Sandals Resorts International (SRI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with The University of the West Indies (The UWI) and Florida International University's (FIU) Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management to create the Gordon 'Butch' Stewart International School of Hospitality & Tourism.  It will become the first institute of higher learning aimed exclusively at the study of hospitality and tourism in the Caribbean, where the industry is a main economic driver.

A cutting-edge, research-led facility, the fully accredited Gordon 'Butch' Stewart International School of Hospitality & Tourism will provide undergraduate and post-grad students from all over the world with an immersive learning and real-life training experience, connecting the academic excellence of The UWI and FIU with meaningful opportunities to apply their studies outside the classroom.

According to Adam Stewart, executive chairman of SRI and son of Sandals Resorts founder, the late Gordon "Butch" Stewart, the new school fulfills a lifelong dream of his father to create opportunity through education and demonstrate the ability of the region to lead the international tourism and hospitality conversation.

Set to debut online for the Fall 2022 semester, The Gordon "Butch" Stewart International School of Hospitality of Tourism will be located at the Western Jamaica Campus of The University of the West Indies in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where plans to break ground are underway and completion set for 2023.

Stewart shared, "My father believed in learning by experience – 'on-the-job training,' as he often put it. As a consummate entrepreneur and a lifelong dreamer, he knew success was born beyond the boardroom, found instead in moments of exploration and discovery.  It is this understanding that will inspire the world-class curriculum we're creating that puts students in real-world experiences as part of their development.  It's an education my dad would've appreciated very much."