UK: 2nd Mates Course
🔹 Name of the Course:
STCW II/1 Officer of the Watch (OOW).
It is also known as 2nd Mates course.
🔹Name of the University:
Warsash Maritime Academy, Solent University, Southampton, UK.
🔹 University Location:
90 minutes drive from London Heathrow airport. Solent University is located in the heart of the city of Southampton.
🔹️ Course start dates:
Batches: 3 times a year (Jan / April-May / Sep).
▪️18 September 2023
▪️15 January 2024
▪️07 May 2024
▪️September 2024
(Dates not released yet for Sep 2024 as it is considered as next academic year. Dates for Sep 2024, Jan 2025 and April 2025 will be released around April 2024).
🔹️ Course Duration:
8 months incuding vacation period.
Depending upon which batch you are joining, your course duration will include a summer break, winter break or an Easter break.
🔹 Eligibility Requirement:
▪️18+ years of age. No upper age limit.
▪️Medically fit.
▪️Have a minimum of 36+ months of sea service in an acceptable deck capacity if following the experienced seafarer route. There is no requirement of any Training Record Book if following the 36 months route.
▪️6 months of documented bridge watchkeeping duty as assistant to the main watchkeeper.
Following ranks ie Tr. OS, OS, AB, Bosun, Deck Cadet and Junior Officer are acceptable ranks.
You need to have the following documents as proof of seatime and bridge watchkeeping certificate:
▪️CDC stamps.
▪️Company seatime letter or Master testimonials.
▪️Bridge watch-keeping certificate for 6 months as assistant to the main watchkeeper whilst the vessel was at sea.
Sample of a company seatime letter and bridge watchkeeping certificate are in the last 2 pages of the PDF file sent to you i.e., page 16 and page 17 of the PDF file.
Open CDC i.e., students without any GP Rating pre-sea course are also eligible with 36 months seatime. Sea service stamps on Panama, Belize, Liberian, Honduras, etc., CDC are also acceptable.
Coastal seatime on vessels > 500 GRT is counted in the UK for OOW CoC as long as the MCA can verify the vessel was sailing continuously and seatime can be verified. In such cases, it is important that you get your MCA seatime assessment i.e., NoE done before booking a seat with Solent University, Southampton, UK.
Note: DNS and BSc Nautical Science pre-sea courses (DG Shipping, India approved) are NOT approved by the MCA, UK. Hence, such students also have to complete 36 months seatime for OOW MCA, UK CoC. If you hold a DNS or BSc Nautical Science pre-sea course from India / Overseas, you can do your 2nd Mates from New Zealand provided you have 12+ months seatime as a Deck Cadet with an approved Training Record Book. After doing your 2nd Mates from NMIT, Nelson, New Zealand, you can come to Warsash Maritime Academy, Southampton, UK for doing your Chief Mates and Masters UK CoC. We take care of admissions for New Zealand also for Deck and Engine CoC courses.
If you are uncertain about your rank and seatime being accepted by the MCA, UK it is best to apply for a seatime assessment with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), UK. This is also called as NoE (Notice of Eligibility). The NoE procedure has been sent as a separate PDF file attachment along with this message. You have to send ORIGINAL documents by courier to the MCA, UK when applying for your NoE. If you need assistance with the NoE procedure, please do contact us.
🔹️ Tuition Fees:
Please refer to Page 7 of the PDF file for the course tuition fees.
Tuition fees for the course is UK £8,350 inclusive of HELM (O) course.
🔹️ Total Expenses:
For students:
▪️Tuition Fees: £8,350
▪️MCA NoE: £220
▪️SQA Exams: £440
▪️Flight Ticket: £600
▪️Visa Fees: £363
▪️Health Insurance: £470
▪️Living Expenses for 8 months: £2,800
▪️IELTS UKVI English test: £150
▪️STCW courses (AFF, MFA, PSCRB) + GMDSS – MCA, UK approved if doing in India: £1650
===================
Total Cost: £15,043
University will only take the tuition fees for the course. The rest of the money remains with the student and you pay as you buy or use those services.
The following MCA approved courses have to be completed before you can apply for your UK CoC:
▪️AFF
▪️MFA
▪️PSC&RB
▪️GMDSS
The above MCA, UK approved STCW advanced courses and UK GMDSS can be done from India itself before going to the UK or you can do these courses after coming back from the UK on completion of your OOW studies. These courses have to be mandatorily completed before you can apply for your 2nd Mates UK CoC. We book admissions for these STCW couses at HIMT, Chennai.
GMDSS, UK can be done from the following institutes in India:
▪️TS Rahaman, Nhava, Panvel. (www.tsrahaman.org)
▪️AMET, Chennai.
(www.ametindia.com)
▪️Anglo Eastern Maritime Academy, Mumbai.
(www.aema.edu.in)
The MCA, UK STCW avanced courses can be done from the following institutes:
▪️BP Marine Academy, Mumbai.
(www.bpmarineacademy.in)
▪️HIMT, Chennai.
(www.himtmarine.com)
As HELM is now included in the Solent University, Southampton, UK course fees itself from September 2022 session onwards, hence the HELM course has to be done compulsorily at Solent University, Southampton, UK only. Please do not do HELM from India or any other country as you will NOT get a refund for any HELM course done from outside of Solent University, Southampton, UK.
If someone wishes to do these STCW short courses and GMDSS in the UK, the total cost will increase by £2,000 extra. So, every overseas student will be doing the above mentioned STCW advanced short courses (MCA, UK approved) from India itself and not from the UK.
For Sri Lankan or Non indian Students:
If you come to India and do these MCA approved STCW short courses and GMDSS, add an extra £1,000 for your flight ticket, visa fees, travel and living expenses in India for 6 weeks apart from the short course fees that you are paying directly to the Indian college. Hence, for overseas students, the total cost to get the UK OOW CoC will be around £16,000 including the cost of doing the STCW advanced courses and UK GMDSS in India. If you wish to do these STCW short courses and GMDSS in the UK itself, then your total expenses to get the UK CoC will be around £18,000. The advantage of doing the short courses in the UK for non Indian students will be that you will not have to travel to 2 different countries for obtaining your UK OOW CoC.
🔹Course Booking:
For seat booking, please email or Whatsapp me clear copies of the following documents as independent PDF files:
▪️Filled up University application form (first 2 pages).
▪️Passport first page and address page.
▪️CDC first page and all seatime pages.
▪️Highest academic qualification for e.g. X, XII, Diploma / Degree, etc.
A sample filled up form (Page 5 & 6 of the PDF form) is attached to guide you on how to fill up the blank form. Please take b&w printout of first 2 pages of blank form and fill it up by pen in capital letters.
You can download the free CAMSCANNER app on your smart phone. Make 4 PDF files of the above document set and send to me on Whatsapp or E-mail.
https://wa.me/message/2QULIAPZA7JAL1
A NON-REFUNDABLE deposit of £1,000 is to be paid online to the University for seat booking. This deposit can be carried forward upto 2 years in your own name (not friend / relatives) for the same course in the same University without any transfer charges incase you are not able to join the course. We will assist you with the electronic money transfer to the University. Bank details of the University are in Page 9 of the PDF file.
It will take about 3 weeks to receive the admission letter by email after payment and documents have been received by Solent University, Southampton, UK.
You do not need to have completed the 36 months seatime for booking a seat in the University. However, before you apply for your UK visa, you should have completed the requisite 36 months. Please book your seat a minimum of 3 months before the course commencement date to be assured of a seat in the University. You can also do the seat booking from the ship itself. Out of the 300+ students going to Solent University, Southampton, UK annually for their Deck & Engine CoC courses, half the students do their booking from the ship itself.
🔹️ IELTS UKVI English test:
It is mandatory to clear the IELTS UKVI GT test before you can apply for the UK visa. IELTS UKVI GT test is not required at the time of booking a seat in the University but you can only be issued with the visa letter (called as CAS) after you have cleared the IELTS UKVI GT test. Please note that you need to do the IELTS UKVI GT test and not the IELTS GT test.
The IELTS GT test is NOT accepted for visa purpose. IELTS UKVI GT application procedure has been sent in a separate PDF file along with this message.
Indian students can book this test on www.britishcouncil.lk
The score required is a minimum of 4 in all sections of Reading, Writing, Spoken and Listening. If you score 3.5 in any one section, you have to repeat the full IELTS UKVI GT test again by paying the £160 fees even if your overall average score was above 4.0 band. It takes about 2 weeks to get the IELTS UKVI GT test result. You can sit for the IELTS UKVI AC test also but it is more difficult in comparison to the IELTS UKVI GT test. The computer delivered IELTS UKVI GT test results come faster in about 5 working days whereas the pen and paper test option results take about 2 weeks.
Overseas students can book the IELTS UKVI test from their nearest British Council office.
🔹️Part-Time work in the UK:
You will be allowed to work part time in Southampton as you are studying the course in a University and your course duration is above 6 months duration. That you are allowed to work part-time during studies will be stamped on your visa.
The minimum pay in the UK is £10.42 per hour. You can work upto 10 hours per week during your term-time (study period) and work full -time during vacations (Christmas / Easter / Summer break). You can recover £4,000+ approximately by working part-time during studies and full time during vacation during your stay in the UK. Part time work is not allowed in other maritime institutes in the UK as they are colleges and not a University. Visa copy of an applicant is attached showing that part-time work is allowed for students joining Warsash Maritime Academy, Solent University, Southampton, UK. Working part-time helps to bring down your total cost to £11,000 for obtaining your OOW CoC.
🔹Show Money for UK Student Visa & University fees payment:
The sequence of tuition fees payment to the University and the visa show money is as explained below:
▪️The student makes an intial non-refundable deposit payment of £1,000 for seat booking. The applicant recieves the admission letter by email in about 3 weeks time. The applicant signs the course acceptance form and sends it back to the University.
▪️The student now prepares for his IELTS UKVI GT English test. On clearing this test, please send us the IELTS UKVI GT exam results so that we can send it to the University.
▪️Now the student pays minimum of 50% of the course fees to the University once IELTS UKVI GT test is cleared. As the OOW course tuitionfees is £8,350 the student applicant will pay £3,200 to the University as intially a booking deposit of £1,000 has already been paid.
▪️Now the student has to submit his bank statement to the University showing that he has the remaining 50% tuition fees and living expenses for his stay in the UK. The show money for living expenses for 9 months in the UK will be £1,023 x 9 = £9,207 as per the UK visa rules. This £9,207 amount when added to the balance 50% course tuition fees becomes £13,357. The University will ask you to show 5% extra money to account for any adverse currency fluctuations. Hence, the show money for visa will be £14,025 after you have paid 50% of the course tuition fees to the University. This money in your local currency has to be maintained for 28 days in your bank account. After the bank statement is uploaded on the University CAS portal showing that the balance money for remaining 50% tuition fees and 9 months of living expenses has been maintained for 28 days, the University will issue a visa letter called CAS (confirmation of acceptance of studies). The CAS issuance procedure will take 4 working days after all documents and payment of 50% of the tuition fees have been received by the University.
▪️The show money for UK student visa can be shown as cash in your bank account, fixed deposits, educational loan or a mix of the above. You cannot show gold, property, stocks, mutual funds, insurance policies, etc, as proof of funds. They can however be liquidated and put in bank account as cash to show as funds for UK visa. You can show money in more than one bank account also for e.g. NRE, NRO and savings account. You can also show money in your joint account with your parents or in your parents account also. If showing money in your parents account, you have to submit a birth certificate in English showing a relationship with your parents and also a consent letter from your parents allowing you access to the funds in their bank accounts.
▪️After you have recieved the CAS in email, you will apply for the UK student visa at the earliest. We will help you with the visa application procedure.
▪️After receiving the UK student visa and before your travel to the UK, you will pay the balance 50% fees to the University.
▪️The visa application fees of £373 and health insurance fees of £480 has to paid online at the time of online visa application. The visa fees and health insurance fees is ADDITIONAL to the UK visa show money but this additional money need not be maintained in your account for 28 days.You can also pay the visa and health insurance fees online using debit / credit card of your parents / relatives / friends, etc.
We will assist you with the visa procedure. The normal visa processing time is 3 weeks. It may vary from country to country. Under extreme un-natural circumstances like Covid, war, etc, the visa processing time may take longer as well.
The intial visa duration will be for 3 months to enter the UK and this duration will be put on the visa sticker on your passport. Kindly see the attached visa copy of a student for reference. On arrival at the Univeristy in the UK, you will get the BRP card with the full visa duration on it which will be in the range of 10.5 – 11 months.
🔹️Carrying Spouse and Children to the UK:
Your wife and children can accompany you to the UK on a VISITOR VISA (not dependent visa) for a maximum of 6 months. After the 6 months period is over, they will have to return back to their country as visa cannot be extended in the UK. There is no IELTS English test requirement for spouse and child. Spouse and children are not allowed to work in the UK on a visitor visa. Visitor visa application fees is £97 per applicant. You will have to show extra £4,080 per family member who wishes to accompany you to the UK. For e.g., if wife and one child are accompanying you to the UK, then you have to show £8,160 extra funds for their visas. You can show this money in your own bank account or spouse bank account for their visas. There is no additional document required from the University for your spouse and child visitor visa application. Your spouse will require her passport and marriage certificate at the time of visa application. The child will need to submit his passport and birth certificate at the time of visa application. We will assist you with the spouse and child visitor visa application procedure.
🔹️ Passing Exams in the UK:
During your stay of 11 months in the UK, you will get 2 attempts at the SQA exams (Navigation and Stability). In 2 attempts around 90% of the students would have cleared their exams. The 10% students who do not clear their exams in 2 attempts will have to return back to their country as the visa would expire before the 3rd exam attempt. You will then have to re-apply for a UK visa to travel to the UK for about 3 – 4 days to give your re-sit exams and come back. When you re-apply for your UK visa, it will be a visitor visa (and not a student visa). The show money for your 2nd trip to the UK will be around £2,000 as you are going for a very short duration. The actual expense incurred for your 2nd trip including your flight ticket, visa fees, exam fees and 3 – 4 days of stay in the UK will cost an additional £1,000 approximately. Eventually, every student will clear their OOW CoC. Some students will clear in their 1st trip to the UK (ie in 2 attempts) whilst some students may take a 3rd attempt (2nd trip) to the UK to clear their exams and obtain their OOW CoC.
🔹 Optional Private Tuitions:
If you wish to take optional online tuitions in India for Navigation and Stability SQA exams before going to the UK, please let us know. Private tuitions are OPTIONAL and not a compulsory requirement for doing your 2nd Mates course in the UK. If you feel that you are weak in studies or out of touch with academics for long time and hence would like to prepare before going to the UK, then you can opt for such tuitions in India, else it is not required. These optional online private tuitions are offered by teachers in India in their personal capacity and not endorsed by Solent University, Southampton, UK.
Batch size will be about 40 – 50 students for the OOW course. You will have students from India,Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burma, Nigeria, Kenya, etc, in the batch. You will be introduced to other students before your travel to the UK.
Out of the 300+ students going to Warsash Maritime Academy, Solent Univerity, Southmapton, UK, around 250+ students will be from India and about 50+ from other countries on an average.
As seats get filled up fast, it is advisable to book in advance of 3 – 6 months before the course commencement date.
🔹Accomodation:
Off campus accommodation is available about 5 – 10 minutes walking distnce from the University. We will share the contact details of the landlords with you before your travel to the UK and you can then contact them directly on Whatsapp. Expect to spend about £350-500 per month for food and accommdation when living in a shared house with other students on a conservative budget.
🔹️Travelling to Southampton:
You will fly to London Heathrow (LHR) airport and then take a coach / bus to Southampton. We will get a travel agent to book your flight tickets if you want us to do so or else you can do yourself online on various travel portals. Just check the transit visa rules which apply to different countries if doing the ticket booking online yourself. The bus journey time will be around 90 minutes. The coach / bus starts from LHR London airport to Southampton and you can book the ticket on:
www.nationalexpress.com
From the Southampton coach station to the University will just be a 3 minutes drive by a cab.
🔹️Educational Loan / Personal Loan:
For Indian seafarers, many banks in India do provide Educational Loans and Personal Loans. Although loan is never guaranteed, around 70% of our students are able to get an educational / personal loan. We assist students in processing documents for educational / personal loans. We have attached educational loan copies of various students as a PDF file to this email which maybe of help to you when you approach a bank for an educational loan. For educational loan, bank will ask for your University admission letter. For personal loan, you can get it on the basis of your own salary without the income tax documents of your guarantor.
🔹Private Tuitions:
It is not very difficult to pass 2nd Mates CoC exams in the UK. Still if you wish to take private online tuitions before going to the UK, kindly let me know. I will pass you the contact of a Master Mariner who takes private online tuitions in his personal capacity for MCA orals and SQA written exams in Navigation and Stability. Disclamer: The private online tuition is not endorsed by Warsash Maritime Academy, Southampton, UK but being offered by the teacher in India in his own personal capacity. It is not mandatory for any student joining WMA to take any such private tuitions before going to the UK.
We will summarize below the important financial points for you:
■ Visa show money: £19,000
■ Extra £1,000 to pay for visa fees and health insurance. So total funds to arrange will be 20,000 £
■ Actual expenses in the UK will be around 16,000£.
■ By working part-time in the UK, you can bring the cost down to around 10,000 -11,000 £
■ Visa duration is 10.5 – 11 months whilst course duration is of 8 months including vacation time.
If you have any queries, please revert back on phone, email or Whatsapp.
🔹️ https://wa.me/message/2QULIAPZA7JAL1
NOTE: WE ARE AN AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF SOLENT UNIVERSITY AND DO NOT HAVE ANY SERVICE CHARGES.