Background

As the Seychelles population grows so has the educational system, but the University of Seychelles only opened in 2009, thus there is a shortage of tertiary educated personnel to guide the countries sustainable development, not least within the marine area. That said there is a strong awareness of environmental issues fostered by an active Non Governmental sector which has generated considerable awareness within primary and secondary schools; this project seeks to continue and support these activities and to build on them by providing formal educational components leading to a career path in marine science and associated fields.

The project will build on previous awareness building activities from several programmes, including on-going SOSF programmes in Seychelles, by the development of formal educational modules incorporated in the educational curricula to better prepare candidates for entry into the Environmental and Coastal Sciences Course at the University of Seychelles. The project also aims to provide support for mature / working students to enable those currently working in the field to participate in vocational education on a day or block release basis through scholarships or bursaries.

Aims and Objectives

The overall aim of the project is to raise national awareness and capacity in marine science, to enable sustainable development in the context of an expanding Seychelles community in a global warming scenario.

This will be accomplished through the following specific objectives:

• To increase levels of awareness of the marine environment and possible career paths at the secondary school level
• To increase formal knowledge and skills in marine environmental science at secondary school and polytechnic level
• To provide facilities for people already working in the field of marine science to attain a formal diploma
• To provide both general and specific marine science modules within the Tropical, Coastal and Marine Science course at the University of Seychelles