Cases
Cases are an integral part of the curriculum of the Netherlands Maritime University of Applied Sciences (NMU). In order to become qualified as a master, development of skills is equally important as development of knowledge.
The objectives of a case driven method of learning is to apply knowledge, make informed judgements, as well to improve communication skills. As the case study work is spread out over a longer period of time, students have sufficient time to reflect and improve based on feedback. To make the content of the Master more tangible, there are two major cases during the year; the Port Case and the Shipping Case.
The Port Case focuses on port development. Because of limited resources of the public sector as well as increasing awareness of the disadvantages of public sector led port development, private port development initiatives increasingly emerge. This trend leads to an increasingly international ‘market’ for port development. In this case, the groups will be asked to do all the necessary market research for the development of a port.
Shipping Case
In the Shipping Case, students are asked to start a new shipping company. They will start with the research on what kind of shipping company they will start and in what market they will operate. After a while, they will focus more on the fleet management and at the latest stage, the group will see if they can buy, sell or scrap a ship out of their fleet.
