Shipbuilding Technology and Education (1996) / Chapter Skim
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National Needs for Education Infrastructure in Maritime Technology
National Needs for Education Infrastructure in Maritime Technology
Pages 75-91
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From page 75... ...
SNAME reported to the committee that it considers 18 schools to have undergraduate programs in naval architecture and marine engineering.1 The list includes two military academies, six maritime academies, nine departments within the schools of engineering of various universities, and one independent school. The military academies graduate as many people with degrees in naval 1Femenia, Jose, Jr.
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From page 76... ...
Navy and U.S. Coast Guard officers, and the continued existence of these schools is, therefore, independent of the health of the commercial shipbuilding industry, they are not evaluated in this report.
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From page 77... ...
The education needs of the offshore oil and gas industry have stimulated development of special-purpose programs that draw on both naval architecture and coastal engineering. In this report, except where otherwise stated, the committee considers naval architecture, marine engineering, and ocean engineering as a single field (NA&ME)
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From page 78... ...
c The bachelor's degree is offered by MIT only in Ocean Engineering. d Graduate programs at Michigan are now being restructured in two tracks -- marine hydrodynamics and marine environmental engineering and concurrent marine design.
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From page 79... ...
Much of the detailed engineering effort required in the design and construction of complex marine systems can be done effectively by persons educated in the more conventional areas of engineering, especially mechanical engineering. Overall system design requires input from professionals, like naval architects, who are educated to address issues involving entire marine systems.
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From page 80... ...
Another example is found in the shortage of faculty to teach marine structural design. This is a critical field because of high industry demands for marine structural engineers to design offshore exploration and production platforms.
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From page 81... ...
PROGRAM VIABILITY Question 2: How should educational institutions go about ensuring the existence of viable programs in this area? There is no single prescription for all six institutions listed above.
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From page 82... ...
Individual faculty members can also become deeply involved with the members of the industry in trying to become competitive through purely technical improvements and through a mix of technical and economic improvements in process engineering, tooling, material processing, and the like. In many countries, including some of the leading ship-producing countries, higher education is centrally controlled, and dual levels of engineering education were established precisely for the purpose of providing the two kinds of engineering graduates described above.
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From page 83... ...
If the marine industry succeeds in building itself up once again nationally, other educational institutions may be able to follow UNO's example in this respect. In general, educational institutions must be able to identify future employment and career opportunities for their engineering graduates if their programs are to remain viable.
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From page 84... ...
Student/faculty ratios strongly influence the status of a program, including faculty positions, office and laboratory space, equipment, support services, and the like. The full negative impact of low undergraduate enrollment may be mitigated by large graduate student enrollment and high research volume, but a department with low undergraduate enrollment can expect trouble.
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From page 85... ...
Reducing costs and increasing revenues will be continuing concerns for all universities and will be especially pertinent to the future of small programs, such as the ones considered here. Except at Webb, the consequences could be alleviated by the increased enrollment that would accompany a renaissance in the marine industry or a major diversification of the field.
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From page 86... ...
There have been times when the Navy program dominated the department and other times when it did not.4 Over the years, the program has been a model of voluntary collaboration for the mutual benefit of MIT and the Navy. Currently, most of the graduate students in the ship design option at MIT are U.S.
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From page 87... ...
Today, the UNO NA&ME program is well established and respected, fulfilling the vision of industry leaders in that area 15 years ago. Webb, Virginia Tech, and UNO all established their NA&ME/Ocean Engineering education programs without direct federal involvement.
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From page 88... ...
Individual Federal Agency Efforts If a coordinating group were established for support of education in NA&ME, it would operate best if it had nongovernmental members, including academic institutions and industry. In the current atmosphere of federal austerity, it is not expected that federal agencies will devote major new resources to maritime education infrastructure.
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From page 89... ...
A possible organizational model for coordination among agencies is the SSC, an organization of several government agencies that promotes safety, economy, marine environmental protection, and education in the North American maritime industry. Although the SSC is effective in supporting research in ship structures, the research projects do not coincide with the needs of some educational institutions to develop and maintain faculty members who specialize in ship structures.
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From page 90... ...
The current interests of the committee are licensing naval architects and marine engineers, continuing education in NA&ME, and accreditation of university programs in NA&ME. To be effective as a public-private-academic partnership to strengthen the teaching of NA&ME, representation is needed from government agencies, and support of education must become a primary focus.
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From page 91... ...
The institutions discussed in this report are expected to produce the naval architects and ocean engineers for future naval construction and a resurgent commercial shipbuilding industry. Their ability to do so, however, depends upon their continued existence.
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