Boosting entrepreneurship and industry engagement in Suriname maritime education
The Rotterdam Shipping and Transport College (STC International) and CINOP started a cooperation with the Maritime Institute Suriname (SMI). Together we strengthen maritime and logistic education and its relationship with the private sector. SMI is part of the Foundation for Logistic Education (SLO), based in Paramaribo.
Within this project, the teachers and managers from SMI and stakeholders from the maritime sector have participated in two trainings organised by CINOP:
- Strengthening the cooperation between maritime education and industry
- Developing entrepreneurial skills of maritime students
The first training module exposed the participants to concepts, principles and conditions for cooperation between maritime vocational education providers and sector stakeholders. This training addressed engagement at national, regional and providers’ level at different stages of the education cycle. The participants discussed various types of industry engagement for TVET institutions and maritime skills needs with the HRD managers of employers. Among these were the Suriname Maritime Authority, the Port Management Company of Suriname, and BGP International. The training also included an institutional industry engagement assessment and was concluded with the design of concrete action plans for strengthening cooperation between maritime education and the industry in Suriname.
The second week was dedicated to entrepreneurship and combined short conceptual sessions with active group work and pitches on business idea generation, value propositions, business model canvas applications and integration of entrepreneurial skills into the education programmes. Female entrepreneurs were invited to present and discuss their successes and challenges, and the group paid a visit to a local incubator in Paramaribo.
Both trainings paid specific attention to gender equality aspects in industry engagement and entrepreneurship, and provided a number of reasons why it is important to promote gender equality in training and employment, especially in the maritime and logistics sector. We discussed various ways to promote access of women to training and (self-) employment opportunities in this sector. The recently created Suriname Chapter of the Women in Maritime Association of the Caribbean (WiMAC) actively participated during the two trainings.
This is a project within the Orange Knowledge Programme, managed by Nuffic and funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
