Costs and Financing of Maritime Education and Training in Europe: Analysis and Policy Implications

The paper reports some findings of an extensive European research project carried out on costs and funds of MET (maritime education and training) systems. The need to improve the quality of the European MET systems is a relevant political and scientific issue which strongly impacts the competitiveness of the shipping sector in Europe. However, MET is quite an expensive ET system since it requires high investments and incurs in high running costs. The situation is also acerbated by the decreasing number of students at MET institutions. There is then the need of having a closer look at the financial aspects of MET so as to come up with some policy recommendations for improving the current situation in terms of optimal use of resources. In the paper a questionnaire-based methodology is employed aiming at identifying and analyzing different cost and funds structures of MET institutions in Europe (cost models). Then, by considering some policy-sensitive variables of the cost models, some policy recommendations are drawn up to improve the efficiency of current systems. They basically refer to the need to concentrate and integrate resources in order to exploit some degree of economies of scale, on top of achieving some economies of scope and pursuing quality in MET. Finally, further lines of research are indicated.