[BizSights] How SM rebuilt NU and made it the biggest school in UAAP

Before the SM Group bought a controlling stake in National University (NU) in 2008, NU had only one campus, in Sampaloc, Manila, with around 1,800 students. It also wasn’t doing well financially and was having difficulty getting enrollees after a fire destroyed its main building in 1998.

NATIONALIANS. The NU Campus in Sampaloc, Manila. NU has produced three presidents: Diosdado Macapagal (College of Law), Carlos Garcia (College of Law), and Fidel V. Ramos (civil engineering). Photo by NU 

Today, 17 years after the Sy family took over management of the school, it has around 84,000 students in 14 campuses with 4,000 faculty members. NU now has more students than the state university, UP (around 65,000 students for the whole UP system as of 2025).

NU is unofficially the biggest school in terms of student population among the eight schools in the UAAP, which include Adamson University, Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU), Far Eastern University (FEU), De La Salle University (DLSU), University of the East (UE), University of the Philippines (UP), and University of Sto. Tomas (UST).

FIRST IN VISAYAS. The NU opened its 13th campus, NU Cebu, in June 2025 in time for school year 2025 to 2026. The school is located in SM City Cebu, Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City. Photo by NU.

In the next two years, NU will add three more campuses: NU in Davao City, its 15th campus and its first in Mindanao, in 2026; NU in Iloilo City in 2027; and NU in Urdaneta, Pangasinan. It is also expanding four campuses: in NU Clark (Pampanga), NU Mall of Asia (Pasay), NU Fairview (Quezon City), and its main campus in Sampaloc, Manila.

MINDANAO CAMPUS. NU Davao is scheduled to open in SM Ecoland, Davao City in 2026. Photo by NU

NU, one of the founders of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), used to be the perennial doormat in the league. After the SM Group took over, it’s been dominating the UAAP Cheerdance competition, and it made history on Saturday, November 29, after winning its 9th crown overall, one more than UP and UST.

REPEAT. NU chairman Hans Sy and other school officers join the rest of the NU Pep Squad after the team won a record 9th UAAP Cheerdance title in Season 88 of the UAAP on November 29, 2025 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. Photo by UAAP Season 88 Media Team

In 2014, NU, under then-head coach Eric Altamirano, defeated FEU and won it’s second men’s basketball championship in UAAP Season 77 after a 60-year drought. As of Sunday, November 30, the NU Bulldogs had the best record in Season 88 of the men’s basketball tournament going into the Final Four games which start on Wednesday, December 3. (READ: NU championship is a dream come true for member of 1954 Bulldogs team)

NU has also been doing well in the now popular team sport of volleyball. The NU men’s team has won the past five UAAP volleyball championships, while the NU women’s team, led by star player Bella Belen, won the last two.

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How did the SM Group achieve these?

Many perhaps think it’s because the Sy family has a lot of money, but it can be argued that taipan Lucio Tan also has the resources, but has not had the same success for the UAAP school he owns, UE. So, while money is important, there are other factors at play.

A lofty, long-term goal 

SM founder Henry Sy’s college education was interrupted by World War II. He knew early on the importance of education as a great equalizer.

He had set his sights on buying his alma mater FEU, but talks with its controlling owners, the Montinola family, didn’t pan out. The SM Group, however, still has a minority stake in FEU. 

He then pursued merger talks with the owners of NU, founded by Mariano Fortunato Jhocson in 1900. The school is commemorating its 125th year this 2025 with a grand celebration and concert at SM MOA Sky Ampitheater on Friday, December 5.

DREAM. The National University’s success can be traced to the mission of SM founder, Henry Sy, to leave a legacy of quality affordable education. NU Facebook

After 10 years of merger talks, Sy bought a 60% majority stake in NU in 2008.

Hans, in a recent NU1900 podcast, said his late father had always been a believer in education, and wanted providing affordable quality education to be his legacy. 

Set targets, keep focused

The Sy patriarch, fondly called “Tatang,” was already 80 when the SM Group took over management of NU in 2008, and he assigned to his fourth child, Hans, the task of rebuilding NU. Hans is chairman of NU.

Meritocracy and a more professional management of NU was pushed, following the SM Group’s takeover. 

NU vice chairman and former NU president Teodoro J. Ocampo, a third-generation member of the Jhocson family, recalled that before the SM Group took over, all the key positions in NU were held by the children of the owners — from chairman, president, comptroller, registrar, athletic office, and purchasing office. 

“It was very close-knit, so you can imagine them not being open-minded to having partners,” he said in the NU podcast. After the SM Group took control, the original owners had to take a back seat. 

Not being an academic, Hans said his contribution to NU was to set the vision and the stategy. The academic side was delegated to now NU president and CEO Dr. Renato “RJ” Carlos Ermita Jr., who holds a doctorate in educational leadership and management from DLSU, Hans’ alma mater.

“In terms of the academe, it’s RJ who is the one behind those things. I don’t try to be somebody I’m not, so I get the right guys,” Hans said. “Business-wise, we control the cost and other things, academe-wise, he (RJ) takes charge of it.” 

PARTNERSHIP. NU chairman Hans Sy (2nd left), NU president Dr. Renato Carlos Ermita Jr. (right) and NU vice chairman Teodoro Ocampo (left) discuss how the school has grown under the SM Group in a November 2025 podcast hosted by Nationalian student-host Raven Doctor. Screenshot from NU Facebook

When the SM Group took over, the plan was to have 100,000 students by 2027, and it’s on track to meet that goal. Ermita said the goal is to make NU “truly national” by reaching out to more students. 

After determining NU’s main goals, Hans also laid out three key principles: stay focused on the goals and targets, and stay hungry in achieving the goals. “When you have both, there’s a good chance you will succeed,” he said, before adding the third principle, “And when you succeed, stay humble.” 

Riding on SM’s malls expansion

NU leveraged on the growth of SM Supermalls for its expansion. Hans said SM could have just donated money to fund more scholarships via its SM Foundation, but they decided on reaching out to more students by physically expanding the school.

Take the case of the P2.3-billion redevelopment of SM City Iloilo, expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2026. The expansion of the mall includes construction of 23,670 square meters for the NU Iloilo campus, set to open in 2027.

NU ILOILO. An artist’s render of the redeveloped SM City Iloilo and the NU Iloilo on top set to open in 2027. SM Prime Holdings

“As SM grows, NU grows as well, especially in the malls where we’re contributing to turning the mall into a community,” said Ermita in the NU podcast. “A school is an important component of any community. So the identity of the mall is also changing, it becomes younger, becomes vibrant. So the whole mall is like a campus of NU, in a sense, because you see our students being seen all over the mall.” 

For students, there are also advantages in having a school that is part of a mall. “Being within SM complexes gives our students immediate access to essential services like public transport, bookstores, and dining areas…,” said Ermita in an SM Investments Corporation November 17 press release.

SM’s pricing strategy

In line with Henry Sy’s wish to reach out to more students, NU follows SM’s affordable pricing policy which has contributed to SM’s overall success in retail. 

“Typical SM. It’s not the margin, it’s the volume,” Hans said in the podcast. He said this was the same tack taken by SM when it expanded its malls, especially outside Metro Manila. 

“I remember, when we started to go out of Manila, my father’s order was I want same price in all areas….,” he recalled his father telling him. “Just run it [NU] like a business, just make sure it’s affordable with quality.” 

The NU is among the most affordable among private non-sectarian schools with an average of P80,000 tuition per academic year. If compared to a June 2024 listing of tuition in select schools by personal finance platform MoneyMax, this is lower than DLSU’s average of around P205,000-P225,000 per year, and the Ateneo de Manila University’s average of P160,000-P180,000 per year. UP, of course, is the lowest among UAAP schools due to the free college education law.

“We did a balancing act. RJ was able to maintain the quality. How to ensure the quality is there, he has increased the organization. With the support of management, we’ve upgraded the salaries of faculty without really increasing much the tuition,” said Hans. 

Included in the pricing strategy is to upgrade the school’s facilities without being extravagant. 

“If you notice the campus, there’s nothing fancy, very basic, very simple but very functional,” Hans said. 

The pricing policy has paid off as NU has been able to significantly increase its student population. Hans said NU is now profitable, and since the mission is to make education affordable, NU has been converted into a non-stock, non-profit institution. “This means half of the income goes to faculty development, the other half goes to school development,” he said. 

On the academic side, the NU made it for the first time in the latest QS or Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings 2026, a provider of analytics in the global higher education sector. The QS Rating assesses higher education institutions based on global standards, and helps students decide which university is best for them. NU was ranked 21st among Philippine universities and 185th in Southeastern Asia.

NU secured a QS 3 Stars Rating overall with 5 Stars in employability, 4 Stars in teaching, 4 Stars in social impact, 4 Stars in facilities, and 4 Stars in good governance.

Likewise, Ermita said NU also adopted SM’s strategy that puts a premium on customer service in its operations like the school registrar. 

“Because NU is part of SM, the assumption really is that number 1, we are very good in customer service, so we always challenge our people, that’s the expectation,” he said. 

Restoring school pride

When the SM Group took over, given the doormat reputation of the school, there was low pride in being associated with NU. 

That’s no longer the case. How did NU restore school pride? 

Hans said he used sports as a marketing tool and to shortcut the process of attracting more students to enroll in NU, given that it would take longer to achieve this academic-wise. 

He also stressed the relationship between the size of a school population and sports. 

“When we came in, it was just over 1,000 students only. How can you choose athletes with 1,000 population? Right now, it’s easy, we’re 85,000 students so it’s a lot easier to choose good athletes now,” he told his godson, basketball coach and sports analyst, Charles Tiu, in a recent BNC interview.

Then-NU athletics director and veteran PBA player Joaquin “Chito” Loyzaga, in a Rappler article “Who let the NU Bulldogs out?” cited the following reasons for the success of the NU sports program:

• First, Hans asked his friends to help the school in its various sports programs. These were people who were passionate about a particular sport and who poured not just much-needed resources, but also time to improve the school’s standing.
• Second, a clear development program for the particular sport.
• Third, having the right person to execute the program, which included hiring Loyzaga as athletics director in 2015.

Another good hire was FEU alumna Ghicka Bernabe, who led the NU Pep Squad to seven championships in nine seasons before retiring as head coach in 2022. Before the SM Group took over in 2008, NU was in last place in the UAAP Cheerdance from 2002 to 2008.

Dr. Otie Camangian, currently the NU sports and athletics director, also took note of the role played by Hans in the sports program. 

“He’s very hands on,” Camangian said in the BNC interview. “As much as his schedule permits…in pep rallies, he’s there; in athletes’ recognition, he’s there; in [UAAP] games, he’s there. He takes time talking to athletes, having selfies with them, very fatherly-like approach, which is very inspiring to athletes.” 

NINJA. NU chairman Hans Sy claps after watching the NU Pep Squad’s ninja-inspired routine during Season 88 of the UAAP Cheerdance competition on November 29, 2025, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. Screenshot from One Sports YouTube

Today, graduating high school students, given a choice of which university to go to, no longer have just AdMU, DLSU, UST, or UP in mind but NU too. This was a goal which Loyzaga mentioned back in 2015 after NU won the men’s basketball tournament.

And this is one aspect that Hans is particularly proud of. “Like what I’m doing with NU, the biggest turnaround I was able to do with NU is when I made the students proud of their school,” he said.

And, there’s no stopping the SM Group from further expanding the school. It plans to have 20 NU campuses by 2028. UP currently has 17 campuses.

“People tease us: do we intend to have as many campuses as SM’s (89) malls?” said Ermita. “The answer I always give is, as long as there are students in a particular area who are not served and are not given an opportunity to study well, we will try our best to be there.”

Hans added: “People would now say, ‘Wow, you guys…you’ve made it already. But I say, no, we’re just starting.”

At the rate the NU is expanding, it will likely be the biggest school in the whole country, not just in the UAAP. In a few years, it will be overtaking the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (with a population of 97,000). – Rappler.com

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