‘Indian Maritime University should strive to keep up quality of education'

Indian Maritime University should strive to keep up the quality of maritime education in the country and produce enough qualified and highly-skilled personnel required in the field, according to the Union Minister of state for Human Resources Development (HRD), Ms. D. Purandeswari.

She was speaking as the chief guest at a function organised in the IMU campus here on Thursday to present provisional degrees to the first batch of students. She expressed happiness that the State Government had sanctioned 105 acres to the Visakhapatnam campus of the university in the Sabbavaram mandal and wanted the university to construct the new campus on it after handing over of the site. She said there was nothing wrong in adopting the public-private partnership (PPP) mode in the field of maritime education as in other fields, but there should not be too much commercialisation.

Prof S.C Mishra, Director of the Visakhapatnam campus, presented a report earlier about its activities. According to the report, Indian Maritime University, Visakhapatnam campus, has set up two schools - the School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering and the School of Maritime Design and Research. Three degree courses are being offered by the first school. A four-year B .Tech course in naval architecture and ocean engineering was introduced in 2009 and the first batch is in the third year of study. There are 40 students in the third year including 5 girls, 36 in the second and 39 in the third. Last year, eight students joined the university for full M.Tech course in naval architecture and ocean engineering and this year 13.

The school of maritime design and research was formally established at IMU here on March 23 this year, but the board has not been formed yet. “We have been continuing with design and research activities, a legacy of the National Ship Design and Resource Centre (NSDRC) here which was merged into IMU. We have been awarded 13 study and research projects which are ongoing. The projects have been awarded by the Union Ministry of Shipping and also by the Union Dept. of Science and Technology. We have been sanctioned Rs 17 crore for these projects and we have so far received Rs 7 crore,” Prof. Mishra said.

He said the State Government had agreed to give 105 acres in Sabbavaram mandal of Visakhapatnam district for the university and it was in the advanced stage. He requested the chief guest, Ms Purandeswari, to prevail upon the State Government to expedite the process so that the university can start functioning in a full-fledged manner. Prof. Mishra said the university was interacting proactively with the local industries, the Visakhapatnam port trust, the Dredging Corporation of India, Andhra University, and the Hindusthan Shipyard Ltd for solving industrial problems and also for research pursuits.

Dr P. Vijayan, Vice-Chancellor of IMU, who presided over the function, said one of the new courses introduced at the Chennai campus was L.L.M in Maritime Law in association with the International Maritime Organisation.

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