FOCUS Maritime Training Center was established on April 11, 2000 under the auspices of the FOCUS Bina Mandiri Foundation which has also been legalized for operations as an Educational, Training and Human Resource Development Center by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Manpower of the Republic of Indonesia since year 2000.

FOCUS was founded by Dr. Robert T. Hadipuspito who is also one of the founding members of the University of Bina Nusantara in Jakarta – one of the top-rated private IT-based universities in Indonesia, with a student body of around 18,000 students. The University is also the first university of its kind in Indonesia having earned an ISO Certificate for Curriculum Design and Materials Development in the late 1990’s.

Having realized the importance of continuous Human Resource Development in all facets of life and societal development in Indonesia, Dr. Hadipuspito has then decided to embark upon establishing an Education and Training Institution dedicated solely to improving the quality and productivity of Indonesian Human Resources, the final aim of which is to produce highly skilled and competent workforce that will hopefully be able to compete head-on with their counterparts for job placement globally, particularly in the areas of Maritime Affairs, Hotel & Floating Hotel  Management and Information Technology.

Mid-Term Development

FOCUS's mid-term development will be concentrated primarily on the area of Education whereby FOCUS has just secured a 30,000 m2 (3 HA) piece of land located Lakefront and right next to a Housing Development Esate of Gading Serpong, Tangerang, Wesern Java, Indonesia.

What FOCUS Maritime Training Center intends to do at Gading Serpong is build an Indonesian Maritime School offering a 4-year program (3 years at School and 1 year at Sea) and Maritime Academy offering a 3-year program (2 years at School and 1 year at Sea) to produce Jr. Officers Level III & Level IV and Cruiseship School offering 1 year program (6 months at School and 6 montrhs at hotel / cruiseline) who will be ready to sail the world upon graduation.

The programs are competency-based, using curricula recommended by IMO and STCW'95 Convention Requirements. The Indonesian Maritime School & Academy will also run other Workshops based on ILO (Engine, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering), STCW-F (Fishing) and STCW'95 (Proficiency-based Training Program and Specialized Training in Floating Hotel Operations).

The Indonesian Maritime School & Academy's facilities will have included, upon completion, Multimedia Classrooms and Maritime Workshop & Laboratory Facilities in the shape of an Anchored Ship to further familiarize cadets and other trainees as early as possible on the actual working environment aboard ship.