How LCI Education is moving higher education from transaction to transformation

This is a sponsored article created by LCI Education

The higher-educational world has changed. Whether that was the result of our shared pandemic experience or a natural progression in what is required to build a career, the industry and learners are asking for more than lectures and textbooks. So how is LCI Education changing the way students learn? 

A global perspective 

LCI Education runs 12 higher-education institutions across six continents. We have campuses in locations including Vancouver, Montreal, Melbourne, Marrakech, Bogotá and Jakarta.   

With more than 65 years helping learners turn their passions into a career they’ll be proud of, we educate more than 20,000 students each year, from 130 countries. Our 320 degree programmes, spanning the creative industries, commerce and leadership, as well as the humanities, science and engineering, are taught in six languages: English, French, Spanish, Catalan, Arabic and Bahasa. We don’t know of any other Canadian higher-education institutions that have the same global footprint – and a physical campus presence in so many countries. 

With representatives around the world liaising with student support and admissions groups from China to Mexico and from Brazil to Morocco, LCI Education has learned from students, their families and industry-hiring partners globally what needs to go into a programme or course to deliver real value to learners.  

The world is your classroom 

At LCI Education, the community of campuses operates as a family. When Covid closed so many borders, LCI’s campuses adapted in the home countries of aspiring professionals – places like Costa Rica, Indonesia and Morocco – expanding their intake and offerings to bring the essential learning experience required to the people who would be affected most. This enables these learners to continue striving to reach their goals, despite the challenges ahead.  

This dynamic global perspective has brought a new lens to how each school looks at the student experience. The education group has redesigned their identity around the core message: “the world is your classroom.” This has become part of their DNA – a commitment to delivering world-class education to every learner with big career aspirations.  

This message is best explored by looking to LCI’s new Canadian or European flagship campuses in Vancouver and Barcelona, which have been meticulously crafted to provide an enviable learning environment, and are already winning architectural awards and redefining how students unlock their passion and earn their degrees. 

World-class facilities 

This goes beyond investing in physical infrastructure – this is an investment in our world’s future leadership. These institutions have been built in the belief that they will train the creative directors, CEOs and founders of new innovative brands. We’ve just opened a new campus in Barcelona this year with applied learning labs and a high commitment to new technology. This campus will serve as our European hub.  

LCI Education will also be unveiling a new flagship creative campus for Western Canada, slated for a summer 2025 opening. This purpose-built, 108,000-square-foot creative campus has been master-planned as a playground where aspiring designers, musicians, chefs, artists and filmmakers can explore new and incredible ways to bring their ideas to life. 

The Vancouver building will conform to wellness standards, accessibility standards and environmental standards. Eighty-five percent of the building receives natural light and offers ample indoor-outdoor spaces for students to find inspiration or unwind. With amenities like a rooftop meditation garden, a showstopping suspended theatre and state-of-the-art labs and studios for creative students taking subjects from fashion to music, as well as an industry-leading culinary and baking kitchen, this new campus is redefining what creative education looks like. 

New builds like LCI Barcelona and LaSalle College Vancouver are setting the standard for how LCI Education invests in the future of learning. We’re educating students for the future – so we need to be forward-looking, too.  

Responding to the market 

A recent shift in priorities among Generations Z and Alpha means that the institutions are moving to accelerated degrees, as these new learners value the ability to get into market fast and start working. LaSalle College Vancouver’s new study model, for example, allows students to graduate a year ahead of their public-university counterparts pursuing the same degree. This enables them to begin their journeys as paid professionals while their colleagues are still paying for school. 

The college provides additional support by providing extended payment amortisation, so that students don’t need to start paying back their loans until they’ve started working – which is uncommon for Canada. LCI Education is doing all it can to put the student first. 

A public-private hybrid 

There is value for learners in attaining a degree from an organisation that is a public-private hybrid. We offer everything that public universities provide – counselling, student life, recreation opportunities. We prioritise mental-health support; the student experience is very much a focus for us.  

For example, when international students arrive in Canada, we sort everything out for them: health insurance, a transit card, housing options. Being private means that as well as matching the public universities’ offer, we can provide private-sector level customer service, responsiveness and adaptation to market conditions. 

When a cohort of students displayed interest in starting a cricket team, LCI Education decided to bring it to life that month – students now compete in post-secondary leagues, and we’re as adaptable and high touch with extracurriculars as we are with supporting student success.  

LCI Education is designed for passionate learners who want to grow personally and really take advantage of their instructor's expertise to go the extra mile.