As the Erasmus+ project “Upgrading and Harmonization of Maritime Law STCW-Based Curriculum for Maritime Students – MareLaw” nears its completion, a final presentation of project activities and results was held on Friday, February 21, 2025, at the Faculty of Maritime Studies in Split. In addition to the University of Split, the project’s partner institutions include Riga Technical University from Latvia and the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya from Spain.
Associate Professor Dr. Nikola Mandić, who is also the project team leader, welcomed all attendees and presented the main goals of the project as well as the project website, which features all the activities and achieved results. Following this introduction, Professor Dr. Merica Slišković briefly presented the project, its activities, and the project team’s experiences in training sessions aimed at strengthening their pedagogical and digital competencies. She focused particularly on the results of a survey sent to instructors who teach maritime law at various institutions in the partner countries and beyond. This survey addressed the education and competencies of instructors who teach maritime law at higher maritime education institutions.
Professor Dr. Petra Amižić Jelovčić, the project’s sole member from the Faculty of Law in Split, then shared observations gathered during the comparison of maritime law course curricula at the partner institutions. The most significant issue identified was the lack of suitable literature and the outdated nature of existing teaching materials.
A key highlight of the event was the presentation of teaching materials and self-assessment questions that will remain available even after the project concludes. They will be accessible not only to students at higher maritime education institutions but also to anyone else requiring this content in their work (e.g., seafarers, maritime agents, etc.). These teaching materials and self-assessment questions were introduced by Professor Dr. Ranka Petrinović and Assistant Professor Dr. Zaloa Sanchez Varela. The project team recognized that students at technical faculties often do not possess a sufficient legal background, making it necessary to present maritime law in a more accessible manner. Hence, the materials have primarily been tailored to meet their needs. In addition to written content, the project website provides audio recordings of all teaching materials. All materials are produced in English to ensure broader accessibility.
Finally, Dr. Helena Ukić Boljat presented the guidelines for developing maritime law curricula that the project team has created. These guidelines are prepared in accordance with the STCW Convention, which is mandatory for all maritime education institutions training future seafarers. The guidelines will be useful to all higher maritime education institutions when designing maritime law curricula for educating seafarers at the highest officer levels (management level).
Following the project team’s presentations, guests—mainly representatives from the maritime industry—reacted positively to the presentations and the results. Conference participants from the maritime sector included representatives of: the Port Authority of Split, Port of Split d.d., the Port Authority of Split-Dalmatia County, Plovput, Pomorski peljar, the Coastal Liner Maritime Transport Agency, Adriatic Global Brokers, Croatia Yachting, Bavadria, and Pasat d.o.o. In addition to representatives from industry, attendees from the “Dr. Franjo Tuđman” University of Defense and Security and the Maritime Department of the University of Zadar were also present. Given that maritime law is taught at their technical faculties, they showed great interest in this topic.
After the project concludes, the project team plans to continue updating the project website and teaching materials to reflect future developments. These materials will also be used in teaching at the team members’ respective institutions.
The project “Upgrading and Harmonization of Maritime Law STCW-Based Curriculum for Maritime Students – MareLaw” is co-funded by the Erasmus+ program, Key Action 2: Partnerships for Cooperation (in the field of education).
