Analyzing Marine Engineering Curriculum from the Perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals

The aim of this study is to answer the questions, what are the relevancies of sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the marine engineering curriculum, and what areas should be improved to achieve a curriculum that supports sustainable marine engineering education. This study is the first study that analyzes all courses at the existing marine engineering curriculum of a university from the perspective of SDGs. Five stepped methodology is applied, which are understanding the content of all SDGs and relevance with maritime transportation, examining the marine engineering curriculum of ITU Maritime Faculty, examining each course catalog and weekly course plan, comparing the content of the SDGs with the content of the courses to determine the relevancy, and find strong and weak sides of the marine engineering curriculum from the aspect of the SDGs. According to the study findings, the top three relevant SDGs to the marine engineering curriculum are SDG4 – Quality education, SDG12 – Responsible consumption and production, and SDG8 – Decent work and economic growth with the percentages of 50%, 18%, and 13%, respectively. On the other hand, the least relevant three SDGs are SDG17 – Partnerships for the goals, SDG2 – Zero hunger, SDG1 – No poverty, and SDG15 – Life on land with the percentages of 1%, 2%, and 3% for the remaining two, respectively. In addition to the curriculum relevancy, IMO Agenda topics are examined and linked with SDGs. According to this examination, the marine engineering curriculum should be improved to achieve sustainable development-based marine engineering education. Moreover, maritime education and training should be changed from the STCW-based structure to the SD-based structure for a modern and sustainable marine engineering curriculum.