International Journal

on Marine Navigation

and Safety of Sea Transportation

Volume 2

Number 2

June 2008

197

Social Impacts on the Maritime Education – a

Case Study of National Kaohsiung Marine

University in Taiwan

Jia-Shen Hu, Shyy Woei Chang & Che-Tsung Chen

National Kaohsiung Marine University, Taiwan

ABSTRACT: 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.

1 INTRODUCTION

Economic developments in Taiwan heavily rely on

the importing and exporting trades via marine

transportations. Port cargo throughputs in Taiwan

steadily increase from 20 million tonnages in 1971

to 280 million tonnages in 2004 [1]. Since year

2000, Taiwan’s commercial fleets have rated as

the world top 10 countries that continue to expand

and reach 23.7 million tonnages in 2006. Along with

the growth of commercial fleets, the percentage

of Taiwan fleets with national flag is steadily

reduced as a combined effect of China’s economic

bloom and the cross-strait policy implemented by

Taiwan government. Taiwan government prohibits

direct trades between Taiwan and China. Cargos

transporting between Taiwan and China are required

to be transferred through the third party such as

Hong Kong or Macao special administrative region.

As a result, a considerable amount of Taiwan fleets

is changed into Flag of Convenience (FOC) vessels

that occupy about 77% of entire commercial fleets in

2004 [2]. The ship owners with national flag, mostly

for those controlled by governmental shareholders,

are forced to urge government to amend its policy on

recruiting the foreign on-board crews in order to re-

gain their competitive niches. Since 1994, Taiwan

government allowed the foreign labors to work on

the ships with national flag. After only one year, the

percentages of on-board foreign seafarers rapidly

grew to 26.8% and 73.2% for the managerial and

operational levels respectively [3]. As a result,

the number of Taiwanese seafarers has considerably

reduced from 30,000 in 1970 to about 7,000 in 2005

although Taiwan’s commercial fleets are constantly

expanded. These current developing trends of

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increasing FOC vessels and recruiting cost effective

foreign labors also observed from other developed

countries which certainly affect the sea-going career

opportunities for the graduates from maritime

educational institutes.

Another trend of development that affects the

maritime education system in Taiwan is the

overwhelming increase of universities at the occasion

experiencing considerable reductions in birth rates.

Taiwan government has implemented a 10-year

educational reform that amends the educational

policies to large extends. In the respect of higher

education, the introduction of free-market mechanism

and the promotion of establishing private universities

have affected the operation of maritime education

system. The number of universities and institutes of

technology is increased from 58 in 1994 to 142 in

2003. The increasing rate of undergraduate students

from universities and technical institutes is 177.27%

over the last decade. While the number of university

in Taiwan is expanding, the birth rate is annually

reduced. The decreasing rate of birth is about 15,000

persons per year since 2003. At year 2015, all the

universities and institutes of technology will face the

annual decrease of students entering the university.

The dramatic increase of undergraduate students as a

result of university expansion indirectly imposed

negative impacts on recruiting students into maritime

educational institutes in Taiwan. Furthermore, several

vocational high schools ceased their departments

specialized in navigation and marine engineering.

These vocational high schools, which are the major

sources of students for the maritime technical

university, establish new departments with general

interests to meet the demands of the newly

established universities. The shortage of students

available for the departments of navigation and

marine engineering not only degrades the quality of

students entering these maritime institutes, but the

efforts required for the maritime institutes to educate

these students in order to comply with the STCW

Convention are increased. With the shortage of

educational funds as a result of university expansion

and the degradation of student entry quality, a chain

reaction that leads to the shortage of qualified

seafarers for shipping industries in Taiwan is

stimulated. In resonant with the increased FOC

vessels and the increase of foreign seafarers, the

maritime education system in Taiwan has suffered

twofold threats in the respects of providing quality

graduates and promoting incentives for sea-going

practices. A series of educational plans are

accordingly formulated and implemented by the

maritime educational institutes in order to resolve

these difficulties. The social impacts on maritime

education system in Taiwan within the last decade

and the strategies formulated by NKMU are

described.

2 SOCIAL IMPACT FACTORS TOWARD

MARITIME EDUCATION

In the last decade, several social events that impact

the development of maritime education systems in

Taiwan are inter-correlated to form a viscous cycle

which provides considerable threads on incubating

qualified seafarers. These social events include the

Educational Reform, the Cross-Strait Trading

Policies implemented by Taiwan government, the

compliance with STCW Convention and the

Internationalization of major Shipping Companies.

A net result of these inter-correlative social events

causes the considerable shortages of qualified

seafarers. Impacts of these social factors on

Taiwan’s maritime education system are illustrated

as follows.

2.1 Educational reform

The 10-year educational reform in Taiwan is treated

as an important policy with the attempt to improve

the qualities of educational systems from primary

schools to postgraduate institutes. The program of

educational reform encouraged the establishment of

private universities. The concept of free market

mechanism for competitions between universities

with more flexibility in setting the tuition fee and the

gradual decrease of government subsides for the

national universities are the main focuses for the

higher education system. One of the most decisive

influences through this educational reform program

that affects the development of maritime education

is the widespread of universities within the last

decade. Fig. 1 depicts the growths of universities and

the entry rate of university during the period of

educational reform.

Fig. 1. Growths of universities and entry rate of university in

Taiwan during the period of educational reform

199

At year 2003 as indicated in Fig. 1, the entry rate

of university hits 87.05% which still keeps

increasing until 2006. But the averaged dropping

rates from the universities in year 2000 are less than

2% [4]. The expansion of universities with fancy

graduation rates affects the vocational education to

large extends. More high school students devote

themselves to the university track without

considerations of entering the vocational education

system. This development trend certainly squeezes

the domain of maritime sectors in the higher

educational market. Furthermore, this trend

motivated several vocational maritime high schools

to close the departments of navigation and marine

engineering due to the difficulties in recruiting

students and arranging funds for sea-going practices.

In this respect, five vocational maritime high schools

closed the department of navigation and three

vocational maritime high schools ceased the

department of marine engineering. In year 2005,

only 274 and 208 vocational high school students

graduated from the departments of marine

engineering and navigation respectively. This

shortage of vocational high school students incurred

considerable influences on the quality of students

entering the vocational maritime university such as

NKMU. As an illustrative example, the students

needed by the departments of navigation and marine

engineering of the maritime universities for the two-

year vocational program leading to bachelor degree

are more than the students applied for these two

departments in 2006. This problem, however, has

been foreseen by the maritime universities. The

departments of navigation and marine engineering of

these maritime universities have started to recruit

students from the mechanical sectors since 2004 in

the vocational domain. As indicated in Fig.2, the

entry rates from the maritime and mechanical sectors

are respectively kept at about 40% and 20%

respectively.

Fig. 2. Entry rates of students into departments of navigation

and marine engineering for maritime universities

It is interesting to note that, although the

education reform emphasizes the free competition,

but there are still two systems, namely the general

higher education and vocational education systems,

which recruit their students from the senior high

school and the vocational high school respectively.

This condition is seen as the unfair competition by

the universities in the vocational system but ensures

the opportunities of higher education for the

graduates from vocational high schools. A recent

trend indicates a considerable market-shift toward

the senior high schools as a considerable amount of

vocational high schools is changed into general high

schools. Nevertheless, although the policy of

diverting student sources in the vocational sector is

critical for quality assurance of maritime university,

but the negative impacts on the developments of

vocational maritime high schools are inevitable. A

recent educational program linking the vocational

high school, university and shipping company is

formulated to solve this problem, which will be

described in the later section.

2.2 Cross-strait trading policy

Taiwan’s maritime universities keep very strong

links with the shipping companies. Not only

the career developments of students in the fields of

navigation and marine engineering are majored in

these companies, but these shipping companies are

the solely supplies for sea-going practices as no

training vessel for maritime universities are currently

available. As a result, the increase of FOC vessels,

which implies the less opportunity for the ships

to port in Taiwan harbors, directly impacts the

arrangements of sea-going practices for maritime

universities.

China’s economic bloom is indicated by the

increased exporting and importing trades from

102.79 (1988) to 1760.69 (2006) billions US$. The

increased shipping markets in China have attracted

the worldwide attentions. However, justified by the

political considerations, Taiwan government prohibits

the direct importing and exporting trades across

Taiwan Strait. As a result, the number of FOC and

foreign flag vessels owned by Taiwan’s shipping

companies is steadily increased since 1997 as

indicated in Fig. 3.

The direct impact of increased FOC and foreign

flag vessels is the considerable shrinkage of

opportunities for sea-going practices. As an

illustrative example, only about 40% of students in

the departments of navigation and marine

engineering in NKMU are allowed to fulfill their

sea-going practices in 2006. Furthermore, due to the

large increase of cost effective foreign labors in the

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FOC and foreign flag vessels, the on-board learning

environment is modified. English proficiency

becomes more important for the cadets as English

language is often used for their daily communica-

tions. The establishment of friendly learning

environment for the cadets in order to stimulate

cadets’ incentives for on-board career developments

is now a complex issue for each captain in the FOC

or foreign flag vessel. The on-board training courses

for each maritime university in Taiwan are forced to

be amended from the compulsory to optional courses

since 2003. In comply with such modification, the

course modules in the departments of navigation and

marine engineering are accordingly modified to large

extends.

Fig. 3. Increases of Taiwan shipping tonnages and percentage

of FOC and foreign flag vessels

2.3 STCW Convention

As an endeavourer of IMO to further improve the

safety of ships and their equipments, the 1995

STCW amendments raised the standards for

seafarers. These amendments were entered into force

since 1 January 1996. Within these amendments, all

detailed technical requirements are transferred to an

associated Code with the required skills and

competence to be clarified. These required skills and

competences were reviewed along with the

educational programs in NKMU. Adjustments of

course modules to comply with 1995 STCW

amendments were undertaken in NKMU since 2000.

In particular, the use of simulators for training

and assessment purposes has been recognized in

1995 STCW amendments. A large amount of

governmental funds were invested to set the

simulation centers in the maritime universities for

training and educational purposes. In this respect, the

impacts of 1995 STCW amendments on Taiwan’s

maritime education were positive. However, as 1995

STCW amendments require the administrations

to maintain direct control over and endorse the

qualifications of those masters, officers and radio

personnel they authorize to serve on their ships, the

systems of education, training and certification for

seafarers in Taiwan were revised since 1995.

In Taiwan, the professional licenses of masters,

officers, marine engineers and radio personnel are

issued by the Ministry of Transportation and

Communication (MOTC). Before 2004, all the

examinations for the certifications of masters,

officers and marine engineers were controlled by the

Ministry of Examination (MOE). Candidates for this

type of national examination have to hold the

graduation certificates from the associated maritime

departments. Having completed the required sea-

going and working experiences, the successful

candidates through these maritime professional

examinations will be qualified to accept the

professional licenses issued by MOTC. However, in

order to fulfill the 1995 STCW amendments, MOE

revised all the examination questions in comply with

the codes. The format of test questions was

converted into the type of choice question. Only the

certifications of deck officer and marine engineer

with operational levels are required to pass the

national examination held by MOE after 2003. As

the standards for the seafarers are raised in 1995

STCW amendments and the quality of students

entering the maritime universities keeps degrading,

the annually averaged pass rate for the seafarer tests

in 2004 hits the historically lowest level of only

6.188%. But the number of candidates entering these

examinations in 2004 also breaks the highest record

of about 1,600 persons as indicated in Fig. 4.

After year 2004, the pass rate increases steadily

that reaches 13.31% in 2006 as seen in Fig. 4. The

number of candidates considerably increases from

those years before 2003 to the numbers about 1,500

after 2004 as depicted in Fig. 4. In the period of

years 2000-2006, Taiwan experienced the economical

recession. The increased number of candidates for

seafarer tests is partially attributed to the attractive

on-board payments during the economical recession.

Nevertheless, the increased candidates for seafarer

examinations also reflect the endeavourers undertaken

by the maritime education system that promote the

incentives of students to develop their sea-going

careers. In the respect of low pass rate, several aspects

are wroth of study in addition to the degrading quality

of students entering maritime universities.

No. of candidates

Pass rate

(%)

(Person)

year

Fig. 4. Number of candidates and pass rates of national

examinations for professional marine engineers and deck

officers

201

The timing of considerable reduction in the pass

rate of seafarer examinations coincides with the

blooming of shipping industry triggered by the

dramatic economic boom in China during the period

of 1994-2006. The severe shortages of seafarers

during this particular period hit Taiwan’s shipping

companies and result in several counter measures

undertaken by these shipping companies which have

made the educational problems worse. The forma-

tion of interactive chains triggered by the lack of

seafarers and the 10-year education reform generates

a viscous cycle that requires more efforts from the

maritime universities in order to resolve the shortage

of seafarers and to assure the quality of seafarers.

Fig. 5 summarizes the important social factors and

their impacts on the maritime universities.

Fig. 5. Major social factors and their impacts on maritime

universities (1992-2006)

The low pass rates of professional seafarers along

with the increased demands from Taiwan’s

commercial fleets exert considerable pressures on

NKMU. It is worth noting that most of the problems

summarized in Fig. 5 can not be completely

solved by NKMU alone. Under such difficult

circumstances, NKMU has to formulate a series of

counter measures in order to assure the quality of

graduates from the departments of navigation and

marine engineering. Moreover, with the enhanced

competitive advantages for Taiwan’s shipping

companies, the pace of internationalization of

shipping industry in Taiwan is accelerated. As the

pace of internationalization of Taiwan shipping

industry is accelerated and the considerable decrease

of birth rate that will hit Taiwan’s universities on

2015, the number of FOC and foreign flag vessels is

expected to be increased and the degradation of

quality of students entering NKMU seems

inevitable. If the number and quality of seafarers can

not meet the future requirements of Taiwan’s

shipping industry, the process of internationalization

at each major shipping company will result in the

increased numbers of on-board foreign seafarers that

worsen the current salutations experienced by

NKMU. The inert-correlating scenarios initiated

from the degradation of students’ entry performances

to the outsourcing of foreign human resources by

shipping industry may become more severe if the

adequate measures are not implemented at the

correct times.

3 STRATEGIES FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE

UNDERTAKEN BY NKMU

NKMU has undertaken a series of measures to

counter balance the impacts caused by the social

events on the maritime education system as depicted

in Fig. 5. Two main focuses of these measures during

the period of 2001-2006 are the quality assurance

of graduates from the maritime departments and

the promotion of incentives for sea-going career

developments. Strategies to overcome the problems

of student recruitments due to the reduction of birth

rate, which will be in effect on 2015, are not

addressed in this report. The on-going series of

countermeasures implemented by NKMU in the

period of 2001-2006 are summarized as follows.

3.1 Quality assurance of education.

Quality assurances of educational programs for the

departments of navigation and marine engineering

are the subjects of prime importance that initiate all

the countermeasures undertaken by NKMU during

the period of 2002-2006. The course reforms with

the adequate treatments of sea-going practices and

the appropriate adjustments of course modules in

order to comply with the 1995 STCW Convention

were performed. Qualities of educational and

training programs established in the departments of

navigation and marine engineering are now under

constant reviews by DNV association since 2002.

This initiative is fulfilled by entering the ISO system

certified by DNV association. Due to the shortage of

opportunities for sea-going practices, the compulsory

sea-going course of 45 days is changed into the

optional course and the period of sea-going practice

is extended from 45 days to 6 months. In the revised

educational program, only about 40% of students

those express their strong incentives of sea-going

career developments will be accepted for the 6-

month on board training program. The remainders of

students will entry the engineering or management

courses to develop their second expertise during the

6-month period. This amendment in the respect of

on board training program was immediately accepted

by the shipping industry as the feedbacks from the

investments on each cadet became more effective.

The center of simulators is also established in the

Seafarer Training Center of NKMU at this stage. As

202

the Seafarer Training Center is a self funded

department in NKMU, the financial burdens of

operating and maintaining these simulators are

released from the university funds. Government

funds for building the training vessel suitable for

incubating seafarers with operational level are under

constant pursuits by NKMU since 2001 in order to

further ensure and improve the quality of on board

training programs.

3.2 Lecture series conducted by major shipping

companies.

Lecture series organized and delivered by major

shipping companies launched the departments of

navigation and marine engineering since 2003. This

series of industrial lectures provide opportunities of

mutual communications between the managers from

shipping companies and students. Future career

developments for the students in the maritime

departments are directly demonstrated by the

industrial lecturers on the bases of mutual discussions.

Employment contracts can be offered and signed

during this lecture series. Weaknesses of students’

performances can soon be identifies and responded to

the associated departments by the lecturers from

shipping companies for further improvement.

Another aspect expressed in these lecture series is

the long term career plan and opportunities

for the students with sea-going career plans. A

multidiscipline course module which consolidates

the courses form the departments of navigation,

marine engineering and shipping management is

formulated. This program is designed for the

students with the long term career goal in the

shipping industry after several years of sea-going

experiences. The basic knowledge in the respects of

navigation science, marine engineering and shipping

management will be beneficial for the officers of

managerial levels in the shipping companies. Once

again, this multidiscipline course module is widely

accepted by Taiwan’s shipping industry.

3.3 Establishment of educational center for

navigation, marine engineering and fishery.

The educational center for navigation, marine

engineering and fishery was established in 2005 as

an official center in NKMU. This center was

approved by the Ministry of Education (MOE) with

the attempt to formulate and implement the adequate

measures on the annual basis to assure the quality of

educational programs in these departments. Funds

for operating this center are granted by MOE. During

the recent two years, the text books of 17 subjects in

the fields of navigation and marine engineering were

published that included all the required knowledge

for the operational level and partially the managerial

level summarized in 1995 STCW Convention. The

improvement of English proficiency for the students

in the departments of navigation, marine engineering

and fishery along with the review of accreditation

system that was currently undertaken by MOE for

maritime departments are the short-term objectives

to be accomplished. Future plans to link the educa-

tional systems from the vocational high school to

NKMU are formulated in order to extendthe quality

assurance policy from the university to vocational

high school. The plan to edit and publish all the

required text books for the departments of navigation

and marine engineering of maritime vocational high

schools is under revision by MOE. Similar to the

lecture series conducted by shipping companies in

NKMU, the NKMU lecture series implanted in the

course modules of vocational high school are

currently considered with the attempt to secure and

cultivate the students in the vocational maritime high

schools.

It is worth noting that the educational program

that consolidates NKMU, China Steel Shipping

Company (CSSC) and the maritime vocational high

school is currently testified in the department of

marine engineering of NKMU. Fifteen students in

the maritime vocational high school were selected to

enter this educational program with the courses

monitored by the department of marine engineering

of NKMU. Upon the graduation from the maritime

vocational high school, these students can directly

enter the degree courses in the department of marine

engineering. In NKMU, the sandwich courses with

one year in campus and the subsequent year on board

are arranged with the assistances from CSSC.

Having completed two cycles of the campus and sea-

going programs, these students are offered with

bachelor degrees. Obligations for these students are

two years of career developments in CSSC as the

marine engineers after passing the MOE professional

tests. However, justified by the MOE pass rates of

these students entering this type of educational

program, the promotion of such program to naviga-

tion department and other maritime vocational high

schools will be considered.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Recent impacts of several major events on maritime

educational system in Taiwan are illustrated and

analyzed. The interactive chains triggered by the lack

of seafarers and the 10-year education reform in

Taiwan trigger a viscous cycle that degrades the

quality of students entering the maritime university

and leads to the outsourcing of foreign seafarers by

Taiwan’s shipping companies. Several counter

203

measures implemented by NKMU in the attempts for

quality assurances of students in the departments of

navigation and marine engineering are described.

This NKMU case study is served as a reference for

the current development of maritime education

system in the countries that experience considerable

expansion of universities with intention to promote

the pace of internationalization of their shipping

industries.

REFERENCES

Statistic data, Ministry of Transportation and Communication,

Taiwan, Table 6-10, Cargo throughputs via ports in Taiwan,

http://www.motc.gov.tw (in Chinese).

Shipping Statistics and Market Review (SSMR), Institute of

Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL), Bremen, 1995-

2005.

Fang F.L., A study on development of the relationships

between the ITF and FOCs, Ms. Thesis, p. 10, National

Taiwan Ocean University, 2006 (in Chinese).

Xu M.C., Entry into university is not equivalent to

the graduation – resolution of dropping rate from

university, National Policy Forum, Vol. 1, No. 4, June,

2001. http://www.npf.org.tw/monthly/00104/theme-087.htm

(in Chinese).