Can you give us a brief historical background of the Dar es Salaam Maritime Institute?
Before 1978 Tanzania did not have any formalized Maritime training Institute for Tanzanian mariners and people involved in the marine industry were trained abroad. In 1978 the International Convention for training certification in keeping of seafarers was formed and Tanzania became a party of this convention. Therefore it became necessary for Tanzania to have the Maritime-training institute in order to meet the requirement of this convention. The DMI was established with aid from Norway and from 1978 we have been having expatriates from Norway teaching here in Dar es Salaam but the last expatriate left in 1995 and since then we have a Tanzanian principal. The first Tanzanian principal retired in March 2000 and that is when I came in. During all this time the DMI has been concentrating in training and upgrading merchant seamen. In fact we have even provided training for the defense forces. The highest certificate we provide is a third class deck and engineering certificate. We also provide a master and chief engineer's endorsement course for deck officers and for engineers who have the requisite sea service and certificate of competency, i.e. class 3 or 4. In 1995 we had a review of the International Convention of 1978 on standards of training certification and watch keeping. The revised convention calls for more articulate and precise training, and it must be knowledge based, skilled based and competency based. In Dar es Salaam we have just finished reviewing our training programs this week. As you know, Tanzania's economic policies are changing and with the economic growth, we anticipate some form of growth in the transportation sector. As you know our institute is still young and our line of concentration will be merchant seamen. There is a need to have a curriculum that will afford our graduates the ability to work at sea and to work ashore. The new curriculum and syllabus we have written are provided for the management section of training and also the sea going section. We think that since we are very young we need to create linkages with other more established colleges so as to assist us in providing the expert manpower that will be needed when the economy expands. We have tried to talk to other institutes but nothing tangible has come up so far. On the Tanzanian front we are talking to another school, it is a fishery school that is in Mbegani. They want to cooperate with us and I see it as a chance to better our performances in school because we might be able to use resources they have and they might be able to use resources that we have. For example we do not have a training ship while they do. We have a GMDSS simulator while they do not have one.
What is your relationship or to what extent do you work hand in hand with other maritime institutions here in Tanzania like the harbor's authority and others?
We are a training institute and our relationship with all the other maritime institutions is in the context of training. We have had students from the Tanzania Harbor's Authority (THA), from the navy, from the police marine unit, from the immigration department, from various shipping companies and we have had students from various countries. At the moment we have students from Uganda and Kenya. We have not yet started giving training for the shore based industries. This will come with the new curriculum that we have written and I am hopping to send it to the government next week for approval before we start executing it.
How many people are being trained here?
The largest component is the short courses program. The short courses program will take between 700 and 850 students in a year. The long courses program will take between 50 and 72 students in a year. Since the marine industry is in its infant stages so that the output that is needed for the industry is not so high but then again there is leakage of graduates because some of them go abroad. If our men go abroad, they need to meet standards that are required in those countries. Through this new curriculum, we have tried to address this problem because it is to our advantage if our people are able to work abroad. This is an area where we can help with the problems of poverty alleviation and unemployment at sea among our people. The job opportunities at sea are very much unlimited and the ship owner is not interested from where you come from but he is interested in the skills you have. We have been sending our lecturers abroad to train for class one certificate. All our lecturers have class one certificates except one who has been employed in recent years. We are now embarking on another program to send our lecturers to the World Maritime University. Two of our lecturers have already qualified at the WMU. Another two will qualify this year in October and one will qualify from Plymouth University in UK. We have a team of three more to go to the WMU next year.
How does an institution like yours raise funds? A lot of funds are needed to set up trainings, for equipments etc.
As mentioned before our institution was set up with assistance from Norway till 1995. After 1995 our government took over the running of this institution but we are directed to try as best as we can to be self reliant. The government pays the salaries and we are provided with money up to a certain level but we are supposed to raise money by our selves. In 1996 we set up the life raft servicing station, we have franchise from Viking of Denmark. This is a project we have been doing since 1996 to provide life raft-servicing services for theTanzanian merchant fleet and all the other foreign ships coming to Dar es Salaam.
| The results have been very impressive; we are making good money but not too much money. The short courses program is an area where we are generating some money and again good money but not too much money. A few days ago we were having a planning session and it was found out that the ships need another service from us- maintenance for their fire fighting systems. We have visited the airport fire fighting brigade and have appraised their ability to assist in offering us training in the servicing of fire fighting equipment. The airport fire brigade is very much well equipped and very up to date in their equipment. They have agreed to train my men in this area. We have ear marked this market for fire fighting equipment on board ships. We are going to provide this service for them as a way of getting more money and running our institute. Of course the money can not satisfy everything, as you know the equipment for maritime institutes is very expensive. For example for an engine simulator you are looking at half a million dollars or more. We got this GMDSS simulator at around 141 million Shillings, but then we don't have much money and can not pay the whole amount, therefore we ask well wishers to help us. The money we raise now can cover the small things e.g. buy books, repair something, and buy one or two computers. That is why we are trying to establish contacts so as to compliment our weakness through distance learning. We are still in the planning stages to establish a consulting and research capacity.
How many staff do you have?
Our institution has 26 employees. Of these 12 are lecturers, 2 are instructors, 2 part-time teachers and 5 visiting lecturers. The 5 visiting lecturers are highly qualified but we are concentrating on the permanent lecturers that are the 12. Among these, one is at the Plymouth University, 2 have already come back from the World Maritime University, 2 will come back this year and 1 has finished at the University of Dar es Salaam with an MBA program. We are now trying to build a research and consultancy capacity. In the parliament act of 1992 that established our institute we are mandated to offer consultancy services in as far as the government is concerned in respect to maritime affairs. Since then up to 1997 we were upgrading our lecturers up to class one. We are now upgrading them to have a MSc degree level and we already have one who has been accepted for a PHd. in Australia. As we go along we are hoping we will be able to send others for a PHd. When we have built up that capacity then we can comfortably attack the consultancy and research area. On the other hand in this context we have also talked to some other people and they have shown interest to assist us. Some of our friends who have a bigger capacity and experience have offered to help us in this area, nothing tangible has taken place so far. We also welcome those interested in this area to team up with us.
Given on this end, your projects, your efforts to create more links and contacts due to the new curriculum that you have. What are your future outlooks for DMI and where do you see yourself in the next three years?
As I explained before we look at how the country economy is moving and we see that as it is growing it is going to create opportunities of employment. Most of our neighboring countries are land locked countries and the shortest route is either through Mombasa or through Tanzania. Tanzania as a country is trying to upgrade its transport system. The transportation system on land is also inter-linked with transportation at sea. If it becomes better then the shipping system will also grow constantly with the growth on shore. Ashore there are the auxiliary services that are offered to the ship - freight forward, agency etc; so we can anticipate more cargo coming in from the land locked countries. This is why we are trying to diversify from merchant seaman training to providing both for the shore industry and for the ships. Previously before the change of policy we had only one ships' agent, the national shipping agency. Now there are several agents who cannot come for training in the morning but they want the training in the evening. So we are anticipating this and we have already prepared the syllabi because there is a demand due to the increase of firms that are dealing with ships.
What would be your final massage to our readers?
We are specifically a maritime training institute but we have tried to do things to help ourselves so we think that if somebody from outside wants to give some form of assistance and close relationship with DMI or they want some form of assistance that is within our capability we welcome them. In fact we had a firm which was managed by a good friend of our, a Norwegian and he needed premises where he could operate his shipping company. We provided him with the premises he needed and in return he offered berths for our students to work on board his ships. It was beneficial. We also benefited by providing maintenance services for his ships. We have an engineering workshop downstairs so sometimes we have ship owners using our services. It is not a big workshop but it helps with small ships. As I said before, if a ship owner wants to train his crew in assistance and cooperation with DMI it is quite welcome with us and we can assist each other. |
DAR ES SALAAM MARITIME INSTITUTE (DMI) 