MMA announces additions to master’s degree program

CASTINE – Officials at Maine Maritime Academy have announced two new programs at the college’s Loeb-Sullivan School of International Business and Logistics designed to meet emerging needs of students on campus and abroad.

In its first formal international outreach effort, the Loeb-Sullivan School’s graduate division last week signed a cooperative agreement with the College of Business Administration of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico.

On campus, the Loeb-Sullivan School will work with MMA’s small vessel operations, or SVO, program to offer a limited vessel operator’s license option in conjunction with its master’s degree program in maritime management.

The announcement of the cooperative agreement came Friday during a ceremony in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The relationship between the MMA and Pontifical Catholic is a “strategic alliance” that will tap MMA’s expertise to help meet the particular needs of Puerto Rico’s island economy, according to Sashi Kumar, associate dean of the Loeb-Sullivan School.

It also taps a new student market for MMA, which saw a decline in graduate students a few years ago.

The college has since expanded its master’s degree program and revised curriculum and graduation requirements based on industry needs, which has boosted enrollment in the graduate school. Adding students from the Puerto Rican university will bolster those numbers even further, Kumar said.

“That has been one of our strategies, to diversify our student base and tie into different markets,” he said.

The graduate program in business management will mesh nicely with Pontifical Catholic’s needs, Kumar said.

“There is no one offering these types of specialized courses that are so badly needed for their island economy,” he said.

He also noted that a major port development project planned for the town of Ponce, where Pontifical Catholic is located will create a demand for that specialized business management background.

Under the agreement, MMA will offer courses in operations, logistics and supply chain management, as well as international maritime industry topics. The two colleges are still working out the details of how the joint effort will work, including tuition rates.

The first course will be an intensive, one-week course to be offered in Puerto Rico next January, with support from MMA using the academy’s existing Web-based technology. Kumar said they expect about 20 students to enroll for that course.

Other options could bring Puerto Rican students to the MMA campus for undergraduate and graduate work, Kumar said.

Meanwhile, the college is currently accepting applications for the hybrid, master’s and vessel operator’s program. The new offering will link existing courses in the college’s SVO associate and bachelor’s degree programs with courses leading to the master’s degree through the Loeb-Sullivan School, according to Capt. Andy Chase, coordinator for the program. Students who successfully complete the program will receive a master’s degree in maritime management and will qualify to test for a U.S. Coast Guard 200-ton, near coastal mate’s license.

“I’m really excited about this,” he said. “I think this is going to be just the ticket for a bunch of people.”

The new program was developed in response to increased graduate student interest in acquiring licensing credentials, Chase said. The college has heard from a number of students who want the advanced business management training as well as a process by which they can obtain a near coastal vessel license, he said.

“In this pairing, we’ve tried to coordinate a sequence of courses that allows for this to happen and harness the best of two very strong programs available at Maine Maritime,” he said.

The program, which can be completed in five consecutive semesters, will offer a good match for students, he said, providing both a business background and the ability to operate most domestic coastal vessels, including tugs and most cruise boats and fishing vessels.

“It works beautifully for them, whether they want to operate their own business or support the outfit they’re working for,” Chase said. “They’ll have that business understanding.”

Because this is a graduate program, students who already hold an undergraduate degree can also qualify for financial aid and still have access to the undergraduate SVO courses, Chase said.

The hybrid program already has three students enrolled for the fall semester. Chase said he anticipates enrollment this first year could reach a half dozen.

Information about the program is available online at http://ibl.mainemaritime.edu or by contacting the Loeb-Sullivan School at 326-2212.