Qualification query for Carnival UK's 'Specialised' Route

[LynnB]

Hi all,

My son has just completed an Edexcel BTEC level 3 diploma in Engineering (QCF) at Falmouth Marine School. We recently went on a cruise and he was given information on the Engineer Officer Cadetship Graduate/Apprentice 'specialised' route. As well as his diploma he has RYA qualifications in: Powerboat level 2 and Intermediate powerboat, Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster Offshore, Day Skipper for Sail and Powercraft, Safety boat Certificate, and a Fire prevention and firefighting (STCW 95). Will these qualification be enough for him to take the specialised route? I don't want to waste ?77 applying for a Letter of Initial Assessment if the diploma is not a high enough qualification.

Hope you can help
Lynn

[Lewis]

Doesn't the new MLC make it illegal to pay money up front when applying for jobs at sea?

[GuinnessMan]

Doesn't the new MLC make it illegal to pay money up front when applying for jobs at sea?

It's been illegal in a number of places for a while, but aye, it does....somewhat.

Anywho, why would you pay for the LOIA? Surely the company would pay for that when they take him on for training?

Quick question, is the BTEC the same standard as a HNC/HND?

[LynnB]

In order to apply for the specialised route you have to contact the MCA and apply for a LOIA, so it not the company making you pay to apply. The btec says it was previously a national certificate. It seems to have all the same modules as he would study for the HND, so he doesn't want to do the 3 year route and re-do everything he has already done. But I not sure the qualification is high enough.

[Lewis]

Probably best to email the MCA

[bobofinga]

Anything requesting money up front like this , alway seems a bit suspect to me.

[EH75]

Yeah I would email both carnival and the MCA and see what they say. They are the only people that can give you a definitive answer.

[chris]

as a guide to the qcf levels, level 3 is A level, national certificate and national diploma; level 4 is HNC; level 5 is HND and foundation degree; level 6 is a bachelors level honours degree.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualifi...edit_Framework



so a level 3 national diploma is not the same level as an hnc or hnd according to the qcf levels.

the qcf levels replaced the earlier nqf levels (how confusing).

[GuinnessMan]

Aye, well in that case he may have to go down the full cadet route.

Put it this way, if he's done it before, then he should do very well at college....

[chris]

one way of gauging the content of the hnc engineering courses is to look at some of the tutorials on this excellent free website.

http://www.freestudy.co.uk/

It has everything from national diploma level 3 through to degree level 6.

We used a lot of the electrical, instrumentation and control tutorials up at South Shields

[Hatchorder]

From my understanding the B/TEC Diploma was the equivalent the the HNC and the Higher B/TEC Diploma was equivalent to the HND. We finished our apprenticeships with a B/TEC Diploma in Nautical Science and passes in all the technical modules for the Higher B/TEC Diploma. Once we had completed a further 12 months seatime we could then apply to have our B/TEC upgraded to a Higher B/TEC.

[chris]

Judging by the freestudy website, there were changes to the Nationals in 2007. Maybe that has something to do with the changes to the levels?

[Bulman]

I dunno if it's any thing to do with the college, but maybe try emailing them? Before applying I emailed the college to see if my qualifications were good enough for the fd, so surly they should know if his qualifications are good enough for the fast track course? When applying for carnival the fleet trainer also asked me to check with STC if my qualifications were good enough, so seems that it is decided by the college?

[LynnB]

Has anybody got a contact email address for Carnival UK so I can contact them direct and ask the question. I got a bit of a vague reply from MCA. I thought the LIA was exactly that - it assesses his qualifications and tells him what he needs to do to get the III/1 EOOW certificate. Then Carnival can decide what he needs to do and how long it will take to do it. He won't do it if he got to do the full 3 years - he just done 3 years and won't be prepared to do another 3.

[dannyboy]

He will have to go through the whole cadetship route, I did a BTEC lv3 engineering course before starting my cadetship. But he will have enough UCAS points to get on the FD course.