IAMU News - Special Edition
SATAKUNTA POLYTECHNIC SECTOR FOR TECHNOLOGY AND MARITIME MANAGEMENT
The postgraduate degree programme for professionals with experience at sea by Satakunta Polytechnic
A new higher degree education programme has been designed at Satakunta Polytechnic for the master mariners, marine engineers and professionals of maritime logistics. The new master's degree in shipping is comparable with the higher University master's degree. It is aimed for those who deal with shipping from a shore organisation or who have such career prospects e.g shipping company managers, superintendents, ship brokers, chartering brokers or marine insurance brokers.
The Finnish higher education system consists of two sectors: universities and polytechnics. The polytechnics are more practically oriented, training professionals for expert and development posts.
Finnish polytechnics, which are either municipal or private, are co-financed by the government and the local authorities. Satakunta Polytechnic is an institution of professional higher education operating in the region of Satakunta in western Finland. The total number of students is about 6,500. Number of students in short term education programme is 450. The number of polytechnic degrees awarded annually is approx.800. Operating expenses are over 34 million Euros and the total number of staff members is 530, full time 310.
Satakunta Polytechnic Maritime Management offers its students both long traditions and modern education. Maritime training in Rauma is celebrating its 125th Anniversary on 6-7 October 2005 by organizing the125th Anniversary Maritime conference & exhibition (see www.mr.samk.fi).
Management and leadership are both important issues already at the bachelor level as the sea captain's duty is to work as a "managing director" of the ship. A new higher degree education programme has been designed at Satakunta Polytechnic for the master mariners, marine engineers and specialists of maritime logistics. This postgraduate degree programme is for those who have already taken a polytechnic degree or an equivalent degree and who have at least three years of working experience. The new master's degree in shipping is comparable with the higher University master's degree. It is aimed primarely for those who deal with shipping from a shore organisation or who have such career prospects e.g shipping company managers, superintendents, ship brokers, chartering brokers, marine insurance brokers etc.
Persons who move from ships to the shore organisation of the shipping company usually need a lot of supplementary education in legal issues such as, maritime law, contracts of affreightment, charter parties and marine insurance. Compliance with the international and national rules and legislation has to be adhered by those who work in shipping organisations. It is their job to assist also those who are at sea in application of these rules and regulations to the operation of a particular ship. The legal part of the new degree is based on the Scandinavian and English Maritime law and their jurisdiction.
Shipping business needs also professionals with operational background in marketing, business relations and commercial issues. Chartering, ship sales, ship finance, mortgages and registrations are vital issues and interesting specialisation areas for maritime professionals.
Information technology and automation play an important role in modern marine transportation. A significant part of the new education programme deals with information and safety technology. The persons at the management level of shipping companies must be aware of the safety effects of automation and they should know the principles of different risk evaluation and safety management techniques. The shipping companies need to develop a safety culture, which effectively takes into account these aspects.
The modern learning environments form an effective and meaningful forum for learning. The teaching methods comprise of lectures, distance learning, seminars, on-site visits, individual studies and R&D work. The virtual learning environment will enable the delivery of study materials and assignments, real-time discussions, guidance, tutoring and mentoring. The library's electronic databases, professional journals and document collections will be valuable tools in R&D work.
The length of the programme is 90 ECTS and it will be arranged so that students can stay in working life during the training as done earlier in our adult training programmes with good feedback from students and shipping companies. Close connections to the working life are ensured through thesis projects. All studying costs are covered by the Government and the programme will commence at the beginning of September 2006. In the beginning the programme will be partly in English but the aim is to offer the whole postgraduate degree programme in English in the near future.
by Kirsi Aalto, Sauli Ahvenjärvi, Heikki Koivisto and Peter Sandell
