US EPA

7255387 

Journal Article 

MARITIME TRAINING BASED ON INNOVATION AND KNOWLEDGE 

Varsami, A; Popescu, C; Batranca, G; , 

2011 

DEMOCRITUS UNIV THRACE 

KOMOTINI 

457-460 

WOS:000306940000115 

It is well known the fact that Maritime Education and Training (MET) represents an expensive system due to the fact that it requires rather high investments. In order to ensure a high-level education, MET requires costly equipment, such as simulators and training ships and that means huge sums of money. It is easy to conclude that not all institutions can offer high-quality MET especially because Maritime Education is more expensive than it should be. Training for seafarers has evolved rapidly to include a whole range of approaches and techniques. In particular, reliance on traditional face-to-face and on-the-job training has changed, giving way to the increased use of even more advanced and realistic simulators and other forms of computer-based training. There is every indication that the management of shipboard systems will become even more advanced and integrated in the years to come and training will have to keep up with that progress. The shipping industry needs to recruit high quality seafarers and train them to high standards to reflect the changing nature of shipboard operations and demands for officers to possess a wider range of skills. This means that the price of cutting back on investment in training will be even greater than it was in the past. Hence, knowledge is becoming more and more specialized and a highly educated workforce is paramount for continuous economic growth in developed countries, especially in MET Indeed, there is an increased awareness of the importance of change in maritime business management, in economic growth theory and in development thinking. This reflects the increasing complexity in processes, products and services maritime business experiences. We note that efficient knowledge transfer in MET is facilitated by three factors: improved understanding as a result of a continuous communication, the existence of common references and competences and complementary knowledge bases motivating exchange. Technology, innovation and knowledge are the central factors contributing to economic growth. Innovation happens in a dynamic interaction between actors, like the shipping industry. Furthermore knowledge is not seen as a public good that is freely available for everyone; rather knowledge can be local and tacit. Therefore, knowledge could be the change that could be applied in order to obtain a high quality in MET We observe that the use of the Internet in the setting for this study poses some challenges related to those factors. When interaction does not happen face to face but through a technological interface, it might be more difficult to establish a broad basis for communication as the spectre and interactivity in the communication is somewhat reduced. Where cooperation happens across cultures and between actors in countries with different levels of development (this happens onboard a merchant ship where the crew members have different nationalities and cultures), common references and competences might be scarcer. On the other hand, there is a greater chance that complementary knowledge bases exist and this can give a motivation for knowledge transfer to happen. These observations will be useful when investigating cooperation taking place between researchers. 

Rusu, C; 

978-960-99486-3-0 

7th International Conference on Management of Technological Changes 

Alexandroupolis, GREECE