30 May 2011

MARITIME DIRECTOR COMES ABOARD

Mark Gooderham has left the shores of Vanuatu to embark on a new voyage as the Maritime Director at Challenger Institute of Technology.  

Challenger appointed Mark Gooderham earlier this year after an intensive international recruitment process.

Mr Gooderham commenced at Challenger in March following a very successful tenure as CEO of the Vanuatu Maritime College.

“In Vanuatu I was mainly involved in training domestic seafarers and fishing communities, whereas Challenger trains both domestic and international seafarers,” Mr Gooderham said.

Mr Gooderham has extensive maritime experience, having spent a number of years in maritime education in the UK and New Zealand and has been employed as a senior officer on various international ships.

“I was also involved in the national formulation of the Foundation Degree programme in Nautical Studies across the UK, a programme that has seen a large increase in the quality of maritime trainees in the UK.”

“This experience will help me to examine the present relationships with industry and hopefully also forge new links in order to help to address the skills shortages present in so many areas that the Centre covers.”

Mr Gooderham is passionate about maritime training and is enthusiastic in his praise of Challenger Institute.

“Challenger’s maritime training in Fremantle has many strengths - close industry contacts across the range of courses offered, industry qualified lecturers, high standard training facilities, including a fleet of vessels, simulators and various well equipped workshops and laboratories,” he said.

“These comprehensive facilities have helped to make the multi award winning marine tourism course an industry leader, with graduates finding employment in many areas of marine tourism, such as diving or tour guiding.

There is an enormous demand for seagoing and marine professionals to service the state's burgeoning offshore oil and gas industry as well as the hundreds of tankers and bulk carriers that export WA's iron ore and other minerals.

There has been a dire maritime skills shortage for many years, but the increased mining activity in the west since the global financial crisis has made these shortages even more acute.

Challenger is the only educational institution in the state to offer maritime courses for certificates of competency at international levels. At present, about 2000 students attend the maritime facility every year.