Deprez, T.

Kapasakali, D.

Tkint, T.

Vincx, M.

Open Marine Archive

Towards a user-friendly guide for marine education and train ing
Deprez Tim, Danae Kapasakali, Tim tk in t and Magda Vincx
Marine Biology Research Group, Department o f Biology 
Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281/S8, 9000 Ghent, Belgium 
E-mail: tim .deprez@uqent.be
The search fo r marine educational and tra in ing opportunities is rather challenging. Currently, the 
predominant source o f inform ation is the internet, yet th is inform ation is scattered across several 
websites making such inquires highly time-consum ing. Additionally, the success o f each o f these 
tra in ing initiatives strongly depends on the advertising and networking skills developed by each 
hosting entity individually. In response to  th is shortfall, the Marine@UGent consortium  (including 
Ghent University and Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)) is setting up a portal that aims to  bring 
together available marine tra in ings at a European scale. This portal shall work as a single access 
point fo r both tra in ing seekers and tra in ing providers. Furthermore, it w ill enable the identification 
o f tra in ing shortages in certain fie lds by connecting tra in ing offers with tra in ing demands. This 
initiative is one o f the prospect goals o f the European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC), a 
d istributed Research Infrastructure (Rl), o f which Belgium is an associate partner through the 
Marine@Ugent Consortium. EMBRC aspires to interconnect the European marine research 
communities by upgrading and harmonizing the ir current infrastructures and services.
A firs t step in the creation o f such a tra in ing portal service is the setup o f a comprehensive 
database o f existing marine tra in ing initiatives fo r each country, ranging from  master and doctoral 
programmes, to  expert train ings and specialist courses. A t present, a prototype work is being 
tested. This prototype database includes data from  all Flemish higher education institutes (both 
universities and university colleges). Three in itia l criteria were used fo r retrieving a firs t set o f 
initiatives fo r th is database: the tra in ing is marine orientated, the language o f instruction is in 
English, and the programme or the host institu tion  is accredited. In the future the portal shall be 
able to expand gradually its content w ith more tra in ing initiatives by including more countries and 
by broadening the scope to  relevant transferable skill tra in ings as well as non-accredited initiatives 
(for instance, research institutes and industries). The portal aims to (1) become a central advertising 
point fo r existing and new trainings, (2) o ffe r practical services to trainees and tra in ing organizers 
(application and registration), (3) advertise tra in ing grants, and (4) establish marine dedicated E- 
learning initiatives.
More inform ation on:
- Prototype o f the tra in ing portal: www.embrc.uqent.be
- General inform ation about EMBRC: www.embrc.eu
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Towards a user-friendly guide for marine education and training

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