Abstract:

Since 2010, the University of Cadiz offers three new degree programs related to merchant marine officers studies. These three degrees cover the training and certification of deck officers, marine engineers and radio- electronic officers, clustered under the EINAMAR (Escuela de Ingeniería Marina, Nautica y Radioelectrónica) umbrella.

These degrees are designed to provide the students not only with the proper academic certificate but also with a fully worldwide recognized professional certificate. Therefore, the studies not only have to fully fulfill the academic quality requirements but also with the standard qualifications set up by the International Convention on Standard of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW 95) for seafarers in 2010 (Manila Amendments). According to this, as far as the students finish successfully their studies, and after an onboard training period, they will be able to obtain both, the academic and the professional certificates.

“Maritime Safety” is one of the core subjects for these three programs and it has been designed as a transversal subject in such a way that all the students have the same contents and schedule. This subject aims to provide the students with the theoretical and practical training to cope with any situation involving fire prevention and firefighting as well as incident and accident prevention and resolution on board. It also introduces student into the world of contingency planning and evacuation procedures on board, and the knowledge of how to use survival crafts and equipment to increase probabilities of survival when abandoning the ship. The main aim of the practical part of the subject is to improve the on board safety and risk awareness and to let the students get used to these procedures as well as the use and maintenance of the protective equipment available on board.

To achieve this goal, problem based learning techniques have been applied on real situations on board. To cope with the proposed situations, the students have been divided into groups and they have to put into practice the most appropriate techniques and procedures according with each scenary.
The practical workshops included in Maritime Safety curricula are compulsory for all the students despite their specialty and account for 30% of the subject final score.

One of the specific practical workshop deals with the capability of the students of finding their position and perform search and rescue operations within an hostile environment with sensorial losses. These situations can arise on board so students must be familiar with in order to properly face them.

The aim is not only to improve the students’ safety and risk awareness but also to encourage, strengthen and empower the following items:
• Get familiar with the use of emergency protective equipment.
• The self-confidence level of the students when coping with emergencies.
• The students’ self-capabilities awareness.
• The students’ ability to work in groups
• The students’ awareness of the importance of been able to rely on the teamwork as a completely harmonized action.

In addition, media and audiovisual technologies are used to:
• Checking the progress of the students’ learning process while performing the workshops
• Produce new teaching materials and strengthen the safety culture among students.
• Learn from the team's performance using "debriefing sessions" supported by audiovisual materials recorded during the practical workshops.

Keywords:

Orientation, rescue, maritime safety, practical workshops, team working.