ABSTRACT: The study determined the different experiences, challenges, and benefits in conducting research and suggested activities to enhance the research capability of marine engineers in the maritime university, specifically, John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University-Molo, Iloilo City, Philippines. The qualitative method was employed in this study was to capture the essence of transformation of these seafarers or marine officers who want to become “researchers” and the suggested activities which would enhance their research capability. The respondents were the ten (10) marine engineers who were teaching professional subjects for quite number of years. The results highlighted that the experiences, challenges, and benefits in conducting research among marine engineers contributed to the development and attainment of a globalized-maritime education, and training. From the experiences related by marine engineers, research in the maritime university led to new insights towards addressing demands of officers and problems in the employment of global-seafaring labor. The suggested activities by the marine engineers were: research capability seminar-workshops, attendance to national and international research conferences, and “research-mentoring with senior researchers” in the university.

KEYWORDS: Maritime Education and Training (MET), Human Element, Seafarers, Professional Development, Research Methodology, Training Programme, Education Systems, Maritime University

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