Lloyds Maritime Academy

[YoungMariner]

Have any of the members here any experiences to relate with Lloyds Maritime Academy. I'm considering one of their courses at quite an expense and would be interested to know a bit more about it from people who've used them.

[IFHP]

I am a bit sceptical about it all to be honest - I haven't used them but the courses seem a but dubious and I am unsure if it would actually help you in the long run. An example being if you took a Suptd role any training that you would require would be provided.

Obviously it depends which course you are planning on doing but I would give it some serious thought, if you wanted to get into Chartering or Trading contact companies first to see if it would help having done the course with LMA.

[HolyNougat]

I did a diploma in ship superintendency back in 2007-08 and quite enjoyed it. It is not really difficult, 8 modules and a final open book exam in London. If you apply through the Marine Society you can get a 10 or 15% discount.
I also did a degree through Middlesex university, I did a BSC, but with a masters you can do a MSc in 18 months and you can basically choose what to study and to be honest it is worth more than the Lloyds courses. Slightly more expensive, but you get an MSc out of it.... If you want something really worth while, do a Graduate Diploma in law with Huddersfield university (they are quite cheap, but its a good course), but , you should be able to get in with just marine qualifications if you don't have a degree, but its 2 years distance learning (huddersfield are more flexible than most of the providers) - the great thing about the GDL is that it is the same as a qualifying law degree, so you can then take the bar or become a solicitor....
I was thinking about starting the post grad diploma in marine insurance this year with Lloyds, but I bough a house instead so don't want to spend the cash... may do it next year though...

[YoungMariner]

I'm considering the Post Graduate Diploma in Maritime Law followed by the LLM in Maritime Law with them, so what your saying about Huddersfield sounds interesting. The PGDip and LLM are issued by London Metropolitan University (one of the poorest ranking UK universities).
I was looking at the MSc in a Shipping Operations with Solent Uni. However I'm much more interested in Admiralty Law.

[bobofinga]

I looked into Llyods before as well for getting into brokering but it all seemed a bit expensive for something that wasn't necessarily useful.
I was thinking of doing this course (long term) when considering shore side.

http://www.city.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/maritime-operations-and-management

A masters degree from a reputable university combined with sea going experience should stand you in good stead for a shoreside job?

[YoungMariner]

London City is probably the highest ranking/respected university offering postgraduate courses for Officers, however I believe that you cannot distance learn their courses, the minimum is a part time course attending a certain amount of lectures, but that could have changed.

[HolyNougat]

Doing the Post Graduate Diploma in Maritime Law followed by the LLM in Maritime Law is a round the houses way to be honest, because neither of them actually allow you to become a solicitor or barrister- not to mention that they are horribly expensive - if you want to practice law you need a qualifying law degree, which is either a full 'law' degree or a GDL. Once you have that you can take the exams to become a solicitor or barrister - if you do it with Huddersfield the GDL takes 2 years part time and their attendance requirement is the lowest of the universities. When I did it it was about 2200 pounds for the first year, and a little more for the second year.
You already have the marine qualification and experience, the key thing is to get the legal qualifications, that is what people get confused with those lloyds courses - they are more designed for solicitors and barristers who want to learn about shipping!

[Clanky]

I was very disappointed with Middlesex Uni, if I were to do it again i would go the open university route.

[HolyNougat]

I think it depends on your tutors, I had a couple of good guys and I found the feedback good, although I did not think that the standard required was high enough.
I looked at the open Uni, but they would not give any academic credit for the HND and would not recognize any marine qualifications as worth anything at all, so I thought 'stuff them!'

[Clanky]

I think it depends on your tutors, I had a couple of good guys and I found the feedback good, although I did not think that the standard required was high enough.
I looked at the open Uni, but they would not give any academic credit for the HND and would not recognize any marine qualifications as worth anything at all, so I thought 'stuff them!'

Yeah, I was in the same position at the time, but I believe the OU have since changed there position on that.