Abstract:

Nowadays, when it manifests a continuous and accelerated development of maritime and river transport of goods and people, a great importance must be paid to training the crew. In the complex process which ensures the quality of academic education, a special importance is given to curriculum design which includes all theoretical and practical knowledge that the students must acquire to accomplish the future requirements for their job, meaning engineer and/or officer on board (mechanical or deck officer). For this reason, the principal objective of this paper is to underline the particularities that must be taken into account when the curriculum for students which are studying at maritime universities is conceived.
The methodology of elaborating the curriculum is based on the requirements of some educational bodies that audits, certifies and accredits the entire educational process, and in this manner the diploma for engineers and the patent officer is nationally and internationally recognized. At national level, these entities are the Romanian Ministry of Education and the Romanian Naval Authority and, at international level an important role is given to the International Maritime Organization, the Emergency Safe Maritime Agency and the Standard of Training Certification and Watch keeping. Each of these national or international structures requires the students to gain theoretical knowledge, practical skills and professional maritime training, so that the final form of the curriculum should be a combination of the requirements of both structures.
To demonstrate the role and the importance of the national and international bodies on educational academic process, this paper presents the methodology of designing the syllabus for Chemistry discipline, applied to the students which graduate the Electromechanical Specialization at Maritime University of Constanta (Romania). In this case, Chemistry curricula should include not only general theoretical knowledge necessary for the engineering profession, but also necessary practical skills needed to fulfill the electromechanical officer profession, in accordance with their responsibilities on board ships.
In conclusion, in the process of higher education for maritime universities, the program of study has to accomplish the requirements of international and national structures and has to be in compliance with academic standards which give students double major graduates: engineer and officer on board ship.