Maritime university: To meet what end?

The first maritime university in the country  has been established under the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University Act of 2013. The government has already appointed Rear Admiral ASMA Baten, Commodore Khandakar Toufikujjaman and Commodore ANA Rejaul Haque as the Vice-Chancellor, Registrar and Treasurer respectively of the university.
  This should have been an exciting piece of news for the maritime community, a community intrinsically linked to Bangladesh's development aspirations. For, surely Bangladesh is a maritime nation. It is not only that maritime commerce is the engine of our export-led growth, we have been in international news as a significant actor in many different areas within the maritime space, ranging from shipping, ship management and ship-building to ship recycling. As a coastal state we have been involved in long protracted battles with our neighbours regarding demarcation of maritime boundaries, a matter of intense national and international interest.  So, there is the necessity of a maritime university in Bangladesh in view of the fact that such a university will provide our young generation access to world class education and research on maritime to help our maritime industries emerge as one of the leaders in the international arena.  So, where is the reservation?
AREAS OF INTEREST: Before addressing the critical questions arising from the Maritime University Act 2013 and its various provisions, it is essential to identify areas of interest within the maritime space that should come within the remit of a maritime university, and to survey international trends of maritime education and model frameworks for a maritime university.  The above should provide the benchmark against which a critical and rational analysis of the issues can be made.  
At the core of anything maritime lies the sea and intrinsically related with sea is seafaring and shipping.  It was once said that a nation ruling the sea was ruling the world.  The days of seafaring adventurers and explorers may have long passed, but maritime commerce still remains the engine of growth for the global economy.  It is known that 90 per cent of the world's traded goods (by weight) are carried by ships as shipping remains the cheapest and most environmentally efficient mode of transport.  It is beyond any argument that without a healthy and efficient maritime industry, world trade would come to a halt and global prosperity would lose its way.  As an export-centric economy, which is reliant mostly on shipping, we are very much aware of the importance of an efficient shipping industry to maintain our growth as we move towards a more prosperous future.
EXTERNAL PRESSURE POINTS: The shipping industry in the 21st century operates in an environment defined by several external pressure points-competition from globalisation that is defining new technology and new business models, an ever more stringent regulatory regime for better safety and environmental outcomes, and global security. Internally the industry also faces several challenges including the global shortage of human resources for the growing world fleet, and human resources to help the industry adapt to competitive and regulatory pressures.  In short, shipping now needs people not only to run ships safely and efficiently, but also for innovation in business and engineering, for international engagement in maritime conventions as nations seek to influence the outcome of the negotiation on global regulatory regimes.  
In addition to shipping, there are other industries with strong linkage to the sea such as fisheries, offshore exploration and exploitation. Apart from business and technological challenges, these industries too deal with global and regional regulatory regimes for operations and environmental management.  
MODELS FOR MARITIME EDUCATION AND TRAINING: Given the importance of the maritime sector in a nation's economy and the increasingly complex maritime environment, we have seen transformation in models for maritime education and training.  Traditionally maritime education was industry-based through membership in guilds and training at nautical and engineering colleges.  
This model served for decades but has lately been challenged by a new model of university-like higher education that seeks to offer specialised maritime disciplines as higher education programmes.  The key objective is to bring maritime knowledge within the mainstream academic sphere, to enrich the maritime sector by new research, and to provide pathway for maritime professionals to pursue higher education and research. The main maritime areas that have emerged as new disciplines in specialised universities are maritime business, maritime economics, maritime commerce, maritime law, supply chain and logistics management, port management, marine engineering and naval architecture, offshore engineering, shipping finance, ship operations, and marine resource management. Clearly the focus is on shipping business, engineering, and management.
Many of the institutions that provide such university education operate a hybrid system of competency-based training for mariners and higher education for persons seeking a qualification for a career ashore. In developed countries this started in some instances as a reaction to funding pressures which forced many traditional nautical schools to offer new courses using their existing infrastructure. In other instances specialised maritime colleges were set up as colleges with own campus within a larger university to offer maritime education as a hybrid programme resulting in both an academic degree in engineering or business and a certificate of competency for a shipboard carrier.  The maritime colleges operating within the State University system in the USA are examples of such a model.
Lately we have seen establishment of maritime universities as independent entities with the authority to grant degree in their own right.  There are a few of these specialised universities in China and a recent one in India.  Both India and China are shipping superpowers with large active seafaring pools. Over the last decades these countries have replaced traditional maritime powers in Europe as centres of excellence for shipping, ship management and shipbuilding.
Understanding the economic contribution of shipping and the strategic importance of the maritime sectors to the growing economies, these nations have rightly focused on maritime education as a strategic priority.  The model in both cases is the hybrid model that includes both traditional merchant marine training and university programmes for people aspiring for a career ashore. The Chinese system educates the students up to the degree level with a focus on shipping operation or engineering while making them ready for a sea career by providing a training regime consistent with international requirements.  
SEAMAN'S TRAINING CENTRE TO UNIVERSITY: Bangladesh has a rich tradition of seafaring and maritime commerce.  Recognising the importance of national marine merchants in actively participating in international maritime trade, the then government of Pakistan initially established a Seaman's Training Centre in 1952. This was later followed up with a Marine Academy in Chittagong in 1962 to train officers and engineers for merchant ships. The country has gained immensely from these institutions. Bangladeshi seafarers now serve with pride and dignity in merchant fleets all over the world.  The economic impact of this industry is seen not only in the foreign currency that the seafarers earn, estimated at US$ 280 million a year, there has developed in Bangladesh a maritime milieu, a network of marine professionals highly valued in both sea and shore-based industries.  
Consistent with the international trend and popular demand, Bangladesh Marine Academy has been providing, since 1990s,  graduation qualification to its cadets, first under the University of Chittagong and now under the National University regime.  This pathway of dual qualification allowed many mariners to pursue higher studies at home and abroad and helped strengthen the capability of our maritime resource pool.  
Today hundreds of Bangladeshi professionals are working in senior positions in Australia, the UK, Canada, Singapore and at many other places. They are working in maritime administrations, maritime colleges, port authorities, shipyards, classification societies, international organisations and ship management. In Bangladesh, too, mariners have been making a tremendous contribution as entrepreneurs, engineers, public servants, port officials and trainers.  Two factors helped our mariners to move across the sea shore divide to make positive contribution to shore-based careers-a natural fit between skills and knowledge embedded in seafaring professions and the requirements of these skills ashore, and high quality of our marine professionals.  As a precondition to move ashore, many of our mariners had to pursue higher education in overseas universities at a very high cost.
The natural fit between marine skills and knowledge with essential services ashore has acted as the main catalyst for developing new specialised educational programmes for the maritime industry. There is also a demand from the nautical and engineering trainees to pursue university degrees while they obtain the necessary qualifications for seagoing services. A good university education that develops broad knowledge and understanding of the industry and its economic and technical underpinnings is always a good supplement to a more focused industry-specific training for ship operation.  This pathway opens the door for highly-skilled maritime entrepreneurs, public servants, lawyers and ship builders to emerge in future.  
A university is a place of higher learning and research.  To be successful it needs to attract the best brains in the country to lead the university to do what it is supposed to do best- teaching and learning and research. A maritime university needs to do something more - it needs to be innovative to address the needs of industries in a sector that have trained its personnel traditionally through a competency-based regime while maintaining the academic rigour and research focus necessary for a higher degree.  This is a unique challenge which can only be tackled by highly experienced academics who understand how both sectors work. It is also required that the leadership of the university understands the industries well and can engage constructively with industries in the maritime sector to ensure that the courses and programmes remain relevant, comply with international obligations and produce good outcomes for the industry and the national economy.
A CRITIQUE OF THE MARITIME UNIVERSITY ACT: Against this backdrop we can now look at the question with which we began. The case for a maritime university in Bangladesh has been made and seems a sensible approach to develop a skilled and knowledge-centric manpower base for the maritime sector.  The establishment of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University under Act 47 of 2013 is a call of the hour as we move to create our maritime future.  A close scrutiny of the Act, however, raises a few important questions about the purpose of the university and its governance structure:  
n The Act says in its preamble in very vague terms that the objective of the university is to create opportunities for higher education and research related with maritime.  The word maritime is never defined.  
n The Act also says that the university will be established within the existing campus of the Bangladesh Marine Academy. This perhaps indicates that the objective is to establish a university that will complement or expand the current activities of the Marine Academy which is operating under the Ministry of Shipping and is focused on commercial shipping and maritime studies.  
n A more surprising provision of the Act is regarding the position of the Vice Chancellor of the Maritime University. While it is absolutely essential in any university structure that a Vice-Chancellor, the key executive of a university, is an academic with achievement in education and research, the Vice Chancellor post of the Maritime University has been reserved for a Rear Admiral of the Bangladesh Navy, either acting or retired.  Similarly, the Pro-Vice Chancellor is also to be an officer from the Navy.  
These prompt us to raise the question: What end will the Maritime University meet?  It is important for the maritime community to be aware of the implications of this Act and how negatively it is likely to affect the maritime industry's forward march. It is not clear how a university set up within the Marine Academy compound with vague ideas about its objective and to be run by naval officers will produce any good outcome in higher education and research. Rather, it has the serious risk of derailing the existing maritime training structure in Bangladesh by changing the very nature of the Marine Academy. This will have a tremendous impact on the national economy and will not promote our maritime aspirations.  
INDIAN EXAMPLE: We invite our policy makers to look at the Indian Maritime University Act 2008 as an example.  There are similar examples in China, Australia and Canada. The Indian Maritime University Act 2008 clearly identifies in section 4 of the act the objectives of the university by referring to maritime studies, oceanography, maritime law, maritime history, transportation etc. as areas of interest.  The university is set up as a national university based on campuses of government-controlled marine colleges. The governance structure is typical of a university with priority to teaching and learning and research.  India has a much larger coastline to defend. But the Indian Navy has not tried to use its strategic importance to transgress into the commercial maritime space or the broader maritime education sector. This is something our maritime community and policy makers need to consider.  
The question-A Maritime University: To meet what end?-is a legitimate question that needs to be answered at this hour of limitless maritime opportunities.  
We need a Maritime University that will create the synergy between marine training and maritime studies, meet international requirements for maritime training and promote an innovation and knowledge in maritime operation, maritime business, marine engineering, marine resource management and environmental studies. Our maritime industries need to contribute positively to the emerging knowledge economy, for which we need to attract the best brains in teaching and research.  We need the governance structure and objectives of the Maritime University to meet these goals.
Capt. Zaki Ahad is Commandant, International Maritime Academy             and Fellow of the Nautical                   Institute of the UK. zaki.ahad@gmail.com