The World Maritime University (WMU) has signed an agreement on academic cooperation with the King Abdulaziz University Faculty of Maritime Studies (KAU-FMS) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
KAU Acting President, Professor Abdulrahman O. Al-Youbi, and WMU Acting President, Professor Neil Bellefontaine, signed the Agreement that will enable cooperation in the field of marine and maritime affairs, broadly defined to include maritime safety, security, education and marine environmental management.
Specific areas of cooperation include research, exchange of faculty members, academic and information exchange, and the potential for WMU to offer short and long term courses in Saudi Arabia.
Beginning with the fall of 2015 intake, KAU-FMS will fund at least three students in the Malmö M.Sc. or Ph.D. program.
While at KAU, Acting President Bellefontaine met with several WMU alumni who are currently staff members at KAU.
They including Capt. Tarek Gamel (MET 2008); Eng. Hussain Ahmed (MET 2007); Capt. Altafur Rehman (MET 2007); and Capt. Mohamed Ashour (MET 2006).
While in Saudi Arabia, the Acting President was also pleased to learn that WMU alumnus, Maj. Gen. Awad bin Eid Al-Balawi (GMA1 1988), had been appointed acting director-general of the Border Guard for Saudi Arabia as of August 2014.
Meanwhile, the Vice President of the National Institute for Sea Training (NIST), Mr. Shigeyuki Endo paid a courtesy visit to WMU.
NIST is a specialized MET institution in Japan and it encompasses five training ships to offer on board training for both deck and engine cadets from Japan as well as cadets from ASEAN countries.
The purpose of the visit according to the NIST VP was to exchange ideas of global MET systems and to build a collaborative relationship between NIST and WMU.
Several WMU faculties joined the meeting including Professor Neil Bellefontaine, Acting President, and Associate Professor Patrick Donnor, Acting Vice President (Academic), Professor Daniel Moon, Professor Aykut Ölcer, Associate Professor Michael Manuel, and Assistant Professor Momoko Kitada.
Captain Okamura and Mr. Endo also met with students in the MET specialization during the class taught by Associate Professor Clive Cole and Associate Professor Michael Manuel. Captain Okamura encouraged the students by speaking about his own WMU experience and career development after graduation. The students received each received a cap in honor of the NIST training ship, “Nippon Maru”.
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