Tourism sector workers can pursue US university online courses free

by Linda Straker

• West Indies School of Hospitality collaborates with eCornell University
• All participants will be granted a scholarship that will cover the full course
• Over 6,000 courses will be offered at 100% scholarship

Three investors with projects in the tourism sector have come together and developed what they describe as a vision to provide educational opportunities for people working in the tourism sector who have a desire to pursue further education.

Founding partners of the West Indies School of Hospitality are Barry Collymore, Danny Fakhre and Naguib Sawiris, owner of Silversands Grenada hotel. “I am really happy that we have come together to form the West Indies School of Hospitality in collaboration with eCornell University,” Collymore said during a ceremony at Silversands on Tuesday, 20 April 2020 to officially launch the project.

eCornell is Cornell University’s online education department, and both eCornell and Cornell University are located in Ithaca, New York. Cornell provides online certificate programmes across marketing, management, hospitality, human resources and more.

“It is a big thing for Grenada and the Caribbean,” said Collymore who is the current Chairman of the Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA). He said discussions on the project began over a year ago between himself and Fakhre who both wanted to come up with a project that would improve the tourism sector. “What we have put together here is an interesting programme. It’s a programme which allows persons in the hospitality and service sector to get access to eCornell courses which are indeed the best in the world,” he said.

People working in the Hospitality sector through their place of employment will be able to access eCornell courses that are directly relevant and can impact their position of employment.

All participants will be granted a scholarship that will cover the full course because of the financial support Sawiris will be investing in the tourism educational sector. Collymore said over 6,000 courses will be offered at 100% scholarship.

Collymore said, “There are different kinds of eCornell courses. Owners of businesses can sit with the team at Innovate Inc and design a course path for a set number of staff. It’s a way of improving education throughout the hospitality sector.” Collymore is also a director and partner of the hotel and tourism development company called The West Indies Management Company. “We think it’s a win win. We think it will improve the competitiveness and knowledge of the workforce.”

Collymore has also worked in a lead development role on several large tourism projects in Grenada including the building and development of Port Louis and all the marina facilities.

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