Next Type of Maritime Leaders for a Sustainable Global Future Maritime Business

Introduction And Review Of Related Literature

Today, the best maritime leaders are engaged in a frantic search for that often elusive advantage that will propel them and their shipping business to greater success. The most common approaches are innovations, cost- reduction, use of technology, and better services that will work magic for some time. When this happens, other maritime businesses join the bandwagon. However, the magic is eventually lost if not sustained. The advantages derived from the new approaches do not last for so long. Everybody then starts searching for other strategies or techniques until such search becomes akin to a lost ship that has a point of destination but always returns to its point of embarkation. Hence, sustainable development in MET is one of the innovative approaches to educational change for the next type of maritime leaders towards a sustainable global maritime business. Sustainable Development is defined in different contexts. In general, it is a development that meets the needs of the present circumstances without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own. The United Nations' promulgated its 17-point Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) primarily to end poverty, protect the environment, and ensure prosperity. It is supported by three pillars: economic, environmental, and social. Economic sustainability promotes economic capacity and quality of life improvements thru activities such as job generation and enhancement of business enterprises. Environmental sustainability deals with the capability of an institution to exist within the means of natural resources. Social sustainability is the ability of an organization to continually achieve excellent social well-being by ensuring protection and promotion of human rights, gender equality, health, good governance, and others. A maritime business cannot thrive in today's society without keeping sustainable development in mind. Higher education for sustainable development is distinguished as an innovative approach to educational change and transformation in the education sector. Education for Sustainable Development has been an emerging research area, especially in Western countries (Barth & Rieckmann, 2016; Barth & Timm, 2010). Much research has been conducted in integrating sustainable development in education. However, Barth & Rieckmann (2016), in their analysis of research on higher education for sustainable development (HESD), concluded that HESD research is dominated by research from Western countries, consists of predominantly descriptive studies, and only partly meets high-quality research standards. There is a need to have sustainable development research from non-Western researchers and quantitative studies from Western and non-Western countries to better understand sustainability across international boundaries. Moreover, integrating sustainability into higher education needs a reorientation of teaching and learning and traditional approaches. Also, it is essential to advance innovative case studies to move higher education for sustainability forward to address the many changes in different disciplinary and cultural settings (Barth & Rieckmann, 2016). Though it may not be verbalized in the local context, leadership and sustainable development are manifested in various aspects of higher education institutions' operations. In the Philippines, a higher education institution (HEI) has the tripartite mandate of Instruction, Research, and Extension. Sustainable development concepts and principles are incorporated in these functions, such as in the curricular course offerings (e.g., Marine Environment, Marine Pollution), research agenda, environmental community/extension services, and other programs/projects. Nevertheless, empirical studies need to be conducted to uncover awareness, practice, and leadership, research, and innovation opportunities.