The Indian Maritime University, abbreviated as IMU, is a public central university directly under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, in India. IMU is the national institution for maritime education, commercial shipping, marine engineering, and maritime administration. It is India's prestigious institution for the training of merchant Navy officers. IMU is highly regarded as the number 1 maritime institute in India. Admissions to IMU are done through IMUCET entrance examination, which is conducted every year across the country. It was established by the Indian Maritime University Act 2008, on 14 November 2008. Before the foundation of IMU, there were seven teaching and research institutes under the Ministry of Shipping. The following legacy institutes were subsumed under IMU in 2008.
It has an All-India jurisdiction and the headquarters is at Chennai. It has six campuses in Chennai, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai Port, Navi Mumbai, and Visakhapatnam.
Chennai Campus
The Chennai campus has a history dating back to 1984 when the National Institute of Port Management (NIPM) was established by the Government of India as an independent body. The NIPM provided professional training courses to individuals working in the ports sector with technical assistance from UNDP. Later it came to be known as National Maritime Academy and after the formation of IMU in 2008, it is now known as Indian Maritime University â Chennai campus. The campus houses the academic block, hostel, residential and recreational facilities.
The academy was established with the technical assistance from UNDP / UNCTAD. It is credited with ISO 9001:2000 Certification and accredited as grade 1 rating by ICRA.
IMU Chennai offers the following academic programs:
Following are list of colleges affiliated under IMU. As of 2025, there were 21 colleges.