The Maritime Business Administration undergraduate curriculum, offered on the Galveston Campus, provides a solid background in the key areas of accounting, finance, marketing, law, economics and mathematics that are critical for today’s business professionals. These courses lay the foundation for more advanced courses in international trade, inland waterways management, brokerage and chartering, organizational behavior, transportation economics, port and terminal management and other areas related to the maritime industry.  

International trade is expanding as a result of the general increase in world-wide economic and political stability and this trend is expected to increase, as major economies participate more fully in world-wide economic growth. The great majority of this expanded trade will be carried by ship. As a result, activity in American ports is expected to more than double in the next 20 years, and some ports in the Gulf of Mexico are expected to see a tripling of port activity.  Taken together, these forces are now and will continue to positively affect demand for trained maritime professionals ashore. Maritime Business Administration graduates are ideally poised to meet the increasing demand for well educated maritime professionals.

Additionally, qualified undergraduate students have the opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Maritime Business Administration and Logistics in five years time through the Department of Maritime Business Administration's 3+2 program.

Upper-Level Entry Requirements and Application Procedures

Students accepted to the Department of Maritime Business Administration enter the Bachelor of Science in Maritime Business Administration program at the lower-level.  Enrollment of students in junior and senior level courses is limited to those who have  been admitted to upper-level.  Entry requirements and application procedures for the upper-level are as follows.

1.  To be admitted to upper-level, a student must have been accepted to the Department of Maritime Business Administration and have:

     a.  Satisfactorily completed the following five courses:

   b.  Students must successfully complete these three remaining lower-level courses during their first upper-level semester, unless satisfactorily completed prior to entering upper-level:

     c.  Students may preregister for upper-level courses in the semester their status is changed to upper-level.  However, students who fail to complete upper-level requirements shall not be permitted to remain registered in upper-level classes.

     d.  Lower-level students are not required to apply for a change of status to upper-level.  An automated process is performed several times each semester comparing a student's academic record to the upper-level entry requirements.  Qualifying lower-level students are automatically moved to upper-level and informed of their change-in status through TAMU email.

2.  Transfer Students:  Transfer students admitted to the Department of Maritime Business Administration will be classified as lower-level students until they complete all requirements listed in Item 1.  Transfer students may immediately request upper-level status when admitted to the university only if they meet all upper-level requirements.

3.  Change of curriculum students:  Students approved to change their curriculum to Maritime Business Administration will be classified as lower-level until they complete all requirements listed previously in Item 1.  Change of curriculum students who qualify for admission to upper-level may request this at time of acceptance. 

4.  Preference for available seats in junior and senior level courses taught through the Department of Maritime Business Administration will be granted to students who have been admitted to the upper-level program.  Ineligible students who preregister for upper-level classes are subject to having their registration in these courses cancelled.

¹

Indicates required courses in the Maritime Business Administration major.  These courses will be used to compute the major GPA.  At the time of graduation, a MBAU major must have a GPA of at least 2.25 in their major.  A MBAU major must achieve a grade of C or better in ACCT 229, ACCT 230, ECON 202, and ECON 203 as a graduation requirement.  These courses may be repeated as necessary to meet this requirement, and the requirement applies to courses taken at Texas A&M University Galveston Campus or offered for transfer from other institutions.

²

Students must register for MARA 205 their first semester at Texas A&M University Galveston Campus.

³

Students must satisfactorily complete ACCT 229, ECON 202, ECON 203, MATH 140, and MATH 142 prior to admission to upper-level BS-MBAU.

⁴

MATH 148, MATH 152, MATH 168, and MATH 172 will be accepted in lieu of MATH 140.

⁵

Students must complete ACCT 230, ISTM 210, and BUSN 203 during their first upper-level semester, unless satisfactorily completed prior to upper-level admission.

⁶

MATH 147, MATH 151, and MATH 171 will be accepted in lieu of MATH 142.

⁷

Students may satisfy the 9-credit hours of Life and Physical Science requirement through any combination of one, three or four credit hour courses.

⁸

Students should select 18 hours from the following courses: ECON 311, ECON 323, ECON 452; MARA 201, MARA 342, MARA 345, MARA 346, MARA 347, MARA 348, MARA 350, MARA 360, MARA 401, MARA 402, MARA 403, MARA 416, MARA 424, MARA 435, MARA 445, MARA 446, MARA 450, MARA 461, MARA 470, MARA 475, MARA 484, MARA 485, MARA 489, MARA 490, MARA 491, MARA 493 and SCMT 336.

⁹

Satisfies the 3 credit hour Cultural Discourse (CD) requirement.

¹⁰

Designated writing intensive course. 

¹¹

Satisfies the 3 credit hour International and Cultural Diversity (ICD) requirement.

TOTAL PROGRAM HOURS 120

All electives must be chosen in consultation with, and approved by, the student's academic advisor. Unless courses are specifically listed, see University Core Curriculum for a listing of course options for Communication; Mathematics; Life and Physical Sciences; Language, Philosophy and Culture; Creative Arts; American History; Government and Political Sciences; and Social and Behavioral Sciences.

The total hours may be increased if the student is required to take remedial math, remedial English or foreign language courses. 

To earn the economics minor, the student's elective hours must include ECON 311, ECON 323, and ECON 452. For additional requirements of the economics minor, please see the Economics - Minor.