THE Ministry of Transport will upgrade its Institute of Marine Technology in Yangon next January to offer diplomas and bachelor degrees.

The Myanmar Mercantile Marine Degree College will offer a four-year bachelor degree, a one-year advanced diploma and a two-year diploma courses, said U Win Thein, the principal of the IMT.

The decision to upgrade the institute was made at a meeting of the government’s education committee in June, U Win Thein said.

The decision will enable the Myanmar maritime sector to keep abreast with other countries which have upgraded training for merchant seamen, U Win Thein told Myanmar Times.

The degree courses will be in mercantile marine science and mercantile marine technology and the advanced diploma courses will be in maritime transportation and maritime technology.

The two-year diploma courses will be for nautical studies and maritime technology.

The institute, established in 1972, offers 47 competency courses which will continue to be available after the upgrade, U Win Thein said.

The college will allow students who complete the advanced diplomas to join the degree courses in their third year, he said.

“We are also planning to allow third officer seamen certificate holders to attend the advanced diploma courses so that they will enable to proceed to the bachelor degree which is in line with their career,” U Win Thein said.

The college will have two main departments of Nautical Studies and Marine Engineering, and another seven supporting departments, including English, Myanmar and Computer Science.

The institute has more than 100 instructors for its competency courses and it will recruit another 200 instructors for the academic courses, U Win Thein said.

Meanwhile, two instructors from the college have begun a four-year Bachelor of Science (Nautical Science) course at the Korean Maritime University in Busan, South Korea.

U Win Thein said two instructors would study for the degree course every year under an agreement between the Ministry of Transport and the university.