EEA Grants - MARineSIM Escola Superior Náutica Infante D. Henrique

Through the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA), Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are internal market partners with the Member States of the European Union.

As a way of promoting a continuous and balanced strengthening of economic and trade relations, the parties to the EEA Agreement have established a multi-annual Financial Mechanism, known as the EEA Grants.

The EEA Grants aim to reduce social and economic disparities in Europe and strengthen bilateral relations between these three countries and the beneficiary countries.

For the 2014-2021 period, a total contribution of 2.8 billion euros has been agreed for 15 beneficiary countries. Portugal will receive 102.7 million euros.

Project "MARineSIM - Marine Training for Seagoing Courses"

Framework and objective

Currently, there is a great lack of officers for the national and international merchant marine. This situation is reported in several international publications, such as in the 2015 BIMCO / ICS (International Maritime and Baltic Sea Council / International Chamber of Shipping) report, which foresees for 2025 a shortage of 150,000 officers for the merchant marine in Worldwide. As ENIDH's mission is to train graduates for the Merchant Marine, it is its intention to contribute with the supply of qualified professionals for this sector of activity.

As required by the STCW Convention and EMSA, training courses for future Merchant Marine officers require specific and updated simulation equipment to carry out training properly. Marine simulators are extremely important for marine courses and for other short courses, offered to professionals in the maritime sector who need additional requalification / training to work on board.

The acquisition of new marine simulators is crucial, considering that the existing simulation equipment at ENIDH is generally out of date. In addition, the acquisition of new and modern simulation skills will open the School to cooperation with foreign nautical institutions, providing the exchange of teaching experiences, sharing and improving academic programs and the mobility of teachers and students, increasing the degree of connectivity in a richer educational environment. Finally, this path will lead to an institution with better performance, higher quality and more interconnected with similar institutions

Simulators

The project aims to acquire a set of state-of-the-art marine simulators, which will include:

Complete ship propulsion installation simulator;
Classroom for training with propulsion machinery models;
Anti-collision radar navigation simulator (ARPA); Visual navigation simulator;
Navigation simulator with electronic charts (ECDIS);
Liquid cargo handling simulator (oil, chemical and liquefied gas ships);
Survival and rescue craft simulator.

Predicted actions

The program will also include improving training in maritime education and training - Human Resources, by strengthening cooperation activities between ENIDH and Norwegian partner institutions. The planned actions include:

Teacher exchange, including simulator-based training, in accordance with the STCW Convention;
Explore new training methodologies and future trends in the maritime transport sector and the corresponding training needs for maritime courses - Develop courses in e-learning / b-learning with STCW certification;
Joint organization of thematic seminars on current maritime affairs;
Joint organization of international conferences accompanied by workshops on specific themes of the Blue Economy;
Develop teacher mobility programs, strengthening the most developed areas of knowledge in each institution;
Assimilation of best practices through the sharing of experiences and knowledge between the different institutions involved;
Establish the model for future cooperation with Norwegian institutions in the development of joint research projects in maritime and port management, involving topics such as digitization, sustainable development, autonomous ships and smart ports, among others.