Yards Moving Forward - GL Group

“Full Ahead” for the Quality of
Advanced Maritime Training
World Maritime University – this educational institution
with headquarters in the Swedish city of Malmö
enjoys an excellent reputation amongst experts in
the trade. There is a simple reason for this – the WMU works
to a high scientific standard, without losing its practical relevance.
And this is also one of the strengths displayed by
Germanischer Lloyd Academy (GLA), the further education
institute of Germanischer Lloyd. Both university and company
have now concluded a cooperation agreement for
advanced maritime training. The aim is to dovetail theory and
practice even more closely and thus elevate the quality of
training to new heights.
“The WMU is simply the ultimate in further maritime
education,” says Susanne Schreeck. Although this comes
from GLA’s coordinator for the cooperation, it does not
sound effusive. In a matter-of-fact way, the 37-year-old
graduate engineer lists the reasons why she regards the
partnership with the WMU in particular as being so valuable
– it is only possible to study there if you have already completed
vocational training. The lecturers have an outstanding
reputation. And the university collaborates with three universities
in Asia, an important market for Germanischer
Lloyd.
For this reason, Schreeck explains, GL decided to give the
loose teamwork that has already been in place for some years
a firmer foundation. “The cooperation agreement has been
given an initial timeframe of three years. This gives us a sound
basis for developing the training in the maritime sector in
concert with the WMU.”
46 nonstop 3/2006
The World Maritime University and Germanischer Lloyd
sign a cooperation agreement; partners aim to intensify practical relevance
and build networks.
The programme is supervised on the WMU side by
Professor Dr. Jens-Uwe Schröder. The fact that he had been
with Germanischer Lloyd before starting work in Malmö is
surely no drawback. “I know the company and value the colleagues
there highly. With this cooperation, we will be able to
convey our respective know-how more intensively to the benefit
of all our students.”
The cooperation partners were quick to agree about their
joint objectives. The training must remain close to practice,
and the fast-paced changes in the maritime industry and the
flag states must be detected and implemented in appropriate
training concepts at an early stage. “For this, we certainly
need a steadfast and well-established partner from the industry,”
says Schröder. A company with its finger on the pulse of
business is able to identify much more rapidly where things
are moving and for what new trends the employees in the
maritime sector need to prepare. “After all, we don’t want to sit
here isolated in a kind of ivory tower. We need the direct
exchange of experience with experts from the world of everyday
work,” Schröder declares.
One of the tasks lined up for the GL experts will be to help
develop suitable topics for dissertations and theses. “Of particular
interest here are the subjects to do with flag state regulations,
but economic aspects will also be examined,” says
Schröder. The tutoring of degree students and interns will
form part of the cooperation activities.
In previous years, Germanischer Lloyd had already invited
a group of students to Hamburg once a year, to show them
PHOTOS: WMU