Abstract: The higher education in the maritime field is a particular domain of the engineering education. The main characteristics are given by the existence of an international standard imposed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that is compulsory for all maritime universities combined with the national engineering curricula, that is also compulsory in accordance with the national standards. More than that, the maritime students must undertake a 6 to 12 month obligatory practical training on board ships. Starting from 2009, Constantza Maritime University has developed a project financed with European funds that aims for an increase in the quality of training and the practical skills of the students that will be working in the maritime industry, by organizing and undergoing on board training stages at higher standards. It is expected that once this objective is achieved, there will be a 40% increase in the chances of employment in the shipping companies for the Romanian students. A coherent, modern application of such a program with fully integrated on board training sessions, would ensure a better chance of employment for our students in the European fleet. If the "equality of chances" principle is considered, the increase of theoretical knowledge by acquiring specific practical skills for those students that undergo MARCON, for graduates of female gender an increase of up to 60% in their employment chances is expected as maritime officers on board maritime ships. The main purpose of our paper is to share with the academic community the findings related with the integration of this kind of practical training in the general engineering curricula.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Dr. Eugen BARSAN graduate Naval Academy in Constantza, Romania in 1982. From 1982 to 1991 he sailed as deck officer in the Romanian merchant fleet, on different types of maritime ships. From 1991 his activities were related with the maritime education and training, teaching different nautical sciences at Constanza Maritime University. He completed is PhD in Surface Transport in 2004 defending his Doctoral thesis on “Oil Spill Prevention and Response along the Romanian Coastline" at Bucharest Technical University. In the last 18 years was appointed as Head of the Nautical Department, Vice Dean of the Maritime Transport Faculty of Constantza Maritime University. Now he is the Vice Rector for research and international cooperation at Constantza Maritime University. Dr. Barsan's primary areas of interest are: radar navigation, navigation and ship handling simulation, maritime safety and security, waterborne transport. Many of his research projects deal with optimization of maritime transport, analysis of human errors in navigation and ship handling, maritime traffic safety and control, man-machine interface in waterborne transport. He is member of the International Association of Maritime Universities (IAMU) and of the International Maritime simulation Forum (IMSF). Acting also as Director of the Constantza Maritime University Simulation Center, he is managing the development of the maritime simulation facilities and supervising the research activities that are applying simulations and on site experiments.