Maharashtra has about 720 km coastline, which is at the politico-economic heart of India’s total 7,516 km coastline. Mumbai has two international seaports, the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) at Ballard Estate and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) at Nhava-Sheva, and major Dockyards like the Mazagon Dock and also Naval Dockyard. Mumbai also has a ship breaking yard at Sewri. The ports at Mumbai directly connect to the Arabian Sea and cater for more than 18% of the traffic at India’s Major Ports. There are also a number of Shipbuilding yards, both government and private, in the jurisdiction of University of Mumbai and its vicinity, such as those based in Ratnagiri and Ghodbundar in Maharashtra, and Dempo and Chowgule Shipyards in Goa. More importantly, Mumbai houses the Indian Navy’s swordarm the Western Naval Command with a range of organisations such as the Western Fleet, the Maharashtra Naval Area and several key naval/maritime focussed entities. The maritime jurisdiction of Maharashtra, and especially Mumbai, covers the vital energy, trade and commerce routes and centres of India, and is adjacent to the main arterial International Shipping Lanes across the Arabian Sea, which connects India and the strategic Persian Gulf and Gulf of Aden regions to the Indo-Pacific littoral.Mumbai and Maharashtra/ Goa also have several historic forts, fortifications, coastal structures, architectural remnants, ancient ports and other structures that bear testimony to a long and deep maritime history, incorporating all elements of maritime canvas from war and trade to ship building and cultural connections.

The maritime strategic importance of Mumbai, and the wide spread of important subjects under the rubric of Maritime Studies are pivotal to the growth and well-being of India, especially Mumbai and Maharashtra, merit reflection in a dedicated vehicle being provided for academic pursuits, education and deeper understanding of these subjects. India is strategically located across the world’s shipping routes, with maritime trade comprising about 95% of India’s trade by volume and over 70% by value. The Government launched the ambitious Sagarmala Programme in March 2015. The programme envisions port led development and growth of logistics intensive industries. Under Sagarmala Programme, $123 Billion is expected to be invested across 415 projects across the areas of Port Modernization and New Port Development; Port Connectivity Enhancement; Port-linked Industrialization; and Coastal Community Development. This programme is expected to create four million new direct and six million indirect jobs, and estimated to enhance India’s GDP by upto 4%. With nations committed to fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the role of oceans is significant. Addressing the strategic, environment and ocean ecosystem challenges are one of the greatest challenges for India and the world. India and the world maritime industries have to meet the environment, energy, safety and human factor challenges with extensive research and innovation.

The interdisciplinary industry relevant curriculum of the M.Sc. (Maritime Studies) , M.Com. (Maritime Studies) and M.A. (Maritime Studies) are following choice based credit system. Each programme is divided into four semesters in which the learner has to complete total 12 courses covering subjects related to maritime and marine sciences and technology, maritime trade, commerce and law and Maritime Humanities, respectively, along with few interdisciplinary courses. In semester I, II and III, each, learners will have to complete 3 core courses and one elective course. The programme will provide quality education in subjects related to national maritime growth and development, observe an interdisciplinary approach across humanities, law, commerce, management, science and technology to empower students with knowledge, focus and critical thinking skills to address maritime challenges and harness the seas in an inclusive, integrated and holistic manner, now and in the future. The syllabus of these courses are designed to be dynamic and contemporary that will aid concept learning to synergise field work, research with data analysis in both the mini and major project in semester II and IV, respectively. Learner will have to undertake book review assignment in semester I as a prelude to the mini project of semester II. Similarly learner will undertake the second book review in semester III as a literature survey ground work for the project and dissertation of semester IV. Learners are expected to undertake case study, field work or laboratory experimentation to address contemporary problems and challenges associated with marine and maritime sciences. Learners will be encouraged to select projects related to regional and country relevant topics addressing current challenges, problems and provide analyses, find relevant new knowledge and solutions. Learners will be encouraged to select interdisciplinary projects. This will help learners to attain hands-on skills and experiential learning. The book reviews, mini term project and major project with dissertation will enable experiential learning through literature survey, field work, data collection, data analysis and laboratory experimentations. These programmes will educate, train and groom graduates that are not only Industry ready but are also attuned to take on further higher education in research. These programmes aims to create manpower to service the maritime and allied Industry which is expected to witness an upward trajectory with the recent favorable government policies and schemes in this sector. The USP of each of the programme is that the curriculum has been made comprising of generic inter disciplinary subjects from Humanities, Science and Commerce in addition to core domain subjects, synergizing and blending learning and training comprising of core and elective subjects.