The search for a new partner for Bermuda College's Stonington Hotel is to begin in earnest this month.

President Dr. Michael Orenduff said yesterday that advertisements were to appear in both the local press and the Hotel Trade Journal within the next couple of weeks in a hunt for a well-known training or hospitality player.

He said it was hoped a partner could be found to help manage the Stonington Hotel and transform the college's hospitality course into an international training centre.

And he said it was hoped plans to build halls of residence on the campus could come to fruition to enable the college to take overseas students, pushing the tourism roll back up to 150, instead of the diminished numbers it sees today.

He said the plans to expand the college were still very much alive, despite the slump in business since the attacks on America on September 11.

However, he said he realised that now might not be the best time for a hotel chain to invest in the college, but said he hoped to find some interest in the plans for a later date.

Dr. Orenduff said: "We are still very much working on the hotel, in particular integrating the hotel and the college. There has been an iron curtain between the two in the past, but we plan to bring it down.

"At the time it (college and hotel) was built 21 years ago, we had 158 students doing hospitality. Now there are about 20. I don't think that we have yet managed to counter the belief that tourism is a dying industry. It's not a dying industry - it's not as healthy as it was, but it's not going to die."

Dr. Orenduff said the college was not looking for a new manager to look after the hotel, but instead was searching for a new partner.

He added: "The board has decided to put out a request for proposals to see if there are people that want to partner with us in the management of the hotel.

"It might be that a training institution, such as Cornell, which is very famous in the US, might link with us. Or, it could be a hotel chain, such as Hyatt, or a local chain, we don't really know. But we are going to put an ad in the Hotel Trade Journal and local press, and we will see how much interest there is,

"However, since September 11, it may not be the best time to get people to come in and invest in the hotel.

"If we don't get proposals, we can try again in six months or a year. But we are asking people to respond with an expression of interest by November 15. We can then go into further detail later."

The college hopes to build two halls of residence to enable both people from the Island and overseas to live on the campus while studying at the college.

Dr. Orenduff said he hoped the college would be able to borrow the cash for the project, with the aim of paying it back out of student rent.

But it would enable students from the Caribbean, Canada, North American and the UK to study hospitality in a hands-on environment on an Island that promotes itself as one of the safest and most beautiful destinations in the world.

At the moment, the college offers a two-year degree programme in hospitality, however, with the right partner and halls of residence, it could be extended to a four-year programme, and even a student exchange programme could be launched.

He added: "The hotel has a good occupancy rate during the peak season - at about 90 percent - so it's not been a revenue problem. The losses have only been about five percent of the revenue, but still the hotel should not be losing money, it should be making it.

"Increasing the students coming in, expanding, and finding new partners, should get us back on the right track again."