Marina threatens closure of 4 schools

THE Maritime Industry Authority ( Marina) said four non- conformant maritime higher educational institutions ( MHEIs) were given show cause order for operating without proper permits.

The Marina withheld the identities of these MHEIs pending the receipt of their respective show cause orders and finality of decision from the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) en banc.

After the issuance of the show cause orders, the MHEIs was given 10 days to submit responses to the Marina that would then be deliberated by the Technical Panel on Maritime Education ( TPME) for further corrective measures.

The Marina central and regional offices conducted surveillance on October to November 2018, and found out that four out of the 21 MHEIs with disapproved applications to operate still accept first year Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation ( BSMT) and/ or Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering ( BSMarE) students for academic year 2018- 2019.

These educational institutions hadbeen deceiving their students, claiming that the programs they offered were approved and compliant with STCW Convention 1978, as amended.

Marina reiterated the policy that it would not recognize educational programs from MHEIs with no permission to operate from the government. Marina has given ultimatum to maritime schools to address their non- conformity issues.