Dr Jim Keane, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Gloucestershire Business School also voiced praise for the programmes saying, “The two courses are well designed and innovative with an impressive work-based element.”
Interest in the programmes is growing with many enquiries coming from students in Pakistan and Portugal following the University’s presence at in-country educational fairs recently. In developing the programmes, care was taken to ensure it was not only aligned to the UK quality standards but also aligned to the Maritime industry standards.
Having now achieved validation against the UK academic standards, the next stage for the University is to secure recognition by the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) for its Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) courses, which will be delivered by the University of Gibraltar Maritime Academy as part of the degrees. Aaron Lopez, Programme Coordinator for the University’s Maritime programmes said, “MCA approval is in progress, indeed we were recently visited by the MCA’s Chief Examiner, so discussions are progressing well.”