Erasmus+

ERASMUS + is a program of the European Union for the period 2021-2027, that supports projects of cooperation, partnership, activities and mobility in the field of education, training, youth and sports. Together with more than 150 countries, Ukraine is one of the Partner Countries of the Erasmus + Program.

On June 1, 2021, KSMA joined the two-year project MERSol (Maritime Engine Room Simulator On-Line) under the Erasmus+ programme. The project is designed to develop new study modules with the possibility of assessment, using special software Engine Room Simulator (ERS) online by means of digitalization. In order to update their education and professional training, project participants will acquire and develop key competences which meet the labour market demands.

AIMS

The objective is to address the recognised needs without delay, with outcomes taken into use promptly and efficiently. The project will develop the skills in maritime industry through joining deep knowledge and expertise of 7 institutions from 6 European countries. The central aim of this project is to develop study modules for Maritime Engine Room Studies, student assessment module and specific software, ERS online. All these new regulations are included in study modules and tested in assessment study module. The implementation planned in the project requires cooperation between educational institutions and business; in MERSol project, most of the partners represents higher education institutions, that are already cooperating with business on regular – if not even daily – basis. Furthermore, there are two business institutions in the partnership to ensure that the exact context will be fulfilling the requirements for business, as well as the universities will ensure the requirements for HEIs (Higher Education Institutions).

This innovative project brings together a unique blend of academic and SME partners of maritime cluster, namely:

  • SAMK is the project leading organization www.samk.fi
  • Imagesoft Oy brings simulator expertise www.imagesoft.fi
  • The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), leads the study modules on marine engine rooms www.upc.edu/ca
  • Lithuanian Maritime Academy (LMA), Lithuania marine engine room expertise www.lajm.lt
  • Piri Reis University (PRU), Turkish marine engine room engineering skills www.pirireis.edu.tr
  • Spinaker is a Slovienian, an award winning it skilled company www.spinaker.si
  • Kherson State Maritime Academy (KSMA) provides Ukrainian engine room engineering skills www.ksma.ks.ua
  • On June 24, 2021 on the WEBEX platform, the first online-meeting took place in the framework of the project Erasmus + KA 226 – Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education. Purpose of the meeting – implementation of the international project MERSol (Maritime Engine Room Simulator on-line). The project team consists of 21 people. On behalf of Kherson State Maritime Academy, it is represented by Head of International Affairs Department of KSMA, PhD in Pedagogical Sciences Alona Yurzhenko, Associate Professor of Department of Ship Power Plants Operation of KSMA, PhD in Technical Sciences Yurii Bohdan and Senior Teacher of Department of Ship Electrical Equipment and Automatic Devices Operation, PhD in Technical Sciences Artem Ivanov. The project manager Heikki Koivisto (Satakunta University of Applied Sciences) made a welcoming speech and represented a report on the peculiarities of implementation of the project first stage. He provided practical recommendations on how to manage processes of creating an online engine room simulator.
  • On November 23, 2021 a regular online meeting was held in the framework of the international project MERSol (Maritime Engine Room Simulator on-line). The participants included Head of International Affairs Department of KSMA, PhD in Pedagogical Sciences Alona Yurzhenko and Senior Teacher of Department of Ship Electrical Equipment and Automatic Devices Operation, PhD in Technical Sciences Artem Ivanov. Participants from KSMA (Artem Ivanov, Yurii Bohdan) received positive feedback from other members of the team for the development of the study module “Electricity in the engine room”.
  • On December 14, 2021 the last online meeting in 2021 was held with the participants of the MERSol (Maritime Engine Room Simulator on-line) international project. Peculiarities of implementation of educational modules of the project were discussed.
  • An online meeting with project participants was held on January 11, 2022. The issue of organizing a face-to-face working meeting was discussed (city of Bled, Slovenia, 01.17.2022-01.18.2022)
  • On January 17-18, 2022 an offline meeting was held in Bled, Slovenia. Representatives of KSMA discussed two first study modules of the project with other participants.
  • On March 22, 2022 an online meeting was held where the participants discussed the situation in Ukraine, MOODLE template.
  • The series of online meeting were held on May 5, June 7, June 21 and September 6, 2022.

  • On September 20-23, 2022 an offline meeting was held in Rauma, Finland at Satakunta University of Applied Sciences: SAMK where the participants tested maritime engine rooom simulator online.
  • On October 11, 2022 an online meeting was held where the participants discussed the IO2 (INTELLECTUAL OUTPUT)
  • On October 26, 2022 an online meeting was held where the participants discussed the update of the simulator and its further testing.
  • On December 1, 2022 an online meeting was held, the participants of which discussed the situation in the city of Kherson, errors in the simulator and deadlines for when they will be corrected.
  • On December 13, 2022 an online meeting was held, the participants of which discussed the situation in Ukraine and the city of Kherson, updates on the simulator and the next offline meeting in Klaipeda (Lithuania).
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  • On January 10, 2022 an online meeting was held. The Electricity module has been fully completed and uploaded to Moodle SAMK by KSMA. The next module is being tested by other project participants.
  • On January 24, 2022 an online meeting was held where the participants discussed the situation in Ukraine and modules 1-8.
  • On 30-31 January, 2023, the representatives of Kherson State Maritime Academy attended a meeting of the MERSol (Maritime Engine Room Simulator On-Line) project participants which was held at Lithuanian Maritime Academy. Since 2021, KSMA has been participating in this project within the Erasmus+ program. During the event, there was presented the special software for ERS on-line (Engine Room Simulator). The event started with an opening speech of the Rector of LMA. After the Rector’s speech, Heikki Koivisto, the curator of the MERSol project from Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (Finland), reported on his experience to the participants of the meeting and provided practical recommendations regarding the project. The first presentation of the training simulator was conducted by German Rodríguez, representative of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain). He described the features of simulators, namely the creation of Maritime Engine Room Simulator. The following presentation of the simulator was made by Artem Ivanov, a staff member of KSMA. Besides, the representatives of LMA made a tour of the Academy for the MERSol project participants. On January 31, 2023, the second day of the meeting, participants discussed the object modules of the project on the MOODLE platform.
  • On February 23, 2023, there was held an online meeting, during which the participants discussed the Intellectual output 3 guide and current situation in Ukraine and Turkey.
  • On March 9, 2023, there has been held an online meeting with MERSol project partners. Participants of the meeting mainly have discussed issues on time and place of the final conference conducting. The conference is likely to take place in mid-May in Finland. Heikki will inform about this further. More detailed information on today’s online meeting can be found in the protocol Heikki usually sends just before the next meeting.
  • On March 28, 2023, a meeting with project partners was held. Firstly, Heikki Koivisto emphasized the necessity of closing the reporting issues, i.e., total time spent on the project and expenditures. Participants of the meeting discussed the project status.
  • On March 29, 2023, a regular online meeting with partners in the Multiplier Event project (Barcelona, Spain) was held.
  • On April 18, 2023, a scheduled meeting with partners in the MERSol project has been held. One of the issues considered during the meeting has included the need for partners’ feedback and comments on the first draft copy of the MERSol Guidebook. The final version of the guidebook will be translated into Ukrainian and posted on the Academy website taking into account feedback and comments from partners.
  • A final conference in Helsinki, a meeting on the results of the MERSol project (Maritime Engine Room Simulator On-Line) and a partner meeting in Istanbul were held on May 15-17, 2023. In cooperation with the teams from Finland, Turkey, Spain, Lithuania and Slovenia, KSMA team had been working on the project since 2021, i.e., development of the online engine room simulator. Representatives of each party demonstrated project working modules at the event. Senior teacher of the Department of Ship Electrical Equipment and Automatic Devices Operation, Ph.D. in Engineering Artem Ivanov and Associate Professor of the Department of Ship Power Plants Operation, Ph.D. in Engineering Yurii Bohdan worthily represented Kherson State Maritime Academy and their scientific research, showed a high level of professional competence and research work.
  • On May 30, 2023, a last reporting meeting was held with partners in the MERSol project (Maritime Engine Room Simulator On-Line). A total of 35 online meetings were held during the project. Heikki Koivisto, the project coordinator from Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (Finland), reported on the aspects of the project implementation and events, where the simulator would be presented in the future, as well as expressed a desire to meet in the following projects.
  • On October 11, 2023, a team of Kherson State Maritime Academy held an online event “Experience of KSMA in strategic partnership KA 226 Erasmus+: MERSol (Maritime Engine Room Simulator on-line) project” on Zoom. The meeting was organized within the framework of Erasmus Days, an international initiative aimed at popularizing an Erasmus+ program. Doctor of Philosophy Alona LESHCHENKO invited everyone interested to join projects aimed at creating educational products and disseminating various practices. Ph.D. in Pedagogy Alona YURZHENKO and Ph.D. in Engineering Artem IVANOV familiarized participants with the stages and features of the international project implementation. The MERSol (Maritime Engine Room Simulator on-line) project focuses on the priorities of supporting individuals in the maritime industry to acquire and develop key competencies and can serve as an example for both the teams that already implement the Erasmus+ projects and can inspire anyone who wants to practice in submitting a grant application. During the online event, participants have had the opportunity to communicate with the speakers and get answers to questions.
    Read more about the MERSol project
  • During the annual IAMU AGA 2023 Conference, which is held in Helsinki (Finland) this year, the coordinator of the international project Heikki Koivisto, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (Finland), presented the article authored by Heikki Koivisto, Lesya Demydenko, German de Melo, Taner Albayrak, Gintvilė Šimkonienė and Artem Ivanov: On-line ERS (indexed in the Scopus abstract and citation database).

WORKING GROUP

Artem Ivanov – PhD in Technical Sciences, Senior Lecturer of Department of Ship Electrical Equipment and Automatic Devices Operation (Head of Working Group)
Yurii Bohdan – PhD in Technical Sciences, Associate Professor of Department of Ship Power Plants Operation
Alena Leshchenko – Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Professor, Professor of Department of Humanities and Social Sciences and Innovative Pedagogy
Alona Yurzhenko – PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, Senior Lecturer of English Language Department for Maritime Officers (abridged programme)