Dr Robin Maraj focuses on alternative education

“I noticed what was being delivered wasn’t relevant to the emerging IT environment. Not only at that, you have to remember at that time, you either did a program at The University of the West Indies or you went to the other end of the teaching spectrum into trade and vocational type programs. So, the system was catering to the 15% of the brightest students in the traditional academic sense, but losing all these other very intelligent people due to lack of opportunity simply because they learnt differently,” he notes.

This year, the SBCS Global Learning Institute celebrates 30 years in the field of education and has become a pinnacle for continued and alternative education due to Dr Maraj’s ability to predict the needs of the future – a school system that catered to that other 85% of learners, but did so not by changing the teaching format, but the learning format. Starting with just a three-month course on Santa Cruz Road in San Juan, the school immediately grew due to what he saw as a combination of the deep recession being experienced at the time and the desire for people to re-tool their education or upskill their existing experience and qualifications.

“We believed in the ‘know what’ and the ‘know how’ so it wasn’t just about supplying a theoretical education and approach, but also providing the right learning environment for courses that were practical and industry relevant.” In 1990, the school moved to its flagship location, the prominent site in Champs Fleurs and has expanded over the 27 years that followed with three other campuses: at Trincity, San Fernando and Port-of-Spain.

The buildings are well-known, sometimes loved and equally derided, but that was also part of the larger vision to be different, set out by Dr Maraj who now serves as Executive Director and Founder for the global learning institute. “It’s a little bit of controlled chaos, we didn’t want grey or white walls with a whiteboard and some desks, we wanted a learning environment that was warm and inviting, one that reflected the reality of the controlled chaos that exists in the real world, that veered away from linear spaces and linear thinking,” he points out.

“We also knew that we couldn’t be the largest institution in the country especially marketing budget-wise, so we created buildings that were unique, to attract students who would be graduates that are equally unique.

It was a brave step, but we had the confidence to build it and the courage to inhabit it and today it’s part of our overall aim to be different, to think different and teach in alternate ways that produce higher-quality, work-ready graduates!” His overall approach relies heavily on producing life-long learners, as he points out that traditional education systems locally are teacher-centric and not learner-centric and that doesn’t work for everyone.

“In Brazil, there was a social experiment; taking people who sold flowers on the streets; who could calculate totals and derive the figure for change for a customer on-thego, but when presented with the same Maths problems in a traditional classroom setting, could not replicate it as easily. Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences points to this, noting seven distinct intelligences, which really points out that everyone learns differently, so we aim to create a space and eco-system that delivers that – from the motivational posters you would find across all campuses to the open-door policy and friendliness of our administration staff and right up to the classroom. It’s an SBCS community from the moment you set foot in any of our campus locations.” As his role expanded, his own learning continued. Formally, he received a Doctorate (HC) in 2008 from Heriot Watt University, but his learning never ceases, as demonstrated by his office’s bookshelf, filled with trade magazines in business and the business of education along with a dozen or so heavier tomes. His transition from teacher to his role as Founder and Executive Director was one he found easier with two guiding principles: “Communication and collaboration! You can’t accomplish a thing without getting your vision out to a whole lot of good people and then working with them to get that collaboration going. You also have to have the full construct when you’re at the top of any organization; even if you do not understand all aspects of the organisation, say accounting and finance, it does not mean you are not responsible for these areas. It is total responsibility and not everyone understands that responsibility.” As the school continues to grow, it has expanded not only in terms of locations, facilities and program offerings (such as their expanded engineering field offerings and the new engineering labs), but also in their number for international affiliations with global university partners including the University of Leicester, University of Greenwich and University of London among others. “We are continuing to improve and invest, adding programs that are digging deeper into the needs of our society. Education is one of the keys to building a civil society and we see ourselves as having a big role in contributing to that. We need engineers yes, but we also need facilities managers to upkeep these buildings and persons that can work or even start a business in the smallest aspects of a building, such as maintaining an elevator or escalator system,” he notes.

Though not slated to be as large a celebration as their 25th Anniversary, SBCS Global Learning Institute will be focusing on the hosting of a Teaching and Learning Conference in early April, which will be looking at the very nature of education and learning, making use of a number of local graduates who completed the Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education.

A fantastic take-away from the story of the SBCS is that it was founded in the middle of quite possibly, this country’s worst recession and no doubt, the next 30 years are equally assured a measure of success, given Dr Maraj’s prescient vision.

Dr Robin Maraj, Founder and Executive Director of SBCS Global Learning Institute.

SBCS Founder and Executive Director Dr Robin Maraj describes the institution’s physical environment as “one that reflected the reality of the controlled chaos that exists in the real world, that veered away from linear spaces and linear thinking.” The new Engineering Lab at SBCS, Champs Fleurs.