A photo call from the joint Tenerife and South Korea meeting
Capt. Antonio M. Padrón y Santiago, “IMO Maritime Ambassador” and Maritime Authority of Tenerife -accompanied by several maritime businessmen and Professors of the University of La Laguna (ULL) – held a meeting with Mr. Kang-Ki Lee, Professor of the “College of Maritime Science” in the KOREA MARITIME AND OCEAN UNIVERSITY (KMOU)
During the visit, the IMO Maritime Ambassador discussed with Prof. Kang-Ki Lee the problems in Spain due to the lack of sufficient merchant fleet and the difficulties of the students to find ships on which to perform their professional practices (training period as cadets).
Kang-Ki Lee with Capt. Antonio M. Padrón y Santiago
For his part, Prof. Kang-Ki Lee highlighted the well-known important level of the Spanish system on Search and Rescue (SAR), the importance of maritime professions for any society and the need for having suitably qualified professionals in the near future to take over the challenges presented by the technological advances, especially in the maritime sector.
As a result of the meeting the following objectives were considered:
• Facilitate the realization of professional practices to the Spanish Nautical Students, under an agreement between the KMOU, the Directorate General of the Merchant Marine and the respective Spanish universities that offer Nautical studies on their academic offers.
• Given the important and modern infrastructure available in Spain on Search and Rescue (SAR) -in which Korea is especially interested- the interchange of Officers will be provided between the two countries, by means of an agreement with the Directorate General of the Merchant Navy and the Spanish Maritime Safety and Rescue Society (SASEMAR).
• Facilitate the realization of academic practices to the students of the ULL, from a multidisciplinary perspective, with special emphasis on maritime professions.
An aerial view of the Korean Maritime and Ocean University
Founded in 1945, the KOREA AND OCEAN MARITIME UNIVERSITY (KMOU) is one of the oldest and most prestigious educational institutions in South Korea as well as the only higher education institution specializing in maritime sciences and engineering, and at present with more than 9, 000 students.
The KMOU headquarters and Campus are located in Yeongdo-gu Island (Busan), with three training ships and two research vessels in addition to direct relationships with the major Korean shipping lines some of which operate the biggest container ships of the world.
During the visit, the IMO Maritime Ambassador was accompanied by Capt. Antonio Bermejo Díaz, Capt. Juan A. Rojas Manrique, both Professors at the Nautical School of the University of La Laguna (Tenerife), Prof. Nicolás Marichal Plasencia, Dean of the Superior Polytechnic School of Engineering in the same University, Mrs. Ida Stier from GRUPO STIER and Mr. Kil jong ok from HIDRAMAR.aerial view is of the Korea Maritime and Ocean University
