In 1959, the Ministry of Transport established Shanghai Maritime College in Shanghai. Marine Navigation Department and Marine Engineering Department have emerged. In April 1995, due to the optimization and reform of teaching resources, the former Marine Navigation Department and Marine Engineering Department were merged to establish the Merchant Marine College (MMC). The MMC consists of teaching institutions including College Office ,Marine Navigation Department, Marine Engineering Department, Student Affairs Department, Reference Room,etc. There are also teaching collaboration and research and academic institutions including National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, National Virtual Simulation Experiment Teaching center, Engineering Research Center of Shipping Simulation (certified by the Ministry of Education), Shanghai Maritime Judicial Authentication Center, Navigation Science Research Institute, Sino-French Join Research Institute “Galileo & Maritime ITS for Safe Seas”, China International Maritime Research Center, SMU-DNV International Cooperation Center, Marine Environment Risk Research and Assessment Center, Ship Control Engineering research Institution, the People’s Republic of China Maritime Research Laboratory, Center for Global Navigation Research, Marine power engineering Institute, etc.

MMC runs 2 first-level-discipline doctorate programs in Transportation engineering and Ship and Ocean Engineering, which including 4 second-level-discipline doctorate programs in Transportation Information Engineering & Control and Marine Engineering, Vehicle Operation Engineering, Marine Engineering, Design and manufacture of ships and Marine structures. There are 3 first-level-discipline master’s degree programs in Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics, Ship & Ocean Engineering and Transportation Engineering, which including 8 second-level-discipline master’s degree programs in Engineering Thermophysics, Thermal Engineering, Power Machinery and Engineering, Refrigeration and Cryogenic Engineering, Transportation Information Engineering & Control, Vehicle Operation Engineering, Marine Engineering, Design and manufacture of ships and Marine structures. There are 2 professional master’s degree program in Transportation Engineering and Ship & Ocean Engineering. Vehicle Operation Engineering is a key specialty sponsored by the Shanghai municipal government while Marine Engineering is a discipline supported by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission.

The enrollment and training of navigation majors have maintained long-term stability. Each year, MMC enrolls 10 classes for undergraduates majoring in Marine Technology (about 35 students each class, the same as below), 8 classes for undergraduates majoring in Marine Engineering, 2 classes for Marine Electronics and Electrical Engineering, and 3 classes for Energy and Power Engineering.

Currently, the College has 236 faculty members, including 168 full-time teachers (91 in Marine Navigation Department and 77 in Marine Engineering Department), 40 experimentalists,16 ideological and political teachers,7 administrative staffs,5 full-time scientific research and research center staffs. Full-time teachers including 38 professors(16 in Navigation Department and 12 in Marine Engineering Department), 57 associate professors(28 in Navigation Department and 29 in Marine Engineering Department), 6 senior engineers and senior experimentalists, 85 PhD holders, over 110 master’s degree holders and PhD candidates; 25 master’s certificate holders,8 chief officer certificate holders, 18 chief engineer certificate holders and 5 second engineer certificate holders. Navigation teachers involve 137 double-division personnel (189 in total), accounting for about 70%.

With increased and in-depth of international exchanges and cooperation projects and the merchant education internationalization level and scale of the college have been greatly promoted. In recent years, foreign experts and teachers from different countries and regions such as IMO, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Maritime Institute Inc. San Diego, CA who come here to present short-term lectures; currently, MMC has established reliable cooperative relationship with well-known institutions such as Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Copenhagen School of Marine Engineering and Technology Management, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Mokpo National Maritime University to provide exchange programmes.