Regional Maritime University Admission into Maritime Safety and Security Course

Regional Maritime University Admission into Maritime Safety and Security Course for the 2018/2019 academic year.

LATEST UPDATE: As of the time of publication, the Regional Maritime University mature access form for the 2024/2025 academic year is not yet out. This post is intended to serve as a guide to prospective applicants.

Applications are invited from suitably qualified persons for admission to the Maritime Safety & Security Course commencing 23 ^rd May, 2018 by the International Coordination Center (ICC) and the Regional Maritime University (RMU)

 INTRODUCTION

Facing ever-increasing maritime insecurity and needing to protect resources and the environment, as well as being able to carry a lot of responsibilities in the area of maritime safety, the Gulf of Guinea Countries and blue economy partners are building up their own tools for a higher level of efficiency.  Inter-regional Strategies (such as the Yaoundé code of conduct, maritime strategy of ECOWAS countries, new national maritime security strategies, coupled with the springing up of regional, multinational and national centres all around the Gulf of Guinea) are good but need, urgently, men and women who are able to serve and act.

Since 2014, with the support of various partners such as the European Union’s Critical Maritime Routes of the Gulf of Guinea (CRIMGO Project) and the OCIMF’s Maritime Trade Information Sharing Centre – Gulf of Guinea (MTISC-GoG), and now The Gulf Of Guinea Inter-Regional Network (GOGIN) the Regional Maritime University is working hard to play its part in the building up process, by proposing concrete solutions to improve human capabilities. It is a fact that no strategy, organisation, centre or blue economy actor can succeed without professionals who are adequately prepared and trained to take decisions and act, within the maritime domain, in full synergy with other professionals working in allied agencies and institutions, to ensure maritime safety and security in and around the Gulf of Guinea.

There is, thus, a constant need for building the capacity of persons who deal with maritime issues with regard to the constantly changing threats of piracy and armed robbery at seas.

Upon the initiative of the GOGIN project, and in cooperation with the Academie Regionale des sciences et techniques de la mer (ARSTM, Abidjan) and the Regional Maritime University (RMU), both institutions are running the same Regional Maritime Safety and Security Course in two languages i.e. (English at RMU, French at ARSTM).

OVERALL OBJECTIVES OF PROGRAMME

1. To enhance specific maritime skills to better understand legal and illegal activities that take place the marine environment
2. To equip top management personnel and other persons in decision making roles to take preventive and reactive safety actions to make the gulf of Guinea safer and more secure
3. To facilitate governance interactions between public and private sectors for synergy o counter hindrances to the regular flow of maritime commerce and the stabilization of Pillars of he Blue Economy
4. Tackle modern threats to maritime insecurity, but also enable states along the Gulf of Guinea to better shoulder their sovereign responsibilities, more particularly in terms of prevention and preservation of human life and the protection of the marine environment and resources;
5. Have quality human resource who are able to fit into different maritime-related fields; handle appropriately, management and coordination duties regarding offshore and inshore activities, in terms of both safety and security, on behalf of their countries or organisations;
6. Give managerial staff and officials from different organizations within the maritime sector which are managed by Governments (including corporate bodies, the activities of which border on the maritime domain), a set of common skills and knowledge needed for better handling of problems and also for collaborative work;
7. Help de-compartmentalise maritime Administrations and Security Agencies in relation to one another by creating a network of maritime professionals within a given country but also at Regional level;
8. Enable managerial staff and officials to incorporate the body of knowledge they have acquired into their daily operations;
9. Promote validation of prior knowledge acquired by some for the good of the wider community and compare experiences for mutual enrichment,
10. Give concrete and effective platform for cooperation on a day-to-day basis and also in handling events at sea, at national and international levels.

Target groups/Who may benefit

• Top Management,
• Middle Managers
• Experienced Technicians  concerned with safety and security issues  within the under-mentioned maritime sectors: 

1. Maritime Affairs
2. Foreign Affairs
3. Environmental Protection
4. Fisheries
5. Navy
6. Military Police
7. Police Service
8. Narcotics Control
9. Customs
10. Oil Drilling
11. Maritime Insurance
12. Port Security

 PROGRAMME/COURSES/MODULES

The Courses are in Modules i.e.  Modules A to E.  Progress to another Module is dependent upon the successful completion of a previous Module.  Listed below are the Modules:

Module A:  Technical Basics –

• Navigation
• Knowledge of the Ship
• Maritime Law and Conventions

Benefits to you/Learning Outcomes

1. Know how to identify and distinguish between different forms of marine navigation.
2. Know the structure of a ship, recognise and discern different types of ships and their characteristics relating to their nature and activities.
3. Know the usual tools of navigation: the compass, the marine map, the CRAS / Parallel ruler
4. Be familiar with extraordinary meteorological phenomena and their impact on navigation
5. Learn the basics of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) etc.
6. Determine different electrical generators and their functions
7. Master survival and rescue techniques at sea
8. Be able to distinguish between the French legal system (based on late Roman law) and the English legal system (Common Law) from the point of view of the source but also of the structure.
9. Be familiar with current rules and procedures for drawing up accreditation documents in maritime and port-related matters
10. Understand the mechanisms for improving the coastguard function (pooling the human and material resources of all the government departments of the state intervening at sea, de-compartmentalising responsibilities, cooperation between government departments and between states) etc.

 Module B:  Shipping Trade

• Introduction to Shipping Trade

Benefits to you/Learning Outcomes

1. Understand the structure, ownership regime and registration of the world fleet
2. The role of different state-controlled and private operators in transportation and sea ports
3. Identify and know the role of the various players in the global maritime transport chain: Flag State-coastal State-port State-Captain-Shipowners-ship management companies-P&I clubs and maritime underwriters-classification societies-shipyards-banks and the financing of ships, etc.
4. Know the legal framework for maritime and multimodal transport contracts (the responsibilities of the various parties)
5. Be acquainted with the different types of disputes (damage in transit-loss-delays) and the mechanisms for handling such disputes etc.

 Module C:  Maritime Safety

C1 – SAR sub-module

• Introduction to regulations and maritime search and rescue operations (SAR) and marine pollution (intentional or accidental – by petroleum products or other chemical products)

 C2 – POLMAR sub-module

• Organisation, responsibilities, normal circulation of petroleum products and chemicals, prevention plan notions, coordination principles, conventional prevention tools, contribution and compensation mechanisms.

Benefits to you/Learning Outcomes

1. Understand regional and global SAR regulations and systems. Note the importance of regional or international cooperation regarding SAR (regional SAR plans or understandings)
2. Know SAR resources, the importance and role of SAR operators and organizations
3. Understand the legal basis of rescue and assistance operations and the obligations associated with each of these operations
4. Understand the various stages and phases of a SAR operation;
5. Understand Operational plan of a rescue coordination centre;
6. Understand the Planning and carrying out of a search mission and a rescue mission
7. Know the normal movements of petroleum products and chemicals, identify operators, how risk is managed offshore and in ports
8. Know the various different global and regional players, know the MARPOL convention, National intervention and emergency plan
9. Be able to identify, characterise and report marine pollution, from an aircraft or a ship – Evidence-gathering
10. Understand the specifics of different pollutants (toxicity for the environment and for intervening parties) etc.

 Module D:  Maritime Security

• The scourges weighing on maritime security, in particular around the Gulf of Guinea: piracy, banditry, bunkering, smuggling, drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal immigration and money-laundering, illegal fishing.

D1 – IUU fisheries sub-module

• Notion of the preservation of resources, traditional and industrial fishing techniques, the impact of illicit fishing, international, regional and national regulations, specialised policing, official controls at sea and in ports

 D2 – THREATS sub-module

• Knowledge of the issue, international efforts and cooperation, collecting and exchanging information, acting in coordination, prosecuting criminals, identifying money-laundering and petroleum product laundering operations

Benefits to you/Learning Outcomes

1. Be able to make an effective and proficient contribution to decision-making in the marine fishery sectors, both at operational and at strategic level.
2. Be able to develop a holistic and dynamic view of the exploitation and management of marine resources
3. Know the main fishing regulatory measures.
4. Have some knowledge of new developments and master the most recent management tools (after studying the traceability of small-scale, industrial inshore fishing and industrial deep-sea fishing).
5. With respect to Illegal Fishing, know the rules and current regulations and the means of prosecution and crackdown through statutory law
6. Explain the modus operandi of groups operating in acts of piracy at sea and armed attacks against ships in the Gulf of Guinea;
7. Identify and define what roles regional and sub-regional administrations can play in the fight against maritime violence;
8. Show the need to share security-related information between national agencies in the same country and the need for fighting strategies to have a more harmonised regional and international framework;
9. Present the risk posed to States by the fact that funds generated through acts of piracy and cocaine trafficking can help finance international terrorism, etc.
10. Be able to recognise links between unlawful or illegal bunkering at sea (ship-to-ship) and acts of maritime piracy and money-laundering

 Module E:  Maritime Crisis Response

• Aggregate of all knowledge acquired in previous modules to prepare trainees in practical terms for effective and responsible management of perils of the sea. Training under Module  common to both managerial and operational levels, where future managerial staff and operators  work together to resolve situational cases presented at their respective levels of responsibility.

Benefits to you/Learning Outcomes

1. Know what crisis at  sea is, what structures there are to enable different intervening parties to collaborate, what the principles of managing maritime crisis are, how to issue a crisis communication, how to prepare the judicial and administrative prolongation of crisis.
2. Know the concept of structure of a maritime crisis, the notions of crisis posture, escalation to crisis
3. Identify maritime crisis management tools
4. Know how to organize one’s teams for crisis management purposes
5. Prepare a maritime crisis management exercise
6. Take part in a crisis management exercise
7. Practically perform a crisis communication exercise
8. Know hand-on how to analyse crisis communication exercises
9. Participate in developing feedback etc.

CERTIFICATION

Certificates would be awarded to participants who successfully complete a course.  Such certificates would be issued by RMU or ARTSM alone.  However upon successful completion of all five short courses, the “Certificate of Regional Competence in Maritime Safety and Security” would be awarded to such individuals.