The annual five-week IOI (International Ocean Institute) Malta Training Course on Regional Ocean Governance Course has kicked off, through a ceremony presided over by IOI Honorary President Prof. Awni Behnam (Course Director) held earlier this week. The keynote speech was delivered by University of Malta Rector Prof. Alfred J. Vella, whilst other distinguished guests at the ceremony included Dr Corinne Casha (Assistant Director, Directorate for Global Issues within the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs), Prof. Alan Deidun (Course Manager, Malta’s Ocean Ambassador and Director of the IOI Malta Training Centre), Prof. Sebastiano D’Amico (Head of the Geosciences Department) and Ms Antonella Vassallo, Managing Director of the IOI.
To date, the IOI Malta Training Course has trained around 350 mid-career participants hailing from almost 40 countries bordering 4 different regional seas (Mediterranean, Black, Black and Caspian Seas) as well as from a number of observer countries, including China. This year’s course alumni total 18, hailing from Egypt, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Morocco, Tunisia, Iran, Palestine, Lithuania, Lebanon, Russia and Malta. The training programme builds upon the more than 35 years' experience of the International Ocean Institute in conducting training and capacity building programmes on ocean governance (the first such course was held in 1983 by IOI Canada based in Halifax).
Despite being one of seven similar training programmes offered globally by the IOI, it is to date the only one accredited one, through an active collaboration with the University of Malta, representing a total of 15 ECTS through three different Study-Units offered by the Department of Geosciences within the Faculty of Science (GSC 5101, GSC 5102 and GSC 5103). Through its global network of training centres, the IOI, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has managed to train over 2,000 alumni on thematics which include ocean governance, maritime spatial planning and ocean literacy.
The Course programme, which will run till the 7 December 2022, is a highly intensive one, covering contemporary approaches to coastal and ocean management, with an emphasis on moral, ethical and legal values in Ocean Governance (equity and peaceful uses of the ocean) under the governance architecture of UNCLOS and related international instruments and agreements. Course applications are normally opened each year over the May-June period.
Further information about the course cab be gleaned online.
