Carnival Corporation, the world's largest leisure cruise operator, has partnered with the Innovation Institute at the University of West Florida (UWF) to enhance the company's fleet-wide environmental officer training program by launching its interactive, new Environmental Excellence course.
The new program was produced in collaboration with Carnival Corporation's award-winning Center for Simulator Maritime Training (CSMART) Academy-a maritime training, professional development and research facility that's part of its seven-acre Arison Maritime Center in Almere, Netherlands. The Academy was founded back in 2009 and faculty members are among the most experienced maritime instructors in the world.
The Environmental Excellence course combines UWF's specialization in challenge-based learning with CSMART Academy's intimate knowledge of maritime training techniques and advanced simulator capabilities. The weeklong course consists of a virtual 23-day voyage in which participants, having various levels of expertise, collaborate in small cross-brand teams to investigate real-world challenges, researching applicable rules and regulations, and engaging in shared-learning discussions while playing out the simulated storyline.
"This new course that incorporates a challenge-based training methodology is another example of how we are constantly looking to enhance the understanding of compliance across the corporation, and how we are strengthening our approach to achieving and maintaining a culture of compliance, learning and overall environmental excellence," said Chris Donald, senior vice president of corporate environmental compliance for Carnival Corporation. "We value the opportunity to work with UWF to maximize the effectiveness, level of engagement and impact of our training courses through a fun and engaging approach that incorporates participant feedback, and results in enhancing teamwork, shared learnings, responsibility and ownership."
The new program expands upon two existing environmental operations courses that Carnival's environmental officers are required to take at CSMART during their first two years of service. Completion of the new Environmental Excellence course will be required of all environmental officers starting in their third year of service, after which they will also need to re-certify annually.
All of these programs build upon a foundational six-hour Operational Excellence course-a rigorous, six-hour safety training, which the nearly 7,000 environmental, bridge, engineering and electrical officers in Carnival's global fleet are required to complete annually.
Its investment in the Environmental Excellence training initiative is just part of Carnival Corporation's long-term commitment to sustainability, responsible operations and protection of the environment, as outlined in the company's 2020 sustainability goals.
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