KOICA Workshop on a Master Plan for Lanka's Ocean University

Korea International Cooperation Agency ( KOICA), the grant aid division of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, held a workshop for the KOICA funded project “Establishment of the Master Plan and Capacity Building of the Ocean University of Sri Lanka”, last week.

Government officials and representatives from relevant organisations participated in the workshop.

The purpose of this workshop is to examine the current status of the Marine and Maritime sector in Sri Lanka, to enhance the capacity of the Ocean University of Sri Lanka. KOICA, in cooperation with the Korea Maritime & Ocean University, Bukyung University and the Ministry of Skills Development & Vocational Training of Sri Lanka, has been implementing this project from 2016 and will continue till 2021, with a grant worth US$ 3 million, a press release from the Korean embassy said.

KOICA Deputy Country Director, Sri Lanka Office, Ms. Jie Soo Lee, in her welcome address, emphasised the need for higher education in the Maritime Industry, to boost the economic development of Sri Lanka, and acknowledged the gathering for sharing their knowledge in their respective fields of expertise. Ocean University of Sri Lanka, Vice Chancellor Thilak Dharmarathne, in his speech, explained the importance of Maritime Education in Sri Lanka.

The main objective of this project is to support the Ocean University by providing a Master Plan to ensure the optimum utilisation of the Indian Ocean’s maritime resources, by providing technical expertise. In this regard, the workshop was focused on current status and future vision of the marine industry, such as Ocean Science, Fisheries, Ocean Engineering and Maritime Business & Logistics programme.

Sri Lanka has emerged as a Maritime Logistics nation in Southeast Asia, connecting the Middle East, Africa and Europe with abundant Oceanic and Marine resources. Therefore, it is expected for the Maritime Industry to play an important role in the Economic development of Sri Lanka. Hence, the Sri Lanka Government, in its policy to promote the Maritime Industry, changed the “National Institute of Fisheries & Nautical Engineering” to “The Ocean University of Sri Lanka”, in 2014.

The KOICA Sri Lanka office strongly believes that, this workshop which included current status and future vision of various ocean industry programmes, will not only bring significant improvement to the ocean sector, but will also create opportunities for a better future for the students of a much needed field in Sri Lanka, and a proper Master Plan will serve as a great asset to develop a strong Maritime sector.