TL;DR: There are two officer tracks and you pick one at enrolment. BS Marine Transportation (BSMT) is deck, leading to Officer in Charge of a Navigational Watch. BS Marine Engineering (BSMarE) is engine, leading to Officer in Charge of an Engineering Watch. Both are governed by Joint CHED-MARINA Memorandum Circular No. 01, series of 2019 — 175 credit units for BSMT, 179 for BSMarE, with onboard training credited at 40 units. Neither ends in a PRC board exam: certification comes from MARINA under Republic Act No. 10635. Since CMO No. 7, s. 2025, applicants take the NaMMAT entrance test, and each school sets its own cut-off.
Maritime education in the Philippines is regulated differently from every other degree on this site. Two agencies write the rules jointly, the international convention behind them is not Philippine law at all, and the credential that gets you employed is issued by neither CHED nor the PRC. Understanding that structure is most of what an applicant needs.
Two Agencies, One Programme Standard
Maritime programmes are not governed by an ordinary CHED memorandum order. They are governed by a joint circular issued by CHED together with the Maritime Industry Authority.
The current one is Joint CHED-MARINA Memorandum Circular No. 01, series of 2019, "Policies, Standards and Guidelines for the Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation and Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering Programs," adopted by CHED Commission en banc Resolution No. 271-2019 dated 30 April 2019.
Its legal footing is worth reading closely, because it explains the whole system. The circular is issued under the Higher Education Act of 1994, under Republic Act No. 10635 and its implementing rules — which established MARINA as the single maritime administration of the Republic of the Philippines — and under the STCW Convention, 1978, as amended, the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers.
That last item is the point. The competencies in a Philippine maritime degree are not a Philippine invention. The circular says it "adopts the competencies expected of BSMT and BSMarE graduates as provided under the STCW Convention, 1978, as amended, regardless of the type of higher education institution they graduated from." Your curriculum is an implementation of an IMO convention.
Deck or Engine: What You Are Actually Choosing
The joint circular defines both programmes by the certificate they lead to, and the definitions are precise.
BSMT is the education and training required under STCW Regulation II/1 for issuance of a Certificate of Competency as Officer in Charge of a Navigational Watch on seagoing ships of 500 gross tonnage or more. Deck officers navigate, handle cargo operations, manage stability and safety, and progress toward chief mate and master.
BSMarE is the education and training required under STCW Regulation III/1 for issuance of a Certificate of Competency as Officer in Charge of an Engineering Watch in a manned engine-room, or designated duty engineer in a periodically unmanned engine-room, on seagoing ships powered by main propulsion machinery of 750 kW propulsion power or more. Engine officers run and maintain propulsion and auxiliary machinery, and progress toward second and chief engineer.
The tonnage and power thresholds in those definitions are the legal boundary of the certificate, not decoration.
| BSMT | BSMarE | |
|---|---|---|
| Track | Deck | Engine |
| STCW basis | Regulation II/1 | Regulation III/1 |
| Certificate | Officer in Charge of a Navigational Watch | Officer in Charge of an Engineering Watch |
| Threshold | Ships 500 GT or more | Main propulsion 750 kW or more |
| Total credit units | 175 | 179 |
| Onboard training credit | 40 units | 40 units |
| Guide | BSMT guide | BSMarE guide |
BSMarE carries four more units than BSMT, which the circular attributes to mechanical and electrical workshop skills training built into the professional courses. Both programmes take their general education component from CMO No. 20, series of 2013.
Shifting between the two after you start is not a simple internal transfer, because the professional course sequences diverge early and each has its own prerequisite chain. Decide before you enrol.
Onboard Training Is the Part That Trips People Up
The classroom years are the easy half. What actually determines whether you graduate is the seagoing service.
CMO No. 70, series of 2017, the revised implementing guidelines on the approved seagoing service requirement, sets the rule: an approved seagoing service of not less than twelve months as part of an approved training programme, with not less than six months of that involving watchkeeping duties under the supervision of a qualified officer.
The circular sets out accepted combinations. For deck, those include twelve months as cadet with at least six months of watchkeeping duties; six months as cadet plus six months as ratings with six months of watchkeeping; or twelve months accumulated as ratings including at least six months of watchkeeping. Engine has a parallel set of combinations, one of which allows six months as engine cadet with watchkeeping plus six months of workshop skill training.
The joint circular renames this "Onboard Training" (OBT) and renames what used to be called "completed academic requirements" as "Completed Classroom Instruction for OBT." It also states that students who have completed classroom instruction shall be provided with an OBT slot, and it sets deployment expectations on schools.
This is the single biggest practical risk in a maritime education. A degree without completed onboard training does not produce a certificated officer. Before you enrol, ask the school two questions and insist on documents: how many of last year's CCI cohort were actually deployed, and which shipping companies or manning agencies the school has standing agreements with. A school with a large intake and thin deployment agreements is selling you a queue.
The Licence Comes From MARINA, Not the PRC
This is where maritime differs from every engineering or health programme on this site.
Republic Act No. 10635 established MARINA as the single maritime administration of the Republic of the Philippines responsible for implementing the STCW Convention. Certificates of Competency for deck and engine officers are issued by MARINA's STCW office. The Professional Regulation Commission is not involved.
The PRC does maintain a Board of Naval Architecture, and there is a BS Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering programme with its own CHED standard, CMO No. 21, series of 2021, licensed under Republic Act No. 4565. That is a ship design and construction profession practised ashore. Despite the overlapping name, it is not the shipboard engineer track. Applicants confuse the two regularly.
Employment conditions for Filipino seafarers were separately codified in Republic Act No. 12021, the Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers, approved 23 September 2024, which brings the rights and obligations of Filipino seafarers under MLC 2006 and the STCW Convention into a single statute. It governs your working life, not your schooling, but it is the law to know once you are sailing. For what the pay actually looks like by rank, see our seaman salary guide.
NaMMAT: The New Entrance Test
Maritime admissions changed recently and a lot of published advice has not caught up.
CHED Memorandum Order No. 7, series of 2025 instituted the National Merchant Marine Aptitude Test (NaMMAT) to assess the readiness of student-applicants, local and foreign, to undertake an approved maritime education programme leading to certification as Officer in Charge of a Navigational or Engineering Watch.
The test has two parts:
- Part A — Attitudinal and Personality Assessment, covering organisational aptitude for seafarers, leadership skills, management abilities, and attitude and adaptability.
- Part B — Academic Proficiency Test, covering English, Science, Mathematics and Abstract Reasoning.
A non-profit educational testing agency with experience in government-commissioned aptitude tests is authorised as Test Administrator, handling design, validity and reliability assessment, administration and results processing.
Three things applicants should know. Cut-off scores are set by the school, not by CHED — the order requires each maritime HEI to declare its cut-off as part of its annual admission policies and publish it on its website. Foreign applicants must also take it, subject to the rules on entry and stay of foreign students. And you may retake it: applicants scoring below an institution's cut-off may sit a succeeding NaMMAT according to the schedule published by the Test Administrator.
On timing, the order states that pilot implementation began in Academic Year 2025-2026 and that full implementation shall be before the start of Academic Year 2026-2027. Test dates, registration windows and fees are announced by CHED and the Test Administrator each cycle — do not plan around a date you read on a forum. Schools with their own entrance tests, like the MAAP entrance exam and the PMMA entrance exam, run their selection alongside this.
Check the School's Authority Before You Pay
CHED has opened and closed the door on new maritime programmes more than once. CMO No. 71, series of 2017 lifted a moratorium on the operation of new BSMT and BSMarE programmes. CMO No. 12, series of 2022 then imposed a moratorium on the opening of new ones.
The consequence for applicants is simple: a school advertising a maritime programme is not proof that it may lawfully run one. Maritime HEIs need authority from CHED and are subject to MARINA oversight, and programmes can be closed for failure to maintain compliance — the joint circular has a whole definition for programme closure, voluntary or involuntary.
Verify with the CHED regional office and MARINA before enrolling. This matters more here than in any other field, because a degree from a non-compliant maritime school can leave you unable to obtain the certificate the degree exists to produce.
Related Programmes That Are Not Seafaring
Two degrees get grouped with maritime education by name alone.
BS Marine Biology (CMO No. 46, series of 2017) is a natural science degree about marine organisms and ecosystems. It produces researchers and environmental scientists, not officers. See the BS Marine Biology guide.
BS Fisheries (CMO No. 33, series of 2021) covers aquaculture, capture fisheries and post-harvest, and leads to the PRC Fisheries board rather than any STCW certificate. See the BS Fisheries guide and our wider agriculture and fisheries course list.
If you are weighing a maritime career against a shore-based engineering one, our list of engineering courses sets out which of those lead to a PRC licence.
Sources
- CHED and MARINA — Joint CHED-MARINA Memorandum Circular No. 01, s. 2019, Policies, Standards and Guidelines for the BSMT and BSMarE Programs (PDF)
- CHED — CMO No. 70, s. 2017, Revised Implementing Guidelines on the Approved Seagoing Service Requirement for BSMT and BSMarE (PDF)
- CHED — CMO No. 7, s. 2025, Policies, Standards and Guidelines for the Implementation of the National Merchant Marine Aptitude Test (NaMMAT) (PDF)
- Commission on Higher Education — 2022 CHED Memorandum Orders, including CMO No. 12 on the moratorium on new BSMT and BSMarE programmes
- Commission on Higher Education — 2017 CHED Memorandum Orders, including CMO No. 71 lifting the earlier moratorium
- Commission on Higher Education — 2021 CHED Memorandum Orders, including CMO No. 21 on BS Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
- MARINA STCW Administration Office — Republic Act No. 10635
- Supreme Court E-Library — Republic Act No. 12021, Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers
- Professional Regulation Commission — List of Professional Regulatory Boards
