SHARJAH, (Pakistan Point News - 22nd Apr, 2020) The Arab academy for Science Technology and Maritime Transport in Sharjah, AASTS, has recently arranged the first "Marine E-Talk" to connect its students with decision-makers and key professionals in the maritime sector.
The platform, which provided students with further information about academic studies and future careers, hosted Dr. Ismail Abdel Ghaffar Ismail Farag, President of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport; Hessa Al Malek, Executive Director of Maritime Transport at the Federal Transport Authority – Land and Maritime (FTA); and Captain Abdulla Al Hayyas, Director of Ports at FTA.
The session discussed several key topics including competitiveness of the maritime sector regionally and globally; current challenges in pursuing maritime care; career and training opportunities; in addition to government initiatives to empower next generation of maritime professionals.
Dr. Faraj said, "Remote learning is a new experience for all universities and educational institutions around the world. Accordingly, it has many positive effects; the most important of which is stimulating creative thinking and facilitating communications and knowledge transfer. This aligns with the nature of working in the maritime sector, where creative thinking is a necessity to be in this exceptional profession."
He added, "We realise that the educational process is not limited to textbooks and academic curricula. The idea of launching the "Marine E-Talk" was to broaden horizons for students and employ the capabilities of remote learning tools. Thus, we add new capabilities for our academic performance, and provide added value for students to motivate them to be more creative and think outside the box while they continue their academic studies."
Al Malek said, "We took part in the "Marine E-Talk" to help students explore future opportunities from a professional point of view, open up prospects for them to explore the possibilities of career development in the maritime sector, and encourage them to prepare for job requirements, both scientifically and academically."
Elaborating on AASTS’ goals from the initiative, Dr. Hisham Afifi, Advisor to the President of the Academy and in charge of Khorfakkan's branch, emphasised, "The nature of maritime education depends on pairing academic teaching and practical implementation across all levels and academic years. We thought that students’ physical absence from the Academy will somehow affect the practical side, but we have discovered that distance education and virtual communication tools provide unlimited opportunities. We have started to take advantage of the unprecedented capabilities of these tools."
