Maritime Education and Training - The Future is Now!

Barrie Lewarn

Australian Maritime College Maritime Way, Australia

Lewarn

Abstract

Maritime education and training (MET) is, of course, but one sub-set of the wider education and training system in general and, as such, MET providers must be cognisant of both current educational practices and the wider environment within which education operates. To some extent MET is still coming to terms with the changes brought about by STCW 95 however, emerging shifts in education in general pose even greater challenges for educators and MET providers alike.

Following a brief review of the current approaches to the provision of MET the paper suggests that the changes which have occurred to date are relatively minor compared to the major changes which are beginning to sweep through the practice and provision of higher education in general. Education is rapidly becoming globalised, massified and increasingly treated as a commodity. Each of these issues is examined before detailed consideration is given to the implications for both educators and providers of maritime education and training.

Following the detailed consideration of the implications for MET the critical issue of how to turn these challenges into opportunities is examined and some solutions are postulated. These solutions provide some insights into how MET could create its own future.

The paper concludes that is the providers of MET do not start developing their own future in a coherent, structured and systematic way then others will impose it on them. MET providers will then, again, be faced with a situation similar to STCW 95 where educational change was imposed leaving the MET providers to deal with the positive and negative aspects of the imposed changes.