Category: Eikaiwa

Nova Corp., reeling from a fraudulent-advertising scandal, is considering shutting down at least 200 out of its about 900 school branches around late September to turn around its operations, sources close to the matter said Thursday. The nation’s largest English-language school operator plans to close mainly money-losing school branches, but the company is being compelled…

Major English language teaching chain NOVA is considering shutting down a large number of schools, it emerged on Thursday. NOVA’s income from lesson fees has decreased since the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry issued the language school a partial business suspension order over its practices. Because of this, the school is apparently pushing for…

HUNDREDS of foreign teachers of English in Japan were anxiously awaiting overdue wages from the Nova language school yesterday, amid speculation that the corporate giant was close to collapse. The country’s foreign workers’ union said it could “only hedge a guess that up to 3000” English teachers, many of them young Australians, went without pay…

Nova Corp., the nation’s largest language school chain, said Friday its sales for the April-June period plunged 31.9 percent to ¥9.3 billion, reflecting the difficulty the troubled firm is experiencing in luring new students. Nova’s image took a beating in June when the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry ordered the Osaka-based company to partially…

The NOVA chain of conversation schools — whose slogan is “ekimae ryugaku” (study abroad in front of the train station) — operates roughly half the English conversation schools in Japan. Earlier this year, in response to a stream of bitter customer complaints, the Ministry of Trade, Economy and Industry and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government investigated…

Major travel agency H.I.S. Co. is considering extending assistance to the scandal-tainted Nova Corp. language school chain in the form of a business tieup or financial assistance, sources said Monday. H.I.S. Chairman Hideo Sawada met with Nova President Nozomu Sahashi late last month in Tokyo to ask about Nova’s financial conditions, according to the sources.…

Major travel agency H.I.S. Co. may form an alliance with Nova Corp., the English conversation school operator struggling under a government order to partially suspend operations, sources said. H.I.S., known for its sales of discount airline tickets, is leaning toward providing financial support to the nation’s largest conversational English school in return for a chance…

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry issued a document in June 2002 that tolerated English conversation school industry leader Nova Corp.’s controversial practice of minimizing refunds of students who terminated their contracts, according to sources close to the issue. Four months before the document was issued, the Tokyo metropolitan government began its own administrative procedures…

Nova Corp. President Nozomu Sahashi on Thursday refused to resign from the top post at the largest English-language school operator in Japan over a scandal involving exaggerated advertisements. His refusal came in response to a call for his resignation from Nova shareholders who asked him at their annual meeting to resign to take responsibility for…