After four years, the European partners of the EU research project SkillSea presented their results at the closing conference in Brussels on 31 May 2023. Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Max Johns, Head of the Maritime Business School, HSBA was significantly involved in four of six work packages. During the conference, Professor Johns also announced HSBA's participation as founding partner in MET-NET (Maritime Education and Training Network), the new European network for maritime education and training, which was launched by nine leading European maritime education and training providers during the closing conference of SkillSea.
EU Research Project SkillSea Successfully Completed: HSBA Joins MET-NET with its Maritime Business School
"The training of seafarers must be adapted to the needs of the times, so that green and digital content also has a bigger impact. This is one of the key recommendations of the SkillSea project," says Professor Johns. "In addition, prospective seafarers need a clear career perspective - this can include transitioning into maritime land-based professions, which is another area where the right training is needed early on. SkillSea has described essential pathways for this."
"We are proud that we have been able to successfully contribute our research expertise in the maritime industry to this important project over the past four years" Professor Johns further explains. "And we would like to continue to do so in the future: with the Maritime Business School as a partner of MET-NET, we can make a significant contribution to ensuring that the training of skilled workers in the maritime sector is future-proof and attractive throughout Europe."
The founding of MET-NET is one of the main results of SkillSea: because the networked cooperation of the European METs (Maritime Education and Training Institutions) through MET-NET is the key to better cooperation and collaboration for future-proof maritime education and training. "Cooperation between METs in this form has not existed before," says Professor Johns. "In concrete terms, the aim is to develop courses together and to teach them in a similar form at different locations and, for example, to increase the exchange of faculty and students. The network should serve to improve the quality of education in Europe through networking and to increase the mobility of trainees and students."
In 2019, Prof. Dr. Orestis Schinas received the contract as initiator for the SkillSea research project funded by the European Union for HSBA and supervised it jointly with Prof. Dr. Max Johns. Together with other project partners, Professor Johns presented the results and strategy of SkillSea on the podium at the closing conference in Brussels and signed the Memorandum of Understanding for MET-NET as head of the Maritime Business School, the application-oriented research institute and competence centre for maritime topics at HSBA.
HSBA was involved in work packages 1 (identification of skills needs), 2 (future-proofing education and training), 3 (strategy) and 4 (stakeholder awareness and mobilisation). SkillSea was co-funded by the European Union's Erasmus+ programme under Key Action 2 - Sector Skill Alliances.
