THIS year is shaping up to be a trailblazing one for the Sandals Corporate University (SCU) as it celebrates another impressive award win from the Global Council of Corporate Universities (Global CCU).

SCU, which, since its inception, has dedicated its efforts to implementing bold ideas and impactful learning solutions in hospitality training, received the bronze award for Best Corporate University in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Implementations — the second win following its 2023 bronze award for the Best Corporate University in the Business Impact Category.

The Global CCU is an international organisation dedicated to advancing the corporate university profession. With members in 58 countries across five continents, it fosters benchmarking, knowledge-sharing and global networking through its dedicated platform.

It also recognises excellence through the Global CCU Awards and offers performance validation through its unique certification.

Hosted this year in Paris, France, the Global CCU Awards ceremony celebrated with corporate universities which have performed at the highest level of excellence and created value for people, business, society, and the planet.

The award, which was collected by SCU’s Corporate Manager Mark Frederick and E-Learning Administrator Sheida Housen, comes almost two years after the corporate university joined forces with virtual and augmented reality software developer EON Reality to enhance their educational offerings and immerse team members in interactive hospitality training experiences.

“To the extended SCU team, both in the corporate office and on our resorts across the Caribbean, we thank you for believing in us, for your commitment and dedication to innovation, and the possibilities of new ideas as we continue to do more impactful work with this new technology,” said Housen as she accepted the award on behalf of the SCU.

Honoured among a pool of 22 universities, SCU’s recognition comes as it continues to merge cutting-edge technology with ethical responsibility.

The Global CCU Advisory and Judging Committee lauded SCU for its forward thinking and strategic integration of GenAI. Special mention was made of the university’s involvement in programmes like the AI Governance Initiative and its impactful outreach, reflecting the university’s commitment to transformative growth for both its team members and the wider community.

Elated with the win, Dr Luz Longsworth, senior corporate director of the SCU, spoke on its significance.

“This particular award is very special to us. We started integrating AI into our training model only two years ago. This category is also brand new for the Global CCU and so we are among the first three recipients ever,” said Dr Longsworth.

The only corporate university of its kind in the Caribbean, SCU has blazed a trail in corporate education, offering, through its platforms and training opportunities, more than 2,000 programmes geared towards enhancing the skill sets of Sandals and Beaches team members, its partners and communities.

“In terms of the future of AI Technology in learning and development, the SCU will continue to evolve. We are doing quite a lot of training even of our own team members. We have only just scratched the surface of the capacity to use AI in an ethical and human-centred way to improve training, performance, and also to support other departments and resorts in how they can improve their performance and the guest experience,” added Dr Longsworth.