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The purpose of the research paper is to provide the humanitarian logistics community with an overall picture about competencies and skills in humanitarian logistics and if there is a lack of professionalization of the logistics function in humanitarian context from an international perspective. Further this research elaborates practical approaches how the skills and competencies can be enhanced and developed for international education programs.

An empirical survey as approach was used. Hereby a descriptive analysis provides in a comprehensive way education, skills and competencies in humanitarian logistics. The respondents are from different countries and continents as well as from different humanitarian sector, e.g. humanitarian organizations (HOs), logistics service providers, military services and researchers.

In general, the findings of the research paper present valuable insights of mandatory contents of education in humanitarian logistics as well as competencies and skills on different levels based on European Qualification Framework (EQF). This research paper explores these and offers suggestions to improve and promote market and professional competencies and skills for the humanitarian logistics sector and to minimize their impacts.

The field survey was due to access and motivation restriction mainly answered by academics in the field of humanitarian logistics or by leadership personnel with very high academic merits (MA/PhD). Further the objective of this research paper was purposefully limited to describing the education requirements, not gap analysis with existing education offers or development of new curricula content – this should be a task for further research setups.

Specific requirements regarding negotiation and legal competences are named in the survey as well as the objective of specific, country-related adaptions and the time schedule form of education trainings in humanitarian logistics (during a professional career with as much time absent for learning as feasible).

The paper highlights the increasing demand and still existing gap regarding education and training in humanitarian logistics in the field. All included institutions and persons have to re-evaluate their prioritization and budgeting in order to support further education and training for personnel in humanitarian logistics according to the results of the survey and addressing the need of logisticians in the humlog management and operations.

This paper adds to the knowledge about the implications of education and training and measurement of skills and competencies based on EQF for theory and practice. Further the humanitarian logistics community requires rudimentary humanitarian logistics education to enhance the logistics operation in case of disaster toward the affected people.

This paper aims to investigate the development of logistics and supply chain education through conducting comparative study between high diploma and associate degree. This study will critically review the added value of sub-degree courses of professional education. What exactly drives sub-degree students to enroll for a high diploma and associate degree program in maritime logistics and supply chain studies? How do they select to enroll such programs? Do such programs foster the students to equip in the professions? What do they look for obtaining professional status afterwards?

To address the stated queries, this study will analyze students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of sub-degree education and their motivation on enrolling these courses through a questionnaire survey.

In the context of higher education, sub-degrees of professional studies experienced tremendous growth in recent decades. Many academic institutions have recorded an upward trend in providing professional education on subjects that traditionally focused on apprentice-style, non-academic learning approach. However, the reasons behind the steady growth of the demand of sub-degree level of professional education have been under-researched.

This research is based on Hong Kong data only.

The paper not only increases the scope and depth of research area in logistics and supply chain education but also contributes theoretically to the understanding on the curriculum of sub-degree logistics and supply chain programs.

This paper aims to provide the results of a large‐scale survey of courses dedicated to the field of logistics in higher education. This research is unique because it represents the first large‐scale study of both undergraduate and graduate logistics courses.

Content analysis was performed on each syllabus to identify the actual course coverage: requirements, pedagogy and content emphasis. Content analysis is a descriptive approach to categorize data and the results may be limited by the categorizations used in analysis. This aggregated information was utilized to compare historical research findings in this area with the current skills identified as important for career success. These data provide input for gap analysis between offerings in higher education and those needs identified by practitioners.

Data gathering efforts yielded a sample of 118 logistics courses representing 77 schools and six different countries. The aggregate number of topics covered in undergraduate courses totalled 95, while graduate courses covered 81 different topics. The primary evaluation techniques include the traditional exams, projects and homework. Details regarding learning objectives and grading schema are provided along with a gap analysis between the coverage of logistics courses and the needs identified by practitioners.

The goal is to use these data as a means of continuous improvement in the quality and value of the educational experience. The findings are designed to foster information sharing and provide data for benchmarking efforts in the development of logistics courses and curricula in academia as well as training and development by professionals in the field of logistics.

The purpose of the study is to provide readers with an overall picture of contemporary logistics curricula from an international perspective.

Comparative analyses of logistics education are performed among Europe, North America, and Asia, between developing nations and developed nations, and between continental nations and island nations.

The findings of the study are of value in identifying additional educational needs of logistics professionals as well as in hiring new professionals.

Little research has been done to understand contemporary logistics education in a comprehensive way. This paper is the first empirical study to use data available on the web sites of academic logistics programs to provide descriptive analyses of logistics courses offered at universities around the world.

Since the emergence of physical distribution/logistics management as an applied discipline in the early 1960s, the search for requisite skills has dominated the concerns of professionals in this new field. While there had been some earlier attempts to organise educational approaches in this field, the first real national and cohesive attempts were launched with the founding of the Annual Transportation and Logistics Educators' Conference. The enthusiasm of the participants and the heavy focus of the first conference proceedings on this issue marked a really strong inertia towards the search for, and development of, status in this field of management concern.

Doctoral education is usually considered to be a one‐to‐one learning situation with the professor on one side of the table and the doctoral student on the other. With the joint‐Nordic PhD program in logistics, founded in 1997‐1998 by a network of senior scholars from business schools and universities throughout the Nordic countries, doctoral students are now part of a learning network comprising other doctoral students and senior researchers. One of the program’s purposes is to establish doctoral courses in logistics to improve and secure the quality of research. So far, two courses have been completed: “Logistics in a philosophy of science perspective” and “Methods in logistics research”. The student response to the initiative has been very positive. The Nordic Research Academy (NorFA) and the participating universities have supported the program financially.

With student, scholarly, and especially corporate interest in the study of logistics dramatically increasing, it is important for institutions of higher learning to act as quickly as possible to help meet this demand. In doing so, these institutions run into many roadblocks and challenges. This paper explores these and offers suggestions to minimize their effects.

Humanitarian logistics is critical to providing relief to people in regions affected by hardship and disaster. This study examines literature on humanitarian logistics and service-learning and evaluates the integration of concepts.

An exploratory case study approach was used to understand the integration of service-learning and humanitarian logistics. This was achieved by exploring current literature, piloting courses, providing relief, and documenting factors that facilitate successful service-learning experiences.

Findings from this information-oriented work demonstrate the applicability of service-learning methods in humanitarian logistics education and contributes to current research by addressing urgent global needs.

This case has practical relevance for logistics educators, humanitarian agencies, and service-learning leaders as it outlines various challenges and steps to developing a humanitarian logistics course with potential pathways for research. By integrating the theories and principles of service-learning with major logistics and supply-chain management concepts, colleges, and universities in collaboration with relief agencies can facilitate an impactful humanitarian logistics learning experience that provides needed support to disaster response.

There is a scarcity of literature that connects humanitarian logistics and service-learning. This case shows that the service-learning movement shares a common purpose with many humanitarian organizations that work to foster citizenship, education, and community well-being. This paper is a first of its kind to study the efforts necessary to create a successful humanitarian logistics course that benefits students, faculty, communities, and institutions through applying service-learning principles.

An integrated paradigm of using multiple software programs in logistics education is proposed as an effective problem‐solving tool in addition to computer programming and spreadsheet modelling. Presents the essentials of logistics systems management and how each software program can be used individually and jointly to address logistics issues in detail. In the integrated paradigm, a Lotus 123 spreadsheet program is used as an integrator which works together with other software to facilitate student learning and to aid better decision making process. In‐class surveys show that the proposed approach is both effective and efficient in terms of getting the right results in less time. The approach is also realistic because the mixed mainframe and microcomputer operating environment and multiple software programs are being used by the business community.

Rapid changes in practice and further developments of research in logistics challenge educators to further upgrade their courses. This paper makes a case for a stronger focus on integrating hot topics and research skill development in logistics courses. Methods for improving market and professional relevance of courses, as well as, improve research skills of students are presented. Results from a market and literature survey of topics in logistics, used to identify market relevant topics, are presented. Approaches to research skill development are suggested, including in‐company projects and mini‐research projects. And most importantly, a case is presented of a course where market and research driven skill development was combined successfully. The format for the course is specified and evaluated.