Hello, and a question about colleges

[cera_r]

Hiya,

Forum newbie here - I've been lurking for a few weeks, but I thought I'd come out of the shadows and post something. My background is working on square-rigged ships, but I'd like to get some more qualifications. I'm looking into doing my OOW ticket via the HNC route for experienced seafarers. I know the forum is mainly for people following the cadet route, but I was hoping to get some information about colleges - i.e. which ones are the best? I'm having a hard time finding reviews of the various colleges online. The three I'm leaning towards right now are Glasgow, Liverpool JMU, and Warsash, but I am open to suggestions. Any current or former students care to weigh in on the pros and cons of their schools? Or anyone heard any good or bad reviews about these places? Any information would be much appreciated!

Thanks!!!

[Clanky]

To be honest, from my own experiences over the years and from what I have heard of recent cadets there is little to choose between the colleges in general terms.

As far as the experienced seafarer route goes though I really couldn’t say which offers the best alternative. Have you checked with the MCA that you are definitely eligible for this route? This is normally for people who have been working as ratings onboard merchant vessels so you need to be sure that the MCA will accept your experience on tall ships.

Any reason why South Tyneside College is not on your list?

Good luck with your application process, are you hoping to receive sponsorship from a company for your training or do you intend to fund it yourself?

[cera_r]

Thanks for the reply! As for sea time, the MCA now accepts time served on yachts greater than 24m towards the OOW Unlimited, so that shouldn't be a problem. And I am planning to apply for the Slater Scholarship to fund my studies (*fingers crossed*). I haven't really looked into South Tyneside at all - no particular reason though - would you recommend it?

[Clanky]

Good news on the sea time and good luck with the Slater fund.

I attended Glasgow College as a cadet in 1992, Warsash for my second engineers certificate in 1997 and South Tyneside for my chief’s in 2003, and for at those times and for the courses I was doing South Shields was way better than the other two, but you really need to look at what they each have to offer in terms of the experienced seafarer route.

Would you be in a class with others following the same route, would you be in with a load of cadets etc? (advantages and disadvantages for both options) What are the fees? What would you do about accommodation and how much is it?

Ideally speak to someone else who has followed the experienced seafarer route recently and attended one of the colleges.

[Dannyboy14]

Have a look into fleetwood too!. From what I've seen in the short time I've been here it seems a very good college

[cera_r]

Hadn't really thought about whether I'd be in with cadets or with people on the same route, but that's a good point. In terms of fees/accommodation, there is not a huge amount of difference from what I can see so far. Still waiting to hear back from a couple of places about that though.

And Fleetwood is an option too - how long have you been there? I've heard good things about it.

[Dannyboy14]

In my 4th week....I think....time flies here. Really good college. Lecturers have time for you and the college is 20 mins or so away on the tram from blackpool too