Resumen de Particularities of the maritime higher education system as part of the maritime transport engineering studies
Kristofor Lapa, Agron Dukaj, Erald Aliko
High education in maritime field is a special field of engineering education. The special features of this field of education, originate from the existence of an international standard established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) which is mandatory for all universities. It is intertwined with the national curricula, which also are required by national education standards. Starting from 2010, the Maritime Branch of the University of Vlore has been part of various projects financed from the World Bank, the Government of Norway and the European Community. The purpose of these projects is the unification and the increase of theoretical preparation and training level of students through: • Improvement of academic staff through training and certification on the use of simulators, mutual meetings at partner universities, improvement and standardization of literature, • Review of existing curricula and their restructuring in accordance with international standards. • Increasing the capacities of students through enhanced laboratory and didactic materials (emphasis on simulators). • Increasing the training hours on board to comply with the international standards. • Training of students aspiring to be employed in the maritime industry by opening the Maritime Training Center at the University of Vlore. • We expect that the achievement of these objectives will increase the student employment opportunities in the maritime industry, domestic and international. By applying this contemporary program combined with fully integrated training sessions on board, we will provide the best chance of student employment in the European commercial fleet. The main aim of this paper is to share ideas and opinions with the academic community regarding the integration of training in the curriculum of general engineering.
