Nautical education in a changing world: the case of the Netherlands

This paper is a contribution to the strategic question: How can the continuity of the current education infrastructure for the maritime industry be secured? The analysis in the paper is based on concepts from institutional economics, in particular governance of institutional structures. The analysis is applied to the Netherlands. The Dutch maritime sector is described in terms of the institutions that are related to knowledge and education. This analysis shows that these institutions, most of which take the form of explicit organisations, are all very rigid and leave little room for change and renewal. Furthermore, the social and legal structure embedded in the institutional structure strengthens, rather than thwarts, the institutional inertia. The theory on governance and organising capacity offers some short-term solutions. Long-term solutions only emerge if changes are made in the institutional structure of the knowledge infrastructure. As policy priorities, one could select the development of a research agenda for the sector, with wider possibility to fund non-technical maritime research, improvements in information concerning supply and demand of maritime training courses, and maintaining and extending teaching activities as much as possible. The ultimate goal should be to create greater knowledge awareness in the whole maritime sector, where this currently exists only in parts of that sector.