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Are there any (accredited/recognized) academic institutions with a significant part of their activities - administrative and academic - held over a body of water (sea, lake or river), on some floating platform?

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The kind of platform could be boat or a barge; or if that doesn't exist, then at least - buildings built directly on struts in the water without solid foundations (a-la Tolkien's Esgaroth, or Lake-town).

Notes:

  • Universities which have ships and/or operate ships and/or hold some classes on ships and/or send students out on trips on ships - don't count. The univesity or institute has to operate primarily on the barge/ship/floating platform.
  • Bonus points if it's a proper university and if what they teach is not just shipping/marine-related.
  • I don't want a recommendation of such institutions, nor a list of them, I just want to know if any exist.
einpoklum
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  • The closest I could find is the Universitat Pirata in Viladecans, Catalonia. It's not on water, but it is a "pirate" university... Also, the legenedary Miles de Viviendas squat in Barcelona ran a "pirate university" on waterfront in Barcelona's Port Veil, back in 2006. – einpoklum Jun 03 '17 at 14:16
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    It will certainly help if you elaborate why you want to know this. – Wrzlprmft Jun 03 '17 at 15:02
  • @Wrzlprmft: Trivial interest, nothing more. I was talking to someone about house-boats and the conversation drifted to other things that happen on boats. – einpoklum Jun 03 '17 at 15:04
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    @Wrzlprmft I assumed that he wanted to teach on a boat. I really want to see if I can swing a semester at sea for my family now. – StrongBad Jun 03 '17 at 15:33
  • I regret not finding any reason to flag this question. –  Jun 03 '17 at 22:35
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    -1 I really don't get the point of this question (and the objections to existing answers are lame)... – user541686 Jun 03 '17 at 22:37
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    @CoderInNetwork From the help centre: "You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face." Being curious if there are floating universities is in no sense an actual problem. Plus, boat programming. – David Richerby Jun 04 '17 at 09:22
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    As mentioned by @DavidRicherby, this seems heavily inspired by the boat programming question. I would at least acknowledge this in the question itself. – Bitwise Jun 04 '17 at 11:26
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    @Bitwise: If I told you the question was not inspired by "boat programming", you wouldn't believe me (and I know this since it's already happened - see my comments above); and if I told you that it was inspired by "boat programming" you'd probably say "Ah, boat programming, so it's just a joke question, let's close it." – einpoklum Jun 04 '17 at 11:29
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    This doesn't seem to have anything to do with the "boat programming" question (which was intended as a rather subtle statement on community attitudes at the time), neither in spirit nor in subject. The only thing it has in common is the word "boat". – Jason C Jun 04 '17 at 12:38
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    @CoderInNetwork: While one could argue whether it technically is a shopping question since there is no actual choice being made, it certainly has almost all the problems of a shopping question, namely having too many answers, a lack of an objective way of evaluating answers, and so on. – Wrzlprmft Jun 04 '17 at 12:42
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    While I strongly agree that clarification on reasons would help this question greatly, I don't actually see it as a shopping question or having the "make a big list" failure mode, since it is asking for existence, not recommendation or enumeration. – jakebeal Jun 04 '17 at 13:40
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    @jakebeal: See third comment from the top. Perhaps I should mention I live in Amsterdam and there's a bunch of stuff on boats here (but not a university). – einpoklum Jun 04 '17 at 14:08
  • @einpoklum Ah, thank you --- my mistake for overlooking that comment. I still like the question and think it's better without the "Boat programming" allusion. The information that you just added further clarifies in a useful manner. – jakebeal Jun 04 '17 at 14:10
  • @jakebeal: I kind of resent having that removed when, say, questions like this one don't even get a comment mentioning "boat programming". Ah well. – einpoklum Jun 04 '17 at 14:14
  • @einpoklum Since all of this is community curated, feel free to be the one who raises it on that question. :-) For your question, though, I think it will have a much stronger chance of remaining open without the allusion. – jakebeal Jun 04 '17 at 14:17
  • Just a reminder that the final bullet point under "When shouldn't I comment" is "Discussion of community behavior or site policies; please use meta instead.". – Jason C Jun 04 '17 at 15:30
  • Presumably the edit is designed to rule out my answer, but Semester at Sea holds all, not some, classes at sea. Meals are served at sea and the students sleep at sea. All student activies are at sea (except when they are in port). It sounds like you want the professional administration part of the university to be done at sea. – StrongBad Jun 04 '17 at 17:15
  • @StrongBad: No, the edit wasn't designed to rule out your answer (which I upvoted); there was another "university which has a ship" answer. – einpoklum Jun 04 '17 at 18:41
  • @jakebeal: Come on, you know I was going to get trampled on regardless. I might as well have kept it. – einpoklum Jun 04 '17 at 19:13
  • @einpoklum fair enough. The phrasing of the previous title ("Boat academics") was the main thing which suggested to me that the question is related to the boat programming question. – Bitwise Jun 05 '17 at 07:30

6 Answers6

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The Semester At Sea program is an established and respected program run by the The Institute for Shipboard Education, which I think only does this Semester at Sea program, and Colorado State University, which obviously has a lot of land based activities. The program offers a range of classes, but does not offer a degree (as far as I can tell).

StrongBad
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    See also Seamester. @einpoklum: Semester at Sea was formerly called "University of the Seven Seas" and later "World Campus Afloat". It's not clear what your objection is. CSU is a sponsor, and shares academic resources with it, but it's not a part of CSU. As Wikipedia says, "the program itself is run on a cruise ship." – Nick Matteo Jun 03 '17 at 22:16
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The California Maritime Academy is an accredited part of the Cal State system; much of the instruction takes place on the Academy's ship, The Golden Bear.

While the curriculum has a Maritime focus, the Bachelor's degrees granted are in Engineering, Business, etc., and applicable to non sea faring pursuits.

user1008090
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    +1, but they just send you out on a boat, the boat doesn't house the university, or a faculty. When you go on a boat it's like going on a field trip. – einpoklum Jun 03 '17 at 19:08
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Not sure if that counts, but there is a very well rated university in Venice, Ca' Foscari. Its main building is in the center of Venice. I do not know in specific if this applies to it as well, but in general the buildings in Venice are constructed on wooden piles planted inside a layer of mud. In addition, it is quite common for Venice to be partially submerged due to high tides ("Acqua alta").

Federico Poloni
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    No, this doesn't count; if it were to count I could also list the University of Amsterdam which has buildings in blocks surrounded by canals. Venice was built on solid foundations. – einpoklum Jun 03 '17 at 14:40
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    @einpoklum If venice doesn't count, then why did you reference Tolkiens Esgaroth? Its the same principle. Lots of buildings in Venice do not have a solid foundation (some have, but not all), and Tolkiens used lots of things that suggest venice was a strong influence (masters of lake-town/doges of venice. If Venice shouldn't count, then you shouldN#t use Esgaroth as example, as its pretty much the same thing. – Polygnome Jun 03 '17 at 20:24
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    @Polygnome: No, it's not the same principle: Esgaroth is built on an actual lake and there are no foundations, just wooden struts/pylons. I agree Venice must have been an influence, but Esgaroth is "on the water" in a way Venice isn't. Even Esgaroth is not what I was really after, just a second-best thing. Sorry... – einpoklum Jun 03 '17 at 20:50
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    @einpoklum I do not follow your reasoning. Venice was build in a lagoon, on the water. How is that less on the water then in a lake? Wiki says "Constructed entirely of wood and standing upon wooden pillars sunk into the lake-bed [...]", which is exactly how Venica was build. So yeah... – Polygnome Jun 03 '17 at 20:58
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    @einpoklum The only difference is that they planted a lot of wooden pillars (and also consists of a few starting islands) https://venicewiki.org/wiki/Fondazioni_degli_edifici_veneziani . I suppose that the objection is that what's below the buildings is more "very watery mud" than water, but calling it "solid foundations" is a stretch – Denis Nardin Jun 03 '17 at 21:39
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There is also the Peace Boat with it's 'Global University'.

James
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    That's like a week long, according to the video. They don't have a university or a research institute on the boat. I mean, it's called a "university" but that's just a name. Still, it's really interesting so +1. – einpoklum Jun 04 '17 at 14:18
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After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in the fall of 2005, Tulane University housed a significant number of displaced students and faculty in a cruise ship moored on the Mississippi River. However, from what I understand classes were not held onboard and this arrangement was only in effect during the Spring Semester of the 2005-2006 school year. Tulane University press release from 2006.

borrascador
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University at Sea exists to give 'practicing professionals' the chance to earn continuing education credits in their field. The courses are taught aboard cruise ships.

Kramii
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  • Providing CEU credits is not really what a university does – StrongBad Jun 04 '17 at 15:30
  • The OP asked for "academic institutions", which I interpreted in the broader sense. I assumed that mention of "University" was an example, not a requirement. Perhaps the OP can clarify? – Kramii Jun 05 '17 at 07:52