Oceanographic education, where now?

In the United States, formalized oceanographic education in the university classroom developed in the late 1940´s. A primary objective was the unification of the marine sciences, the interdisciplinary approach. Since then the programs have greatly increased in numbers and have become diverse. They now include undergraduate level programs. Also, they may feature such majors as ocean engineering, marine affairs, and law of the sea or specialize in some aspect of biological, chemical, geological or physical oceanography. To support such diverse curricula in the future strong oceanographic centers must be maintained. Only in this way can students from the diverse programs come together for periods of time to learn about the ocean. The remainder and major part of the students time would be spent in the basic subject field (engineering, law, physics, etc.) and the combination would make him an oceanographer.