Integrating Satellite Remote Sensing into Seafarer Education: Development and Evaluation of a Graduate Course

The use of satellite imagery to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals is increasingly common, driven by advances in remote sensing and deep learning. Introducing remote sensing into academic graduate programs at maritime institutions not only follows the current state of the research field but also raises awareness of the opportunities this technique offers for sustainable development and ecological research. For instance, remote sensing enables monitoring of ships discharging oil. A multidisciplinary approach is necessary for the highest-level research results, so to apply scientific methods effectively, an expert in the legal aspects of artificial intelligence also participated in this research. In this paper, we introduce remote sensing into seafarers’ education at the graduate level, which is now incorporated as a new course. The results indicate a high level of student engagement and demonstrate that integrating remote sensing technologies into maritime education could enhance students’ technical competencies and environmental awareness. The findings of this study highlight the potential of satellite remote sensing as an educational tool for supporting sustainability-oriented maritime education and provide practical insights for integrating emerging technologies into higher education curricula, providing practical insights for integrating emerging technologies into higher education curricula while establishing a transferable blueprint for bridging advanced data sciences with compliance-driven vocational training.