Imagine setting up a company and having to successfully sell fashion accessories, computer gadgets, self-designed T-shirts, food & beverage and stationery during a 5-day trading period.

Imagine being judged on profitability, creativity of business proposal, completeness of accounting records, formal presentation, and still rake in RM14,000 in the process.

Imagine pitting your management and business skills against industry experts, working executives, MBA students and coming out tops in a business game.

Imagine being given toilet-rolls, envelopes and chicken eggs as creative bases to produce saleable goods for a fund-raising campaign.

Imagine these students starting from scratch, seeking cash-and-kind sponsorship, planning publicity, managing manpower, finances, and even audience entertainment, in the end culminating in RM10,000 net-profit in three days.

The above examples are not a figment of one’s imagination but they represent some of the real life examples used in Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR) College to facilitate problem-based learning (PBL) and experiential learning.

Today, many higher education institutions are moving away from the traditional “chalk-and-talk” teaching method and towards PBL, which is a more innovative and learner-centred educational method. In PBL, the students become increasingly independent of the teacher and assume increasing responsibility for their learning.

In fact, PBL is one of the many interesting topics that would be presented at the forthcoming International Conference on Learning and Teaching (TIC) 2008 organized by TAR College this August.