Curriculum on Maritime Affairs proposed to FUUAST
Widespread sea blindness especially in academia owing to the prevalent continental mindset warrants the need for having maritime affairs as a subject in the curriculum of international relations at higher education level.
The need was stressed in a webinar titled ‘Maritime Curriculum Development’ which was organized by IPS in collaboration with the International Relations Department of Federal Urdu University of Arts Science and Technology (FUUAST), Karachi on March 18, 2021.
IPS on the occasion was represented by IPS Vice Chairman Ambassador (r) Syed Abrar Hussain, IPS-GM Operations Naufil Shahrukh, IPS’ Non-Resident Fellow Dr Maliha Zeba Khan, National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad, IPS LEAD Associate Ikram-ul-Haque Syed and Manager Outreach Shafaq Sarfraz, whereas the representatives from FUUAST included Dr Asghar Ali Dashti, head of the Department of International Relations, FUUAST, and Dr Faisal Javaid, Dr Rizwana Jabeen and Dr Waseem Uddin from the University’s faculty.
Highlighting the contours of maritime curriculum development for IR students, the speakers were unanimous that there has been a major shift in global politics towards maritime affairs especially in Africa and the Middle East. This is the reason the recently developed national curriculum also entails studies related to the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). They underscored the need for having strong linkages with local maritime industries in Karachi as part of curriculum development so that students enrolled in the program could benefit from the course sufficiently.
The speakers suggested topics such as Indian Ocean Region, power politics at seas, maritime potential of Pakistan, concept of geo politics of the seas, and fundamental laws of the seas could be included in the said course. The role of a teacher in the development of course content cannot be stressed more, they added.
The discussants also shed light on the importance of taking relevant stakeholders on board for effective course development, whereas Introduction of new technologies affecting the maritime domain was also stressed.
