Strategic Curriculum in the Faculty of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University, Aiming at Foster and Enhancing Motivation Toward Maritime Science

This paper describes how, in Japan, maritime related educational organizations are currently facing a difficult situation in getting potential young people who will shoulder the responsibility for the maritime society in the near future. Since the first semester of 2004 the Faculty of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University, has started using a new curriculum. A number of subjects provided in the first 1-1/2 years after enrollment are intended to give motivation towards maritime science to the students who entered the faculty without sufficient knowledge of maritime science in order to meet the educational objectives of the Faculty. That is mainly because of the university admission system in Japan, i.e., high school students tend to select his or her university based on the score of the common test that is conducted annually by the Government. In this paper, a strategic curriculum provided by the facility is presented to show how the motivation and knowledge of maritime science could be fostered and enhanced in conjunction with a strategic admission system. The curriculum in the first semester aims to entertain students with the sea and ships using a high performance cruiser, cutters, etc., followed by teaching fundamentals and common sense in the field of maritime science. Students learn those introductory subjects in the first 1-1/2 years. Then, they are given an opportunity to select their preferred department from the three departments of Maritime Technology Management, Marine Transportation Systems and Marine Engineering. As far as the Department of Maritime Technology Management is concerned, which has the primary role of fostering seafarers, almost thirty percent of the students are enrolled through a recommendation based admission system in order to welcome students who have enough enthusiasm towards maritime science at the time of the entrance examination. The strategies introduced in the paper would be a great help for other maritime education organizations where the number of applicants tends to decrease.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Print
  • Features: Figures; References;
  • Pagination: pp 293-299
  • Monograph Title: Maritime Security and MET

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01020119
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 1845640586
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Mar 15 2006 8:25AM