CMI launches master’s degree in 2015

2015 February: The pace of activity within the walls of the Caribbean Maritime Institute will increase significantly in the year ahead. Three red pins stand out among the others on the CMI’s 2015 calendar:

  • Partnering with Maritime University of Shanghai, China, in hosting an international maritime conference in Jamaica.
  • Launching its master’s degree programme
  • Collaborating with FESTO Lab in Germany, for establishing on its campus a training facility in mechatronics, hydraulics, robotics and pneumatics.

The joint conference involving the two academic institutions, planned for June, will present a variety of topics for discussion under the banner ‘Logistics Transforming the Economy’. Target groups include university students and professors, leaders of industry and executives of government and quasi-government agencies. The CMI will take the lead roles in staging the event, including logistics, the call for abstracts and papers, the review of abstracts and papers and the selection of papers for presentation.

CMI campus in Kingston, Jamaica.

The CMI masters’ degree in Logistics and Supply Chain management will be delivered with support from the Port Management Association of the Caribbean (PMAC) which will assist in the promotion of the degree to its members. The Maritime Administration of Antigua and Barbuda/Antigua Port Authority will be host for the programme.

The first cohort in this new degree programme must be a minimum 10 students/participants to make it economically feasible. The number of students will vary in each year as participants could join the programme at intervals. The minimum pre-requisite for enrolment is a bachelor’s degree in any field. Credits will be given to participants with a wealth of experience in the industry. The programme is planned to commence in April, 2015.

The establishment of a Caribbean centre for FESTO Lab, for training in Mechatronics, Hydraulics, Robotic and Pneumatics (Integrated Engineering) for global certification has been a priority project for CMI. Working in collaboration with FESTO Germany, the CMI will set up the laboratory on its Kingston, Jamaica campus. There it will offer a global certification in mechatronics to its students and participants across the Caribbean.

Both the master’s programme and the FESTO lab are timely and particularly relevant with the impending opening of the expanded Panama Canal and the possible opening of the new Canal in Nicaragua. []