Concept of ALMARS
Capacity building for Blue Growth and curriculum development of Marine Fishery in Albania

Contract No: 2018-2571/001-001
Reference No: 598550-EPP-1-2018-1-HR-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP
Project duration: 15.01.2019 – 14.01.2022

 

ALMARS is a three-year Erasmus+ capacity building project (Key Action 2) with a focus on Enhancing the Marine Fishery industry in Albania. Project aims at enhancing marine fishery industry in Albania which will be achieved through several tasks:

  1. The development of a new professional Master Degree in Marine Fishery that will meet market needs
    Curriculum will provide students with theoretical knowledge and practical skills that are required by the labour market needs in that segment, which will have a positive impact on employability of students and matching of the demand for and supply of qualified labour in the Blue Growth sector. Furthermore, the new curriculum will offer more practice oriented opportunities than some previous study programmes, which will have a positive impact on the university-enterprise cooperation, opening door to new research opportunities and in general the exchange of knowledge and information among industry stakeholders and the academics. In long run, this can increase Albania’s competitiveness in marine fishery industry and internationalization of its products and know-how.
  2. Enhancement of collaboration among Blue Growth stakeholders through the development of networking platform
    The creation of the networking platform which will unite all stakeholders active in marine fishery field, from education institutions, graduated students, private business and organizations, will further contribute to that since it will provide the stakeholders with opportunities for new partnerships, the exchange know-how, the access to most actual market information, trends, qualified staff and/or employment opportunities.
  3. Improvement of maritime training centres which provide professional training to seafarers operating on fishing vessels.
    Improving the maritime training centre for professional seafarers operating on fishing vessels is another objective of the project since it allows us to penetrate and shape the marine fishery industry from another angle which is the field of exploitation and fishing. The current state of the training centres are not in accordance with IMO standards and EU legislation, for which reason currently trained seafarers do not own competences and skills which are recognized internationally and/or satisfy safety needs, environmental concerns or overall maritime security standards. Developing new basic and advanced courses for seafarers that are in accordance with IMO standards would have positive impact on environment protection, improving fishing and exploitation efficiency and international collaboration opportunities.

Erasmus+ capacity building

Capacity building projects (Erasmus +, Key Action 2) are transnational cooperation projects based on multilateral partnerships between higher education institutions (HEI) in Europe and outside of Europe. They aim at using HEIs as a vector to deliver the knowledge requirements for economic development through job creation, better governance, increased entrepreneurship and mobility, and a stronger civil society. The duration is 2 or 3 years with a budget between 500.000 and 1.000.000 Euro for staff, travel, accommodation, equipment and subcontracting.

Contact

Alen Soldo, Project Coordinator
Department of Marine Studies
University of Split
Croatia
Mail: soldo@unist.hr

Aleksandra Banić, Administrative Manager
Faculty of Marine Studies
University of Split
Croatia
Mail: abanic@pfst.hr