WMU’s Chancellor and IMO’s Secretary-General conferre postgraduate degrees
On Sunday, 2 November, WMU’s Chancellor and Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Mr. Koji Sekimizu, conferred postgraduate degrees on the World Maritime University’s Class of 2014.
In total, 124 students graduated from the Malmö-based M.Sc. program in Maritime Affairs, 47 from the M.Sc. program in Dalian, China, 36 from the M.Sc. program in Shanghai, China, and 19 from the distance-learning Postgraduate Diploma in Marine Insurance. Overall, the graduates in the Class of 2014 represented 49 countries, and this graduation ceremony brought the total number of WMU graduates to 3,889 from 165 countries.
In his opening remarks, WMU Acting President, Professor Neil Bellefontaine, noted the inherently international nature of shipping, and that WMU is also inherently international since it was founded by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Each year, students from roughly 50 countries live and study together at WMU to serve the global maritime community in the spirit of the United Nations. He also noted the ambition of the Class of 2014 which is the largest class in the 31-year history of WMU, and thanked women in the class who took the initiative to establish the WMU Women’s Association (WMUWA) that aims to support the advancement of female maritime professionals worldwide.
Further, Acting President Bellefontaine announced that just prior to the graduation ceremony, an Agreement was signed with Dr. Vishwapati Trivedi, Secretary for the Ministry of Shipping for the Government of India, to establish an Indian Professorial Chair in Port Management that will support a full professor at WMU for a five-year period. He noted that the new Professorial Chair will benefit maritime capacity building worldwide through supporting the education of students at WMU.
Malmö Mayor and Chairman of the City Council, Kent Andersson, who also serves as a WMU Governor, addressed the graduates reflecting on the many opportunities they had to meet at various functions throughout the year. He noted the changes that have taken place in Malmö as it has transformed from a traditionally Swedish industrial center to a sustainably-oriented international city, and how WMU continues to transform the maritime sector with increased global influence through nearly 4,000 graduates.
In his remarks, Chancellor Sekimizu noted that the University is entering a new era that is “bolstered by a fresh optimism based on new tools and new capabilities with which to tackle those challenges.” He noted the move of the University to new facilities in the center of Malmö this coming spring, and urged IMO Member States and shipping industry stakeholders to reach out to WMU to support the important transition and the capacity building goals of the University.
Source and Image Credit: WMU
