Foundational Concepts and Application Challenges of the GMP-BoK in light of Seafaring Officers’ Perspectives

Hossam Eldin Gadalla, Ahmed Ismail, Ibrahim Tayel

Abstract:
The recent and foreseeable developments in the maritime industry raise concerns regarding the current level of maritime competencies depicting that it falls well short of the industry’s expectations. As a response, the International Association of Maritime Universities (IAMU) has undertaken a serious initiative to establish the Global Maritime Professional-Body of Knowledge
(GMP-BoK) to bridge the gap between what is needed and what is produced by the STCW convention. As a result, MET institutions are confronted with the challenging task of establishing an appropriate pathway that would ensure successful adaptation to accommodate the GMP program into their MET system. Driven by the aim of supporting maritime institutions in facilitating the program’s implementation, the researchers of this study intended to clarify the foundational concepts of the program and identify relevant application challenges with a particular emphasis on investigating the seafaring officers’ perspectives. A descriptive-analytical method of research was employed in the study, and data was collected by reviewing related literature and analyzing the results of an online questionnaire for 408 maritime seafaring officers from the Middle East and African countries. The study’s findings illustrated a necessity for MET institutions to consider flexible learning as a vital approach in their plan to acquire the desired GMP learning objectives while meeting the demands of learners.