About 8000 cadets and students study at Odesa National Maritime Academy (ONMA). The annual graduation is about 1000 specialists.
The Academy was accredited by the State Accreditation Board of Ukraine with accreditation level IV (the highest). The specialities of automation, ships' engineering, electromechanical and radio-electronic faculties were accredited by the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology of Great Britain (IMarEST) with the "charter engineer", - the highest level, and the faculty of Navigation was accredited by the Nautical Institute of Great Britain (NI).
The terms of studies are the following: four years for bachelor, five and a half years for specialist and master. The system of ship's crew training is in compliance with the requirements of the International Convention of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW -78/ 95) and other international conventions which give graduates the right to work on all types of vessels of native and foreign companies.
ONMA comprises eight faculties, Azov Maritime Institute (the city of Mariupol), Izmail faculty, Training and Certifying Centre for Seafarers and Technical Fleet College, sailing ship "Druzhba" and the marine tugboat "Engineer Ponomarenko", which is a training ship.
Professionals are trained by 45 departments and 350 tutors, among them 74 doctors of science, professors, 175 candidates of science, assistant Professors, 20 are academicians and associate members of different academies, including international ones.
There is a post-graduate course and doctorate course in the Academy. Theses are written on the following specialities.
Doctorate course: "Ships' Power Plants", "Navigation", "Automation of Technological Processes".
Post-graduate course: "Technology of Ship-building and Ship Repairing", "Ships' Power Plants Operation", "Radiotechnical and TV systems and devices", "Automation of technological processes", "Navigation".
The Academy has 7 academic buildings and a campus with 4 blocks, a sport complex and an Olympic standard swimming pool; a 1000 seats' canteen with modern equipment, 3 cafe, a club, a library, a laundry, a hospital for cadets that offers various medical services. In a resort area of the Black Sea Coast, there's an educational sailing center, where cadets undertake their training on lifeboats and yachts.