The National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP), International Mariners Management Association of Japan, (IMMAJ) and Philippine-Japan Manning Consultative Council, Inc. (PJMCC) conducted a series of forums aimed at identifying gaps in the country’s maritime faculty development and proposing ways of addressing these gaps.

The Maritime Faculty Development Forum (MFDF 2017) “Working Together in Enhancing the Competencies of Philippine Maritime Faculty” was held on 21 February 2017 at the Grand Menseng Hotel, Davao City; 24 February 2017 at Best Western Plus Lex Cebu Hotel, Cebu City; and 1 March 2017 at Pan Pacific Hotel, Manila.

The Maritime Faculty Development Forum provided faculty representatives of Maritime Higher- Education Institutions (MHEIs) with a venue for discussion of problems, issues, needs and concerns related to maritime faculty development, in the light of full implementation of the 2010 Manila Amendments to the 1978 STCW Convention and Code.  It identified additional training and development needs of maritime faculty members given the new CHED curriculum for BSMT and BSMARE.  Lastly, it proposed Action Plans for the development and implementation of a National Maritime Program for Faculty Development (NMP-FD).

The three forums were attended by some 210 maritime instructors from 61 MHEIs, the country’s stakeholders in maritime education, representatives from the government and private sectors.  Highlighted during the forums were skills gap in five thematic areas:  use of technology, course design and development, course delivery, assessment, and participative learning.