General Information

 

Croatia is a country which is largely relied on the sea, so there is an increasing interest of the whole community in its protection, followed by the meaningful and scientifi cally justifi ed protection of its own resources. There is no doubt that marine sciences were completely confi rmed in the second half of 20th century but it was also the time when the most serious ecological problems started, increasing the human awareness about its protection.

The main aim of marine sciences is to maintain the quality of sea ecosystem and its biological diversity, simultaneously with the sustainable development of human community along the coastline. The studies are thus primarily aimed at educating professionals knowledgeable about sea protection issues and issues related to further sea exploitation in a sustainable way. For the last fifty years, marine sciences have become interdisciplinary including many fi elds in the natural, technical and biotechnical sciences. Therefore, there is a clear need for the education of such professionals who will be able to participate in the sea protection activities, in accordance with high ecological standards of its exploitation and the sea area developmental plans. Such a profile of professional, who sees marine sciences not as a means but an aim of the profession, should acquire the special knowledge about basic mechanisms causing processes in the sea; about the system of distribution including water masses, nutritive salts; production and distribution of organic substances according to the trophic levels of the nutrition chain; sources and destiny of the basic groups of polluters and their biological eff ects; about the specifi c processes related to the basic physiological and biochemical mechanisms of reactions that sea organisms have to abrupt (short-term) and slow (long-term) changes of biotic and abiotic conditions in the sea, either natural ones or the ones often directly caused by man. There is no study programme previously organised in Croatia like this, although today marine sciences represent the foundation of interdisciplinary studies at many universities throughout Europe and the U.S.A.

 

Description of the Study Programme

This study programme is accessible to applicants who have finished the general secondary school or the four-year secondary school of natural orientation. The entrance procedure includes selection based on secondary school achievements and entrance examination (Biology, Chemistry and Physics).

It lasts for three years (6 terms) and, upon the completion, student is awarded the academic title of Bachelor in Marine Sciences. S/he will be qualified to do laboratory, technical and some more complex tasks related to research in the applied marine sciences; to organise and conduct measurements in the scope of ecological studies considering the sea; also to improve the practical usage of research results in the field of protection of ecosystems in the coastal area. These tasks include as follows: using equipment and laboratory methods in the analyses of physical and chemical characteristics of the sea; laboratory and field research and analyses of the basic oceanographic parameters; collecting and preparing the samples of sea water, sediments and sea organisms, computeraided processing and classification of oceanographic data.

 

Contacts

  

Address: Zagrebačka 30, 52100 Pula

Phone: (0)52 377 000

www.unipu.hr

Head: Renato Batel, Ph.D.