Training for Australian seafarers
Julia Gillard
posted Friday, 26 February 2010
The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, today announced that the Australian Maritime College in Launceston will receive a $2.1 million payment to help address skills shortages in Australia’s maritime industries.
The grant will support the AMC to deliver maritime and maritime-related vocational education and training to alleviate the national shortage of seafarers.
AMC is widely regarded as one of the leading maritime education and training institutions in the world. As one of the founding members of the International Association of Maritime Universities, it is Australia’s only provider with a national focus on seafarer training.
The 2008 Report on Rebuilding Australia's Coastal Shipping Industry, by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, identified a critical shortage of seafarers worldwide.
The committee recommended that Australia needs a national maritime training authority to create a unified training system. AMC is well placed to provide a total solution to seafarer skills shortages.
AMC Principal Professor Malek Pourzanjani welcomed the 2010 funding for the college, having written to the Department of Education last year requesting the funding to deliver vocational education and training.
“It will support the training and certification of new seafarers to ensure Australia’s maritime industries have enough skilled workers to meet demand,” Professor Pourzanjani.
“The funding will also support the college’s objectives of developing innovative delivery of learning modules and assessment methods, with an increasing focus on e-learning.”
The Australian Government provided more than $1.5 million to the AMC in 2009.
For further information on the Australian Maritime College, visit: www.amc.edu.au.
Tags: Education, Industry, Maritime Industry