The maritime education is a modern, highly technical, professional discipline. The shipping industry requires a workforce with a great deal of skill, knowledge and expertise. Modern ships are equipped with very sophisticated toots, but having great tools is not productive unless the employees know the best way to use them. Unlike in most job tasks ashore, seafarers need high level of competence to ensure safe, secure and clean shipping industry. This paper discuss about the significance of Blooms Taxonomy in the maritime education and training. The action words of the revised taxonomy considers the cognitive processes to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and training methods. The verbs used in this taxonomy refers to the intended cognitive process that the trainer expects as the result of the educational activities.

Tertiary education is a turning point in anybody's life. Students' choice of tertiary education is crucial for them, their family members, and the country. All parents would like to see their children reach the heights in education and develop many career prospects. In Sri Lanka, critical job profiles are limited to medical doctors, engineers, accountants, and lawyers. However, the fact remains that this type of lean job market is not realistic or sustainable. Firstly, a country needs not have many professionals from a handful of fields. Secondly, not all students have the capacity to complete the coursework of their respective programs. On the other hand, many vacancies in different fields must be filled consistently, and a country cannot be sustained otherwise. Making a shift in students' psychological paradigm is essential in this scenario. This paper introduces a new concept called vertical education integration (E.V.I.). E.V.I. provides a strategic solution to bridge various gaps in the current education system. This concept has been tested and proved for successful results in Sri Lanka.

Creating a psychological paradigm shift in students’ demand and enrolment for various academic disciplines in the tertiary education in Sri Lanka is important since it is vital for not only for students but also for other stakeholders explicitly employers, community, and government as this paradigm shift provides creative and adoptable graduate. However, those who enter to government universities after a very competitive selection process in Sri Lanka are compelled to be unemployed mainly due to mismatch of employers’ perspectives in the modern world against the skills and competence they developed in the tertiary education. It is therefore timely, to develop a mechanism that leads to a psychological paradigm shift in students’ demand and enrolment for various academic disciplines in the tertiary education in Sri Lanka. Objectives of the study are to explore the student demand side aspects for various academic disciplines and to explore the student supply side expectations for various academic disciplines in Sri Lanka. This qualitative study applied purposeful sampling technique and employers, executives and academics in state and non-state higher education institutes participated in the study and data collection techniques were interviews and other secondary documents. Study revealed that new graduates have issues with the practical skills, attitude problems and soft skills. Many employers, neither possess a mechanism to match graduates’ skills and background to their job and responsibilities nor participation in curriculum revision in institutes. Consequently, a few employers involve with curriculum revision, and this might lead to mismatch of curriculum with demands of existing labour market demands. Only some parents have a clear understanding of their child about selecting the best pathway that suits their strengths and weaknesses. Study concluded that for the improvement of the tertiary education, students’ needs to gain and focus more on practical aspects of education, purposeful learning experience and experiential learning. Moreover, not only knowledge but also attitudes and skills of the graduates should be developed.

This paper investigates the potential influence of socioeconomic factors in the students' choice for tertiary education. The approach of this study combines an opinion survey, desk research and a case study. Shifting of a psychological paradigm is easier said than done. It may need social awareness about the existing problems, gaps, significance and negative/positive impact of different scenarios, and availability of potential solution. The data analysis and discussions have been done under identified key socioeconomic factors relevant to education. Parental levels of education, income, and financial status have been given priority in the discussion. Parents' involvements in education and material support have been recognized as influential factors in students' choice in university education. The language of instruction and peer group in school environment was considered finally. However, none of these factors are within the control of a person or an institute. The objective of the study is to explore factors required to establish favourable socioeconomic conditions providing students with right direction while implementing necessary policy changes to create suitable pathways in the tertiary education. The paper recommends vertical integration of teaching majors from school, to the university, to the industry which would provide many benefits.