Historical Evolution
The long history of the University can be traced back to 1909, when the Nanyang Institute in Shanghai established a Shipping Management Section. Chinese higher maritime education went through many difficult periods and was not well developed before the founding of the people’s Republic of China in 1949.
DMU was created in 1953 through the amalgamation of three merchant marine institutions: Shanghai Nautical College, the Northeast Navigation College and Fujian Navigation School. At that time its name was Dalian Marine College, and it was the only maritime college in China. In 1960, DMU was designated a national key institution of higher education. Later in 1983, the Asia-Pacific Region Maritime Training Center was established at DMU by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the IMO and in 1985 a branch of the World Maritime University (WMU) was established.
With the approval of the Ministry of Education in 1994, the University’s name was changed to the present one. In 1998, the University was awarded the ISO9001 Certificate of Quality Assurance accredited by the Norwegian Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and the China Maritime Safety Administration (MSA); it became the first maritime university in China to have the ISO9001 Certificate. In 2004, the University successfully passed the quality assessment of undergraduate teaching by the Ministry of Education. Through continual development, DMU has been at the forefront of similar universities both in broadening the scope and in enhancing the level of its programs.