Education playing a central role in bid for perfect standards.

(From Lloyds List)

ESTABLISHED in the 1930s, ASBA's goal is 'to advance and foster the ideals and standards of professional conduct and practices', writes Rajesh Joshi.

Association of Ship Brokers president Marygrace Collins sees this goal extending to education.

The home study and distance learning courses offered by ASBA are the association's only authentic profit centre, albeit a modest one. But for Ms Collins, this service is more a vision than a commercial enterprise.

'In this day of email, almost nothing makes one broker better than the other,' she says. 'The intangible difference comes from current knowledge. But such guidance is not always available at a reasonable price. It is our goal to provide it.'

For the past four years, ASBA has offered a distance learning course designed for students and maritime professionals alike. Professor Jeffrey Weiss, a maritime attorney and educator at the State University of New York Maritime College's graduate division, conducts twice-yearly courses on maritime law, shipbroking and commercial trade transactions.

The courses, which typically require a time commitment of six hours every two weeks and a further six hours for the final examination, work on the principle that the student emails the professor, and the professor responds likewise.