Social Impacts on the Maritime Education – a Case Study of National Kaohsiung Marine University in Taiwan

Recent developments in Taiwan toward the technology intensive country, the employment of cost effective foreign labors by shipping companies, the widespread of universities and the internationalization of shipping industries propose considerable threats on the quality assurance of maritime education. A resultant crisis for lacking on-board seafarers with managerial levels has urged the consolidation of governmental, private and educational organizations in the attempts to further improve the quality of maritime education and to promote the on-board career incentives. The process from the formulation of problems to the implementation of strategies undertaken by the National Kaohsiung Marine University (NKMU) is reviewed. A chain reaction initiated from the degradation of students’ entry performances due to the widespread of universities has formed a viscous cycle leading to the outsourcing of foreign human resources by shipping industry. Strategies in the aspects of course reform, joint ventures of lectureship with shipping industry, pre-courses for students’ extended career plans and the establishment of educational center that consolidates the departments of navigation, marine engineering and fishery in NKMU are illustrated.