Master of AtoN Management Course
The first Master of AtoN Management course was delivered by the Academy in IALA Headquarters from 3 to 7 December 2018, the week before Council 68. The 15 participants came from Bahrain; Brazil; Eire; India; Malaysia; the Netherlands; Papua New Guinea; the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom, most of them senior managers or directors in their organisations.
The very inter-active course started with a 30-question self-test quiz based on the L1.1 syllabus before formal lectures supported by group or paired exercises were presented. These were delivered by the Dean and Vice Dean and a first-class guest lecturer on maritime law, Mr. Matti Eronen from Finland.
Lectures and exercises were completed by midday on Thursday 6 December. Participants were then split into four groups acting as expert Consultants with the task of drafting a strategic plan for the fictitious Caribbean island State of “St Stephen”. The 10-minute executive summaries of their plans were presented to the “Minister” (the Dean). Certificates of competency were awarded by the Secretary-General and Dean.
The course was judged to have been a significant success, thanks in the most part to the very high-quality of the participants. It is considered that two courses could be delivered by the Academy annually. It was heartening to note that both Trinity House and the Commissioners of Irish Lights gave the course a very high priority which demonstrated their compliance with IALA Standard 1050.