Performance indicators for maritime universities in education, training, and research

In 2016, the International Association of Maritime Universities (IAMU) initiated a project to provide a mechanism for its member universities to measure their performance relative to that of best practice member universities in individual performance areas. The objectives were to provide data to inform knowledge of the sector and to support the IAMU’s aim of providing leadership in maritime education, training, and research. Performance data of key indicators were collected from member universities. Following a pilot project in 2016, all IAMU member universities were invited to participate in subsequent projects in 2017 and 2018. The data was used to assess performance in three pillars: research strength, teaching quality, and global engagement. The results of the analysis indicated a spread of performance across the member universities with some member universities consciously focusing on one sector (i.e., pillar) while some achieved broad achievement across the pillars. The IAMU has a growing membership of just over 60 member universities; about 35% and 45% participated in the project in years 2017 and 2018, respectively. The upper (fourth) quartile member universities in each pillar and overall are presented here for 2017 and 2018 while the upper third quartile member universities are also listed in 2018. The project has progressed to a refined benchmarking activity providing a platform to support data collection and comparative analysis based on realistic sector-relevant indicators. The benchmarking supports future longitudinal data acquisition to inform at a whole of sector level while allowing individual member universities to understand their performance in relation to sector-norms in a confidential, supportive framework.