Our Story
Always Looking Forward: Our Legacy of Evolution
What’s in a name? Our name – SBCS Global Learning Institute – tells the story of our evolution; a story that dates back to 1987 when our Founder and Executive Director embarked on a mission to realise the full potential of our nation’s most valuable natural resource, its people, through education and training.
The Early Years 1987-1990
SBCS, then known as the School of Business and Computer Science, opened in San Juan in February 1987. At that time, thousands of people were essentially locked out of tertiary education because of the limited number of inflexible options. SBCS was able to, from small beginnings, assist working people in getting a world-class education while keeping their jobs. By broadening access to Higher Education, we were able to add more qualified people to the workforce who could apply current cutting edge practices to their local jobs. During the formative period 1987-1990, our reputation for flexibility and high-quality programmes grew exponentially.
Growth and Stability 1990-2016
With this growing reputation, we also began to expand both physically and in the number and kinds of education and training, we were able to offer. We moved our operation to a single-story building in Champs Fleurs in 1990, a facility which has since been constantly evolving into a modern campus for quality teaching and learning. Additional campuses in Port of Spain and San Fernando followed, and eventually, the Trincity campus merged the programmes from Port of Spain to become our Centre for Media, Communications and Design. Along with Media & Communications, we expanded in diverse areas such as Health & Safety, Engineering and Technical and Vocational training.
The Future: Going Global 2017-
Our reputation for deep partnerships with world-renowned Universities and Institutions continues to grow. Added to this, we have developed programmes that are accepted locally and internationally. Our outlook has evolved to one that looks out to the global society. Through our partnerships, we presently teach via online learning an increasingly diverse and international student body spread across 150 countries, and in recognition of this in 2019, we rebranded ourselves as SBCS Global Learning Institute. As technology brings the global community closer, we strive to play our part in this new community of teaching and learning.
Our journey has not been easy, but extraordinary accomplishment rarely is. Our resilience has been a hallmark of our existence to date, as through trials and testing we have learned, grown and matured. Of note, during the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020, institutes of learning had to rapidly switch teaching and learning to online. This required lecturers and learners to quickly master the use of learning management systems and distance learning communication software products. SBCS GLI through our experience and expertise was well poised to make that shift with little disruption to the experience of our learners.
So, just as the education landscape keeps changing, so do we.
From the beginning, our story has been about looking forward; now, together, let’s help you write yours.