements, certain academic standards, that we have to deal with. We also have to deal with competition… but as I have said, I will not allow any problem or issues to stop us from going,” Sy added.

It was in 2008 when the SM Group of Companies acquired majority ownership of NU, one of the country’s oldest universities.

Before his “semi-retirement,” Sy served as president of SMPH since 2004 and was replaced by Jeffrey Lim who took over the company’s leadership last October 1.

NU started to build the first sports academy in the country in April this year.

Located in a billion peso worth of prime land in Calamba, Laguna, the academy would offer graduate degrees in sports fields such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, and others.

“This is a sole undertaking of the National University but after which, once this is done, we can go partnership [with government and other sport institutions]. It would be much easier,” Sy said in an earlier interview.

Sy specified the facility will be developed in various stages and according to international standards.

He said the academy will not only be open to train professional teams here in the Philippines but also foreign professional players that will be interested to do their training and team building activities in the country.