IAMU CHAIR'S NEWSLETTER NO. 1

Greetings from the Chair

Welcome to the inaugural IAMU Chair's Newsletter. I am keen during my term as Chair of IAMU to keep the membership informed of the various developments and to encourage as many members to get involved in the IAMU projects and activities as possible. I hope to produce the newsletter on about a monthly basis.

In this newsletter, there are brief information items on the 5th Annual General Assembly, the new Website, the IAMU Liquefied Natural Gas Initiative and the 6th Annual General Assembly planned for Malmo, Sweden in week 44 of 2005. In addition, there is information on new members, the recent review of IAMU by Dr Kiyoshi Hara and additional news about other important initiatives.

I am looking for additional information to put in the Newsletter, so please feel free to send me any important information about your institution, which you feel other members would find interesting. My contact is N.Otway@amc.edu.au

Also, please forward this newsletter to anyone who you feel may find it of some value.

Best wishes
Dr Neil Otway
Chair

News from the 5th Annual General Assembly held at the Australian Maritime College

The 5th Annual General Assembly was held at AMC and brought together around 100 delegates representing 33 members and observers from all over the world and included 20 student delegates. In addition to the Nippon Foundation, which is the major IAMU sponsor, the Assembly attracted sponsorship from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and Rheinmetall Defence Electronics. By all accounts the Assembly was a great success.

Unlike previous Assemblies, the student component was integrated with the main programme with the exception of a student debating competition focussing on current maritime issues. This was organised by AMC PhD student, Vinh Thai. Given that English was not the native language for many of the students, the level of cooperation and presentation was very good.

All delegates received a copy of the IAMU Report: 'A Survey of Maritime English Teaching Materials' prepared by Boris Pritchard of the University of Rijeka, Croatia. In addition to the 29 papers presented and published in the Proceedings and 15 student presentations, there were presentations on outcomes from the Project System together with presentations from Working Group Heads involved in the IAMU LNG Initiative (see below).

IAMU Launches its New Website

A key resource of IAMU has been the Website, which contains a range of useful information for members. However, the website has not been well publicised in the past and some of the information was not up to date. This has been rectified in the new website which is now available to members. Current and previous IAMU publications (IAMU news and the IAMU Journal and Annual General Assembly Proceedings), together with information on members and reports of working group and project activities, are available on the site. Please check it out at: iamu-edu.org

What is the IAMU LNG Initiative?

There is an anticipated doubling of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) trade in the next 4 to 6 years. IAMU members have identified that there will be a shortage of qualified high-level seafarers, thus IAMU has initiated "IAMU LNG Initiative", and brought this to the attention of the shipping industry, the maritime administrations of key countries (UK, USA, Japan and Korea) and the Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators (SIGTTO). The International Executive Committee of IAMU has determined that the Working Group structure will be integrated to provide solutions to the educational challenges that face the LNG operators. In particular, the Integrated Working Group is developing curricula for deck and engine officers that will enable them to meet the high standards required to operate LNG tankers. Odesa National Maritime Academy is leading the development of the engineering course requirements and Gdynia Maritime University is heading the development of the LNG deck officer courses. Meetings of key industry players, maritime administrations and IAMU have been held over the last six months and great progress is being made in developing solutions for the anticipated LNG demands over the next 6 years. The next step for this initiative is the hosting of a Round Table of key players in Tokyo in the first week of March 2005. This will be a critical meeting for confirming the full commitment of all operators and maritime administrations to this important issue.

Review of IAMU by Dr Kiyoshi Hara

After five years of operation, the Steering Board of IAMU decided that a review of achievements and areas of improvement should be undertaken. Dr Kiyoshi Hara, the honorary fellow of IAMU and one of the initiators of the Association, was asked to undertake this review. Dr Hara completed the review in October 2004 and presented the key findings to the members at the Annual General Assembly in Launceston, Tasmania. Whilst good progress has been made in a number of areas, Dr Hara found that some aspects of the IAMU operation needed to be improved. He has made some recommendations that will inform a strategic planning process that will be undertaken shortly. In particular, he has proposed that the International Executive Committee be expanded to include all members, that Vice-Chairs of IAMU have defined responsibilities, that an annual review of IAMU based on the 'Plan-Do-Check-Act' cycle be instituted and that members be expected to demonstrate their commitment to the Association through active participation.

Annual General Assembly No. 6

The next Annual General Assembly (AGA) for IAMU will be held in Malmo, Sweden from 24 - 27 October 2005. The AGA will be organised by the World Maritime University with Prof. Dr. Takeshi Nazakawa as the chair of the Local Executive Committee. One of the main themes of the Assembly will be 'Enhancing Maritime Global Security Education'. So, start planning now for the paper that you would like to present at the Assembly.

New Members

At the Annual General Assembly, the following six members were presented with their membership certificates:

1. Maritime Institute Willem Barentsz (Tershelling West)
2. Texas A&M University at Galveston
3. Vietnam Maritime University
4. Tianjin University of Technology
5. Southampton Institute
6. University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg/Ostfriesland/Wilmshaven Department of Maritime Studies

In addition, the International Executive Committee approved the application for membership by:

• Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line Maritime Training and Research Institute

Other News

Professor Dr. Shashi Kumar of Maine Maritime Academy is guest editor for the next edition of IAMU News No.12. The theme is 'Postgraduate education in MET', so please forward any articles on this topic to Shashi on skumar@mma.edu