MSc in Shipping Operations & Management

Overview

The MSc in Shipping Operations & Management is unique, innovative, and global by design, world-class in quality, and affordable in cost. The program is unique in the region and possibly globally in being designed to cater to the needs of participants and employers through purely shipping-related courses.

Program’s Purpose and Objectives

The MSc in Shipping Operations & Management aims to equip students and shipping professionals with the knowledge, management skills and competencies required to pursue or enhance a successful career in shipping operations, and maritime management including maritime logistics.

The objectives of the course include:

• To develop comprehensive knowledge in shipping using interdisciplinary insights.
• To provide a global understanding of shipping and the maritime industry and to enable participants to apply the advanced knowledge gained to shipping operations and ship management
• To develop the expertise and professional outlook required to foster a successful career in international shipping and maritime logistics.

The educational purpose and objectives of the program are related to the program’s key competitive advantages that differentiate it from other postgraduate shipping-related courses. The first advantage is that the program is focused solely on providing in-depth shipping-related education as reflected in the courses and their content. Unlike other programs that tend to mix shipping-related courses with general business, finance, or other subjects that are part of other programs in order to economize on resources, this program provides focused shipping education as required by the market.

The program also provides opportunities for candidates to develop a deep understanding of issues at the cutting edge of professional practice particularly with focused courses on shipping data analytics, crew management and leadership, ship operations management, and environmental topics in the shipping industry. Such innovative shipping-specific courses clearly differentiate the program from the competition.

Upon Graduation You Will Be Able:

Become up to date with the latest trends and issues in the shipping industry and be able to evaluate their impact on it.

• Acquire a holistic view of international shipping, integrating commercial, legal technological, financial and dimensions of shipping operations and management.
• Understand the complex shipping rules and regulations as well as the sources of risk that modern shipping companies face and identify the range of company strategies available in the context of industry constraints.
• To employ sound principles of management, strategic planning, financial management, leadership and risk management in shipping and the maritime industries.
• To utilize critical thinking and abstract reasoning skills in decision making in the management of ships, ports and maritime logistics.
• To engage in critical inquiry and research in the fields of maritime economics, finance, shipping operations, and maritime management.

Program Details

• The entire program is taught online.
• To graduate, students are required to successfully complete the program’s 9 core modules, (10 ECTS credits each), for a total of 90 ECTS credits.
• Learning effort: attendance of 3 hours of online live sessions of lectures and Q&A per week plus weekly self-study, assignments, and/or exams.
• Students complete the program in 15 months.
• The program is offered at least twice a year, in January and September.

Courses

Analytical Skills

• Maritime Economics
• Ship Financing & Risk Management
• Research Methods in Shipping (Course & Research Paper/Thesis)

Leadership & Management

• Leadership, Team Building & Crew Management
• Environmental Management & Safety in Shipping
• Marine Insurance & Carriage of Goods by Sea

Operations

• Shipping Operations, Optimizing Performance & Analytics
• Managing & Chartering Operations
• Port Operations & Logistics

Program Learning Outcomes

By studying and graduating from the MSc Shipping Operations & Management you will have acquired an in-depth and holistic understanding as well as analytical skills and decision-making capability in:

• Maritime and shipping economics by analyzing the demand and supply in international trade and shipping, ship economics, and the economics of specialized shipping markets.
• Human resource practices in crew management and in particular leadership and team building, training, retention, safety and quality standards, and performance management of the seafarers.
• Ship Operations performance and optimization through models & techniques for effective ship operations management and data analytics for improving shipping operation efficiencies.
• Charter markets, chartering practice and charter party analysis in dry cargo and tanker shipping, and how to analyze the terms & conditions, responsibilities & accountabilities in charter party contracts.
• The legal issues arising from the transportation of goods by sea, and the principles governing contracts of the carriage of goods by sea and maritime insurance.
• Port economics and logistics pertaining to the port development, operation, efficiency, and governance, as well as logistics and the integration of ports and terminals in global supply chains.
• Financing of shipping operations and the management of risk in the shipping industry, including the financial performance of shipping firms and shipping-risk management tools, such as shipping derivatives.
• Environmental protection and safety in the shipping industry and in particular, how management uses key performance indicators to monitor safety and environmental protection.

Target Audience & Career Impact

The Program’s courses have been strategically chosen to meet the needs of the industry and the requirements of employers in the shipping industry, and at the same time provide cutting-edge knowledge at the forefront of new developments in international shipping. The program is unique in the region and possibly globally in being designed to cater to the needs of participants and employers through purely shipping-related courses.

There are three major groups of candidates that will find this program particularly attractive.

1. The first group includes people that are currently employed in the shipping industry and require further higher education or specialization in order to enhance their skills and further their careers. Many of the employees in shipping may not have had the opportunity to receive specialized shipping education or require postgraduate shipping education to enhance their career prospects (e.g. ex seafarers embarking on a career ashore).
2. The second group consists of fresh graduates from other disciplines other than shipping. Market intelligence suggests that most applicants for shipping-related education are fresh graduates from various disciplines including business administration, law, economics, the social sciences as well as from mathematics and engineering. The distance learning nature of the program, as well as its focus solely on shipping education, renders this program particularly attractive.
3. The third group of candidates is overseas graduates or working professionals that would be looking for cutting edge focused shipping education to enhance their career and employment prospects.

Employability of Graduates

The graduates of the program have great potential for local and international careers in international shipping and maritime logistics.

• It is envisaged that a significant part of the students enrolled in the program will be already employed in the maritime industry and will be seeking to enhance their career prospects, skills and knowledge by enrolling in the online degree.
• Cyprus-based participants will have the opportunity for employment locally in the numerous shipping and ship management companies as Cyprus is regarded among the top three global ship management centers. Employability prospects are great as hundreds of skilled and educated graduates are employed locally every year, the ship management companies rightly regarded as among the best employers on the island.
• Greece-based participants will have the opportunity to be employed in the number one ship-owning nation of the world in addition to the option of pursuing an international career.
• A distance learning degree of this nature provides great opportunities for participants from the Indian, Chinese and other markets that currently present huge opportunities.
• An international distance-learning degree of this nature provides great opportunities for participants from other European & Middle Eastern countries as well as from India, China, and other Asian markets that currently present huge and growing opportunities in their shipping and maritime sectors.