MSc International Maritime Studies - Shipping and Commercial Law (Full Time)
Study shipping in a major port while benefiting from Solent's impressive facilities and staff with wide-ranging experience in the industry.
Entry level
The normal academic entry requirement is a minimum of a Lower Second (2.2) Honours degree (or equivalent) in any one of the following:
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maritime studies,
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environmental science,
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management,
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shipping,
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geography,
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business or law.
Alternatively, an HND or ordinary degree in a maritime-related subject combined with relevant professional qualifications and a minimum of two years relevant industrial experience at senior managerial level. Professional mariners with Master/Chief Officer/Chief Engineer experience & holding a Master's (unlimited) / Chief Engineer's Certificate are also eligible.
International students are required to show evidence of their English level as part of their entry requirements. See English entry requirements|.
Career opportunities
The course aims to produce graduates who are both technically competent and capable of management at project level and above.
Career paths include:
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project managers within relevant maritime organisations and business,
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research and development professionals,
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managers involved in the development of policies,
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managers involved in the implementation of policies.
Course overview
This MSc International Maritime Studies - Shipping and Commercial Law degree is the latest addition to the MSc International Maritime Studies (IMS) programme. The purpose of this pathway is not to educate students for a career in Law per se but more to enable them to have a good understanding of the complexity of law as it relates to maritime business. In this way, graduates should be of use to a range of stakeholders involved in an industrial context.
The pathway aims to demonstrate the dynamics and theories of maritime business law including for example inter alia elements of maritime commerce; company law; contract and commercial law; the role of insurance in maritime commerce; corporate accountability and the criminalisation of the Master. The intention is also to enhance learning through stimulating student engagement by application to currently contentious and evolving areas. Negotiation and dispute resolution therefore represent important areas of study in relation to these conflict scenarios.
For more detailed course information, see the IMS programme overview|.
Course content
International Maritime Law
This unit provides the opportunity for you to critically evaluate the development, aims and applications of international maritime law, including offshore energy law. Special attention is given to problem solving through the use of a negotiating exercise. The unit investigates the allocation of rights and duties concerning the exploitation of natural resources in the marine environment, and international and European regulation of shipping and the marine environment.
Management of Shipping Operations
This unit provides you with an understanding of the total management issues required in managing a shipping operation both on-board ship and ashore. The inter-relationship of different management functions throughout the shipping operation, and how ship and shore are linked is studied to promote an understanding of how this will enhance the commercial, safety and environmental protection aims of the maritime venture. These issues are all examined in relation to the requirements of current international maritime legislation.
Maritime Business and IT Strategy
This unit blends the complementary subjects of strategic management and Information and Communication Technology (I&CT) strategy in the context of maritime enterprises and organisations. The unit recognises the increasing role of Information Technology in the strategic development of the maritime enterprise and considers appropriate methods for
developing strategies in this context. Enterprise processes are recognised as an important approach providing the means to integrate the areas of business and technology strategy with strategic business improvement. The implementation of strategic change in the enterprise allows consideration of marketing management, project management and the
human issues related to major enterprise change.
Maritime Business Law
This unit will enhance the student’s learning experience and stimulate learning outcomes by challenging the student to explore issues in Maritime Law from the mature outlook of the Post Graduate level. Now their conceptions of the maritime world have changed with their
studies – as a result they see that world differently, so that they are able to evaluate a specific issue for themselves, and form a personal view about its validity. This will be particularly valuable insofar as the unit takes forward elements of the content introduced in the International Maritime Law unit, so the two units complement each other. The unit presents challenging issues, in areas which are not only those established as important to a well-developed masters’ student’s appreciation of shipping and commercial law but, also, address current contentious and evolving areas.
Project Proposal
This unit develops the research and academic study skills relevant to being successful at Masters Level in Higher Education. More specifically it introduces students to the research process and details the theoretical underpinning philosophies of research along with the methodological options for both data gathering and data analysis. The intent of the unit is to enable students to produce a realistic and achievable research proposal that they can then implement in order to produce a Masters Level project.
Project
Maritime professionals need to develop and demonstrate competence in identifying, investigating and analysing problems associated with their existing, or potential, areas of responsibility. They need to be able to communicate the findings effectively and to influence others, as well as lead changes in policy or practices. This unit develops these skills, from identifying an area for research, through planning and implementing a programme of research, to analysing, evaluating, interpreting and communicating the findings. These skills are applied to an area relevant to the programme of study and in an area of personal interest to the student. The unit also provides the opportunity to carry out research and further development in an area relevant to a student’s future career.
Assessment
Each taught unit is assessed by a combination of presentations, written coursework and/or an examination. The exact combination of assessments, and their timing, depends on the subject nature of each unit.
Students are required to complete a 20,000 word research dissertation on a relevant topic.
Key career skills
Communication, presentation, problem solving, working to deadlines, teamwork.
Projects/work experience
A number of visits to external organisations and facilities, to ensure students understand and are exposed to the practical application of specific topics from the taught programmes, are planned. These are funded outside of the course fees.
Solent's special features
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The Msc International Maritime Studies programme is validated by the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (ICS), London. Depending on the choice of pathway, successful completion of the MSc will provide up to four exemptions from the Institute's professional examinations.
Fees
The course fees for full-time students in 2011/12 are:
Full-time: UK and EU students - £3,625; overseas students - £9,400
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