HLSCC Client Spotlight
The Caribbean continues to be one of the global pioneers in adopting progressive, sustainable policies and strategies. Sometimes, that can take the form of deep strategic review of one’s brand, and revealing the gold that is already present. In the British Virgin Islands, H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) has stood the test of time, building a legacy honouring its iconic Founder, the late Hugh Lavity Stoutt, with considerable contribution to the territory.
At this point in time, HLSCC is reimagining traditional educational models and in doing so, embodying the best and most resilient traits of the region. We worked with HLSCC’s brand and communications strategy development team, and made inspiring discoveries in the process of providing brand strategy reports.
Re-Engineering Education
Alongside traditional tertiary education programs, the College offers Work Force Training in the form of their Associates and Short Course Programmes. To do this effectively, the College deconstructed typical education models, and reverse-engineered them by holding consistent dialogue with the BVI private sector, and developing courses around their needs. This equips students to be not only highly competent following their graduation, but readily employable. This innovative model, coupled with externships that allow students to work in the private sector as part of their education experience shows phenomenal student retention rates in the work force, averaging over 80% for most of their Work Force Programs.
Developing the Blue Economy
One of the more notable initiatives the College has aligned itself with is the development of the Blue Economy. The Blue Economy is an evolving development approach centred on utilizing oceans for their full economic potential. It seeks to promote economic growth, social inclusion and the preservation or improvement of livelihoods while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability of the oceans. The combination of environmental sustainability. The British Virgin Islands outlined its plan to develop its own Blue Economy in its Virgin Islands Strategic Blue Economy Roadmap 2020-2025.
Photo Credit: Shane Gross
Economic viability and environmental sustainability is a must for many Small Island Developing States, which are most at risk of experiencing the effects of climate change. HLSCC aligned its strategies around this through its innovative courses in Maritime Studies Offerings such as Mangrove Reforestation, among various other activities. In our consultations with HLSCC, the President of the College, Richard Georges, reflected on the need for sustainable and eco-conscious practices to be integrated into all their Maritime Studies offerings. He commented that although there are international standards and policies for practices like Underwater Welding, training the students to surpass these standards in regards to Maritime Waste Management is necessary in the development of a true Blue Economy.
The British Virgin Islands and furthermore, the College, through these initiatives will contribute to the regional intellectual development around sustainable economic practice within educational institutions - a necessity for climate sensitive regions.
Brand Strategy Alignment
Dr. Richard Georges, President, HLSCC
Yvonne Crabbe, Dir. of Institutional Advancement, HLSCC
Vijay Chitnis, Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives, HLSCC
Giselle Carr, Founder, Stardust Life-Centered Design
Christopher Collens, Collaborator, Stardust Life-Centered Design
We worked with an already existing team of independent / remote consultants, alongside internal HLSCC team members. We were initially brought in to amplify communications of the impact of the College’s innovation and re-engineered education model. The process of doing so included conducting interviews with key internal and external stakeholders, along with individuals regionally aligned with the economic sectors the College was set on developing. Through these interviews and digging deeper into existing data from the college and within the region, a clearer picture of the College’s existing brand became apparent, as well as the opportunity spaces for it to occupy in future. Over time, a clear strategy as to how HLSCC fits into the region, and its potential for positive impact was developed.
Through months of research and distillation, one insight truly stood out - HLSCC is an institution that meets the needs of its people and country, its “community”, in every sense of the word. By meeting the needs of its people, and by developing educational models that create deeper and enduring positive impact, the larger potential HLSCC has for the development of sustainable economic activity is immense.
The pride and joy felt by our team, working with such an ambitious and visionary institution, was palpable; we are excited for all that the future holds for HLSCC, and its continued evolution.
