The European shipbuilding industry is a dynamic and competitive sector. According to the EC, there are about 150 large and thousands of small shipyards in Europe with some 280,000 people employed in this sector in the EU. The European shipbuilding industry is the global leader in the construction of complex vessels, such as cruise ships, ferries, mega-yachts, and dredgers. Modern maritime technology industry is a complex sector which has to meet ambitious environmental and safety targets. In many cases, ships are one-of-a kind prototypes, highly sophisticated high-tech products conceived and developed by professional ship designers and marine technology engineers. To be stable and competitive, the European maritime technology sector must have a strong research, development and innovation capacity. In 2013, the EC adopted the LeaderSHIP 2020 initiative, outlining the priorities of the sector, stated employment and skills as the first priority. According to the Final Report of the Initiative, the increased complexity of the products has created additional demand for highly skilled professional staff. The sector has a high-tech future with a long-term positive perspective and needs new young talented engineers to rejuvenate the industry and to take the competencies to a higher level. More attention should be given to harmonisation of programmes and certificates of EU graduates. Student mobility could be facilitated by tailoring educational programmes to address the diversification of the industry and the current and emerging knowledge requirements. The objective of the project is upgrading and harmonisation of Master’s-level programmes in Marine Engineering/ Naval Architecture through cooperation of four universities: Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia, University of Zagreb in Croatia, University of the Aegean in Greece, and University of Naples Federico II in Italy – all having Marine Engineering/Naval Architecture curricula of some or all cycles of higher education. International teams of lecturers have selected 20 courses (122 ECTS) from their Master’s programmes to be developed and upgraded during the project into a set/repository of MSc-level online courses available in English. The courses are divided into five theme modules: Automation Technology, Integrated Ship Systems, Hydrodynamics, Materials and Structures, Ship Design and Construction. Stage 1 (Oct 2020 – Mar 2021) of the project includes upgrading and harmonisation needs analysis, in Stage 2 (Mar 2021- Jan 2023) Intellectual Output (IP) - an online-hosted (digital) upgraded and harmonised set/repository of a max. 20 courses in English (4-9 ECTS each, 122 ECTS) is prepared and tested at an Intensive Programme with 20 students of the partner universities; feedback is collected and analysed). In Stage 3 (Feb-Aug 2023) Course harmonisation and upgrading guide (online) and a demo of the courses with sample materials on a physical carrier are prepared and the courses made available at online learning Moodle platforms of the project partners. Two International multiplier events - in May 2023, in Greece for the Adriatic-Aegean-Mediterranean region; and in Aug 2023, in Estonia for the Baltic-Nordic region will be organised. The International groups of lecturers meet for planning, discussion, training and evaluation purposes towards developing the Intellectual Output at Joint Staff Training Events (3 events 2020-2021) and at regular monthly online/videoconference meetings and workshops through the project (2020-2023). The teaching staff test and pilot the upgraded course components on students at the Intensive Programme in Tallinn (Oct 2022). In a longer and broader perspective, the project aims at increasing the quality of Maritime Engineering/Naval Architecture education, facilitation of internationalisation and digital/online teaching and learning to achieve increased number of skilled personnel for the EU maritime sector and strengthen the position of the European maritime industry in global context.
The objective of the SHIPMARTECH project was upgrading and harmonization of Master’s-level courses in Marine Engineering/ Naval Architecture, facilitation of e-learning and internationalisation through cooperation of four universities. To fulfil this objective, a set of online-hosted upgraded courses in English (intellectual output) for Marine Engineering/Naval Architecture 2nd cycle students was developed.
The SHIPMARTECH project was carried out by a partnership of 4 universities: Tallinn University of Technology), University of Zagreb, University of Naples Federico II and University of the Aegean. The project aimed at improving and harmonizing MSc courses in Marine Engineering/Naval Architecture across different universities. Initially, the quality of courses varied between universities and they used different levels of electronic support. The project upgraded and harmonized selected courses by bringing them to a similar level of electronic support and structure, making also the quality and content of the courses more consistent between universities. The main motivation behind the project was the need to educate new engineers for the European shipbuilding industry. The industry is dynamic and competitive, with a high-tech future and a positive perspective. But to remain competitive, it needs new talented engineers to rejuvenate the industry and take competencies to a higher level. The SHIPMARTECH project aimed to address this need through cooperation of four universities, developing a set/repository of MSc-level online courses in English to facilitate student mobility and address current and emerging knowledge requirements.