X WMA Chief Mates Course-Old

Course Title:

Chief Mate & Masters (MCM) – HND Nautical Science (Examination Route

There would be 3 intakes every year for the 6 months taught course in the UK: January ; May and October. The online course will start about 3 months before the main taught course.

The advantages in the new system over the existing system wherein the full course was delivered in the UK over a 10 – 12 months period (including vacation time) under the Tier 4 visa rules are as below:

Course start dates

Tuition Fee details (valid upto 31 July 2023)

GBP 7,540 (+ GBP 240 HND registration fee). This fees includes the following: HND Nautical Science, MCA oral preparations, NAEST (M), and HELM (M) course.

Note: From October 2022 session onwards, the HELM (M) course is included in your course tuition fees. Please DO NOT do the HELM (M) course outside of Solent University for e.g. in your home country as there will be no reduction of fees if you have done HELM (M) outside of Solent University, Southampton, UK.

During your 6 months of stay in the UK, you will get a minimum of 2 attempts at the SQA exams. If you do not clear your exams in 2 attempts, your visa of 6 months would have expired before the 3rd attempt. You will return back to India and can re-apply for your UK visa immediately or you can join ship and reapply for your UK visa after signing off. Your 2nd trip in the UK will be for about 3 days to appear for your SQA written exams or MCA orals. 90% of students however should be able to clear all their SQA written, MCA orals and HND exams within 6 months in 2 attempts. The SQA preparation at Warsash Maritime Academy, Southampton is allegedly the best in the UK with students also coming from other UK maritime colleges who did not clear their exams and they do the SQA preparatory course in Southampton. One of the reasons for our better pass rates is because of the quality of faculty at the University. A good lecturer will normally migrate from a college to a University because of better salaries and status associated with teaching in a University in comparison to a college. It is something similar to the best quality seafarers switching over to the best shipping companies which offer higher salaries, status and better amenities onboard ship.

Some key features / advantages of studying at Warsash Maritime Academy, Southampton Solent University, UK:

Admission Procedure

For booking a course, you will need to email or Whatsapp the following documents to us:

Warsash Maritime Academy is a part of Southampton Solent University.

If you happen to be on board a ship, you can email or Whatsapp the scanned copies of your documents to us and the electronic payment to the college can be done by your parents / relatives on your behalf. Hence, you can book a seat in the college even if you happen to be on the ship at that point of time.

STCW courses

The following MCA, UK approved short courses need to be completed before you can be issued with a Chief Mates CoC. These courses are however not required for applying for a Notice of Eligibility (NoE) with the MCA, UK.

Please ensure that all of your STCW courses have been upgraded to the 2010 convention before applying for your CoC.

The NAEST (M) course now requires that prior to commencing the course in UK, students must have documentary evidence of completion of either:

a. MCA approved NARAST (O) course completed on or after 1st January 2005
b. MCA approved ECDIS course completed on or after 1st January 2005; or

UKVI IELTS English Language Test:

As the visa is being issued for a period of 6 months, you do not need to do any IELTS Engish language test.

Total expenses in the UK:

We expect the total expenses i.e. tuition fees, SQA exams, NoE STCW courses (MCA approved), food, accommodation, flight ticket, visa charges, etc., to be in the range of £ 11,500 – £13,500 (approx. 12 – 14 Lakhs INR if £= 105 INR).

If you need to get Tanker endorsement, cost will be an additional 60,000 INR per tanker course and endorsement fee.
If you need to do the MCA ECDIS course, there is an additional cost of 60,000 Rs.

The approximate living cost is as given below but it will vary from person to person:

Funds to show for UK Visa:

Visa rules keep on changing pretty frequently and hence every student should be aware of what the present rules are.

Keep yourself updated with the latest UK student visa rules by visiting the website:
https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/student-visas

Please do not go blindly by what your seniors may have told you on ship because what they say may have been true during their trip to the UK may not necessarily hold true now as visa rules are regularly updated.

The funds that you need to show for the visa is the Balance Tuition Fees (after paying booking deposit of £ 1,000) + £ 6,138 as living expenses for 6 months in the UK. This comes to around 11.50 Lakhs INR if 1 £= 105 INR.

This money can be shown as cash or Fixed Deposits in your bank account or as an educational loan sanction letter or part cash / FD in account and the balance by educational loan sanction letter. There should not be a sudden reflection of cash in your bank account before the visa process as it could lead to a visa refusal. Any sudden reflection of cash in your bank account needs to be explained with proper documentary evidence.

UK Visa Application Procedure:

We will assist you with the complete visa procedures. The most important thing that you need to do is to arrange for the funds for the visa process with proper documentary evidence of proof of funds.

The visa processing time is normally 3 weeks i.e. 21 calendar days.

There is also a Fast Track Visa application system wherein by paying £ 230 extra over and above the visa fees, students can receive their visas in 3 – 5 working days.

Applying for a Notice of Eligibility (NoE):

Students need to apply for a NoE with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), UK to be eligible to sit for the written and oral examinations in the UK. You can apply for your NoE from India prior to going to the UK or you can apply for your NoE during your stay in the UK. It is not necessary to be in possession of NoE for booking the course. However, if you have doubts that some of your sea-time may not be counted by the MCA for whatsoever reasons (for e.g. missing documents, no stamps on the CDC, sailed on Gulf ships, etc.), it would be advisable to do your NoE before booking your course. The processing time for the NoE is normally 28 working days but it may extend upto 2 months also depending upon the work load at the MCA. If your documents are found to be forged, all your documents will be seized and you will not be allowed to sit for exams in the UK again.

The following is the procedure to apply for a NOE:

Please read the MCA, UK rules explaining eligibility conditions for Deck CoCs in MSN 1856

Accommodation, Food and Flight Tickets:

Accommodation: College does not guarantee hostel accommodation for overseas students. Students stay in rented apartments as it works out to be much cheaper. A typical house would have 4 – 5 rooms which would be rented out to the students. Each room would be fully furnished i.e. the room would have a bed, mattress, wardrobe, study table, carpet, lights and heating system. The student would pay the room rent to the landlord every month. The kitchen and the washroom would be shared amenities. The kitchen would typically have a dining table, microwave, refrigerator and cooking system in place. On arrival in the city of Southampton, you can directly move into the rented accommodation or alternatively stay in a Bed & Breakfast (budget hotel) for one night, check out a few houses the next day and accordingly move into one of the many available rented accommodations. A single room would house one student, a couple or 2 students at the maximum. On signing the contract with the landlord, you will have to pay one month’s of rent as security deposit as well as the rent in advance for that month. Please ensure that you keep a copy of your contract safely with you and insist that the rent will be paid by cheques only. Ask the landlord for a copy of rent receipt as well for your safety. Most contract’s come with a one month notice period which means that you will have to give one month’s notice before vacating or else you may lose your deposit money. At the time of returning the deposit money, the landlord may make deductions for any damage that the tenant may have done to the property.

A list of landlords are given below whom you can start contacting 1 – 2 weeks prior to your departure for the UK:

Alternatively, you can stay for 1 day in a Bed and Breakfast Hotel (budget hotels) on arrival in Southampton and check out houses the next day. Visit the link below for a list of such budget hotels in the vicinity of the University: Bed and Breakfast Budge Hotels

Food: All food items that are available in India are also available in Southampton, UK for e.g. rice, wheat, dal, vegetables, chicken, mutton, fish, fruits, etc. Students staying in a house buy their groceries together and divide the cost amongst themselves. Eating outside at restaurants, take-away, etc. are very expensive because of the high cost of labour in UK and hence invariably all students cook their food together at home only. Grocery shops are located at 5 – 10 minutes walking distance from the accommodation areas.

Flight tickets: You do not need to have your flight tickets whilst applying for a UK student visa. Students usually book their flight tickets after having received their UK student visa. It is upto a student if he wishes to book a one way ticket to the UK or a return ticket i.e. to and fro. Normally, a return ticket works out cheaper. We will introduce you to a Travel Agent who will help you out with flight ticket bookings or you can book through online portals. A one way fare price will range from 20,000 – 30,000 INR whilst a return fare will range from 40,000 – 70,000 INR. Prices vary depending upon season and how far is your travel date from the date of booking. You arrival airport in the UK will be London Heathrow. Although a to and fro ticket is not a mandatory requirement, some students have faced problems with airlines at airports as they were not having a return ticket. Hence, it is advisable that you take a return ticket because your visa as such is for a fixed 6 months period and that is non-extendable.

You will be introduced to the other students going along with you so that you can decide whom do you want to share your accommodation with in Southampton and accordingly book your flight tickets together. There are about 200 students going to Warsash Maritime Academy, Southampton, UK from India every year for the various Deck and Engine post-sea CoC courses over the 3 batches starting in January, April and September respectively.

Educational Loans:

Banks in India are usually reluctant go sanction loans for CoC courses and the typical reasons for refusing loans are as given below:

We have uploaded loan sanction letters of various banks on the first page of our website www.springdaleindia.com. It may be of help in convincing your bank manager to sanction your loan once he sees that his bank (but a different branch) have given loan to another student for the same course in the same college.

You may also try to take Loan Against Jewellery. This is the fastest means of getting a loan as the money is disbursed on the same day. Most banks for e.g. HDFC, ICICI, etc. give loans against jewellery.

How to reach Southampton:

There are direct / indirect flights from Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Calcutta, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Cohin to London. On arrival at the London Heathrow airport, you will have to go through immigration check up which may take about 1 – 2 hours depending upon the rush at the airport. Joining the London Heathrow Airport is the National Express Coach station / bus stop. You can buy the bus ticket at the bus stop and the fare is approximately £25 for a one way trip. The journey duration from London Heathrow airport to Southampton is about 90 minutes and there is a bus leaving every 45 minutes on an average. If you happen to arrive at London airport after 7 PM, it is advisable to stay back at the airport in the night and take the early morning bus to Southampton. You will find many tourists / students staying overnight at the London airport and taking the morning coach to their respective destination. You will not be charged for staying during the night at the airport but you will have to make do with a chair only or maybe sit on the floor with your luggage. On reaching Southampton bus stop, you will take a taxi to your landlord’s house or to a hotel. As the bus stop is located in the heart of the city of Southampton, your taxi fare will not be more than £5.

Carrying money to UK:

Students can carry money to the UK as currency notes, travelers cheques, demand drafts and international student debit cards. We advise the students to carry about £ 500 as cash (£ 1,000 if they are carrying their family) and the remaining by loading their international student debit cards. International student’s debit cards are provided free or cost to the students and we will provide you with one prior to your going to the UK. The advantages of students debit card are given below:

Working in the UK – Part time / Full time:

If your visa duration is 6 months or less, than you are not allowed to work part-time in the UK.
Hence, you will not be allowed to work part-time in the UK as your course duration in the UK is for 6 months only.

Contact Us:

Kunal Anshuman,
Springdale India
Tel: +91 – 98927 25375
Email: kunal.anshuman@springdaleindia.com
Visit: www.springdaleindia.com
Address: Office No. 529, Mastermind 4, Royal Palms, Aarey Colony, Goregaon E, Mumbai – 400 065