Modernizing and harmonizing maritime education in Montenegro and Albania

Specific objectives of the project are:

1. Revision of undergraduate study programme, 180 ECTS, in Navigation and Marine Eng. at UoM;

2. Development of  undergraduate study programme in Marine Electrotechnics, 180 ECTS, at UoM;

3. Revision of undergraduate study programmes, 180 ECTS, in Navigation and Naval Eng. at UV;

4. Development of 2 new postgraduate (MSc) courses, 8 ECTS, in field of Marine Financing and Marketing at UNISHK;

5. Development of IMO model courses for LLL based training of seafarers at UoM and UV;

6. (Re)accreditation and implementation of developed undergraduate study programmes and IMO model courses;

7. Update existing and build new teaching and infrastructural resources for maritime education and training in ME and AL;

8. Training of teaching staff and its mobility within the PCs and EU universities;

9. Fostering cooperation between university and maritime sector enterprises;

All revised and developed curricula and courses will be in line with IMO STCW Convention requirements.

During the last two decades, due to well known transition reasons, maritime sector in Montenegro and Albania has been derogated. This situation affected the competencies in this area. Maritime education and training resources, with outdated curricula at all levels, as well as marine simulators and lab equipment, have become one of the obstacles in process of regaining maritime competencies in these two neighboring countries.

Thus, the wider objective of MArED project is to overcome a problem of competent and qualified human resources in maritime sector in Montenegro and Albania. It will be achieved through the modernization and harmonization of educational and training system at higher education institutions in both countries in order to meet the requirements of IMO (International Maritime Organization) and STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers) Convention.

The revision of existing and development of new undergraduate maritime study programmes, development of new IMO model courses for training of seafarers (LLL), improving infrastructural and teaching resources, establishing a mobility scheme between EU and PCs universities as well as fostering cooperation between academia and maritime sector, will be the main steps in the MArED implementation. In total, 5 curricula will be reconstructed, 1 introduced and 25 LLL courses for seafarers developed at the UoM and UV, as well as 2 MSc courses introduced at UNISHK .

After infrastructural and personnel preparation activities, the curricula will be accredited and started up. The sustainability will be provided by close link with national and international labor market, continuation of cooperation between consortium institutions and stakeholders and strong planning and permanent modernization. All established resources will be shared between partner universities with possibility to involve other PC universities and institutions.