“Our objective is to make India a top seafaring nation and a global maritime power, “Vice-Chancellor, Indian Maritime University (IMU) ex Director General of Shipping  and former Secretary to Govt of India, Dr. Malini Shankar told alumni at  IMU’s Navi Mumbai campus on 14 November, 2022. Dr Shankar was the guest of honour at IMU’s first ever alumni meeting.

 

“India is a maritime nation and we need to build upon it, Dr Shankar  said, adding “as part of the Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime India Vision 2047, IMU is focusing on research and consultancy, enhanced academia-industry interaction and maritime policy so as to improve Indian influence in the International Maritime Organisation”

 

Congratulating the alumni, Jillian Carson Jackson, chief guest and  ex President of Nautical Institute (Canberra Australia) 

said, “Every cadet is like a spider who weaves his web of connections and the web grows day-by-day.” 

 

The Indian Maritime University, a Central University under the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways  was established in 2008, subsuming pre-existing institutes like National Institute of Port Management, Indian Institute of Port Management and others with a view to expand the horizon of maritime training and education in the country. 

 

IMU, Navi Mumbai Campus was formerly known as the Training Ship Chanakya. It was the shore-based successor to the Training Ship Rajendra and the Grand Old Lady of Indian Shipping, Training Ship Dufferin, where the training of Indian merchant navy officers  commenced in 1927. 

 

Originally, it was under the Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai in the Ministry of Shipping. Headquartered in Chennai, IMU  has campuses in Navi Mumbai, Mumbai, Kolkata,  Visakhapatnam and Kochi. 

 

IMU undertakes studies, training, research and extension work in the core disciplines of marine engineering and nautical science and offers courses like maritime management, naval architecture, oceanography etc.

 

Vice-Chancellor Dr. Shankar said that the University aims to “focus on emerging areas like maritime biology, maritime laws, maritime security, maritime statistics etc in the near future.”