2nd Engineer & Chief Engineer CoC – Class 2 & Class 1

Course Title:

STCW (III/2 – III/3) Senior Engineers, Management Level.

This is the course to be done for obtaining your 2/E or C/E CoC from the MCA, UK.

University location:

90 minutes drive from London Heathrow (LHR) airport. Solent University is in the heart of the city of Southampton.

Eligibility Requirements:

Before undertaking Engineering Knowledge (EK’s) or MCA Oral examinations, candidates must have completed 12 months of seagoing service holding an EOOW III/1 Certificate of Competency on vessels of at least 750 KW engine power. This time must include at least 9 months in full charge of the watch or with designated UMS duties.

You need to have sea service stamps on the CDC and C/E testimonials as proof of sea time. A company sea time letter is not a requirement and cannot be used instead of a C/E testimonial.

If you have more than 36 months of sea time as an Engineer Watchkeeping Officer, you can give your Class I MCA orals after obtaining your 2/E CoC without the need for any additional sea time to be done after 2/E CoC.

 Professional and Academic Subjects:

There are x8 subjects written examination which you need to pass, x1 MCA oral exam and certain MCA-approved STCW advanced courses and ancillary courses also need to be completed before you can apply for your STCW III/2 FG unlimited 2nd Engineer CoC. 

▪ Professional Subjects:

√ EK General

√ EK Motor

▪ Academic Subjects:

√ Naval Architecture (NA)

√ Electrotechnology (ET)

√ Heat

√ Mechanics

√ Mathematics

√ Engineering Systems & Drawing

Course start dates:

EK General and EK Motor:

▪ 06 Jan 2025

▪ 22 April 2025

▪ September 2025

Course duration is of 6 weeks. These are online classes which will run from Monday to Friday, UK time, 9 AM – 5 PM with 1 hour of lunch break. You do not have to go to the UK for doing the EK’s classes as these are delivered online. 90% attendance is mandatory. You will go to the UK for sitting for the EK General and EK Motor written exams.

Distance Learning Program (DLP) for x6 Academic Subjects:

You will be given downloadable study material through weblinks. Assignments must be completed and submitted to the University. Thereafter, subject to having scored a minimum score in the assignments, you will be issued with a course completion certificate for those subjects by the University. This will enable you to then appear for the written exams for those subjects in the UK. On an average it will take a student about 1 month to complete the study module for each subject and submit the assignments if you can devote 6 hours of study time per day. The cost per DL subject will be GBP 450.

Course Exemption for BE Mechanical / Marine Engg. studnets:

Students holding a BE Mechanical degree from outside of the UK are “likely” to be exempted from the course (not exams) for Heat, Mechanics, Mathematics and Drawing.

Students holding a BE Marine degree from outside the UK are likely to be exempted from the course (not exams) for Heat, Mechanics, Mathematics, Drawing, NA and ET.

Note that the exemption is only from the course and NOT the written exams for students holding a non-UK degree. You must clear all the x8 written exams irrespective of your overseas academic qualification unless you hold an HND or bachelor’s degree in engineering from the UK. 

Students holding a bachelor’s degree in mechanical or marine engineering must apply for academic course exemptions using the link below:

https://exemption.iami.org.uk/apply 

To secure course exemptions from the academic subjects, the following are necessary:

• NARIC Statement of Comparability (SoC). You need to apply for this on the NARIC website www.naric.org.uk. It will take one month to obtain this, and the cost is around £70. The procedure for NARIC exemptions is explained at the end of this page as a PDF file attachment. We will assist you with the procedure to apply for NARIC comparability and it will take you about 30 minutes to complete this procedure online. As this procedure is online, you can do it from onboard a ship also.

• Syllabus from your college where you did your Engineering Degree for the academic subjects.  There must be a 70% syllabus match between what you were taught during your engineering degree and the UK syllabus. This will be checked during the exemption process by IAMI. You can get the syllabus by writing to your University HoD. 

• You should have scored over 50% marks during your engineering studies in the subjects from which you are seeking course exemptions.

• When you register on the IAMI link provided above for seeking exemptions, you should have your NARIC Statement of Comparability (SoC), your BE Mechanical / Marine passing certificate, all semester mark sheets/transcript, and the course syllabus from your engineering college. The exemption procedure will take around 4 weeks once you have submitted all documents and made the payment on the exemption link mentioned above. The cost of applying for exemptions for all 6 academic subjects will be close to £750. A sample IAMI exemption letter copy is attached at the end of this page for your reference.

Ms. Yashoda Chapagai, Whatsapp +91 70214 21927 will assist you with the NARIC comparability application procedure and IAMI course exemption procedure.

MCA, UK-approved STCW advanced courses and ancillary courses:

The MCA, UK-approved STCW courses and their fees are given below. These can be done in India itself from BP Marine, Mumbai or HIMT, Chennai:

• AFF – INR 39,900
• MFA – INR 39,900
• PSCRB – INR 39,00
• HELM (M) – INR 39,900
• High Voltage (M) – INR 44,900
• Tanker, GAS – INR 49,900
• Tanker, OIL – INR 39,900
• Tanker, CHEMICAL – INR 39,900
• Tanker Fire Fighting – INR 14,900

Tanker courses will not be required for seafarers not working on tankers.

Above MCA STCW advanced courses will apply for seafarers who do not hold a UK Class 4 EOOW STCW III/1 CoC.

Those who already hold a UK CoC will likely be exempted from the MCA, STCW advanced courses as per MIN643. Kindly refer to the MIN643 PDF file at the end of this page. They would however be required to do the HELM (M), High Voltage (M) and Tanker Courses if required.

We do assist with the MCA STCW advanced and ancillary courses seat booking at HIMT, Chennai at discounted rates for our students.

Tuition Fees: 

The DL course fees for the academic subjects are as below:

• Heat £450
• Mechanics £450
• Naval Architecture £450
• Electrotechnology £450
• Mathematics £450
• Drawing £450

The fees for EK General and EK Motor live online classes is £2,200.

Written Exam Fees are as below:

• EK General & EK Motor: £250.
• Academic Subjects: £135 each.
• MCA Orals: £220

Written and MCA Oral Examinations:

Written exams are held 4 times a year: 

• March / April 
• July 
• October
• December 

You can view the exam dates from the link below:

https://www.sqa-mcaexams.org.uk/MCA/Examination-Timetables/Marine_Engineer_Officers

The x8 subject exams are conducted over 4 days with 2 exams in a day (morning/afternoon). Normally, students will sit for x4 exams and then return to their home country. Thereafter, they will go back after x3 months for the remaining exams or may opt to join the ship and give the remaining x4 exams later. 

Passing the written exams is not easy in the UK. A student can be expected to make 3 or more trips to the UK to clear these written exams. Some students may never clear also. You need to put in a lot of effort to clear the written exams. 

MCA orals are not that difficult to pass at the 2/E level as per the feedback given by past students. One or two attempts should suffice to clear the MCA oral exams for most students. You can view the MCA oral past questinons given in a PDF file at the bottom of the page.

Once you have got your MCA 2/E CoC, for C/E CoC you just need to give 1 MCA oral exam as there are no written exams any more at the C/E level. All written exams are completed at the 2/E level only (management level exams) as per the new rules applicable from March 2017.

The written exams must be given mandatorily in the UK.

The MCA Orals are conducted online and can be done from your home country only for e.g. India.

If you already hold a 2/E CoC from another country (for e.g. India), you cannot directly take the C/E MCA oral exams and get the UK C/E CoC without having cleared the written exams in the UK (both professional and academic subjects).

Eng. Systems & Drawing is one paper where we have seen failure rates to be exceedingly high in the UK. We have seen many BE Mechanical / Marine students also struggling to clear Eng. Systems and Drawing paper even after 4 – 5 attempts. 

Total Expenses:

▶ BE Marine Student:

▪ Course Fees (EK G+M): £2,200

▪ IAMI Exemptions: £700

▪ MCA orals: £220

▪ Exams written for 8 subjects: £1,060

▪ Visa Fees: £100 per trip (x3 trips to the UK).

▪ Flight ticket £700 per trip (x3 trips to the UK).

▪ Accommodation £500 per trip (x3 trips to the UK).

▪ Private tuition £800 (optional)

▪ MCA Short courses (AFF + MFA + PSCRB + HELM + High Voltage): £2,000

▪ Miscellaneous (any unaccounted expenses):  £500

Total = £11,380 (approximately 12.50 Lakhs INR at £ = 110 Rs)

If you need to do the tanker courses, then add an extra £600 per tanker DCE (dangerous cargo endorsement).

▶ BE Mechanical Student:

▪ Course Fees (EK G+M) + NA & ET: £3,100

▪ IAMI Exemptions: £500

▪ MCA orals: £220

▪ Exams written for 8 subjects: £1,060

▪ Visa Fees: £100 per trip x 3 trips to the UK.

▪ Flight ticket £700 per trip x3 trips to the UK.

▪ Accommodation £500 per trip x3 trips to the UK.

▪ Private tuition £800 (optional)

▪ MCA Short courses (AFF + MFA + PSCRB + HELM + High Voltage): £2,000

▪ Miscellaneous: £500 (any accounted expenses)

Total = £12,080 (approximately 13.30 Lakhs INR at £ = 110 Rs)

If you need to do the tanker courses, then add an extra £600 per tanker DCE (dangerous cargo endorsement).

▶ Non-BE student:

▪ Course Fees (All 8 subjects): £4,900

▪ MCA orals: £220

▪ Exams written for 8 subjects: £1,060

▪ Visa Fees: £100  per trip (x3 trips to the UK).

▪ Flight ticket £700 per trip (x3 trips to the UK).

▪ Accommodation £500 per trip (x3 trips to the UK).

▪ Private tuition £800 (optional)

▪ MCA Short courses (AFF + MFA + PSCRB + HELM + High Voltage): £2,000

▪ Miscellaneous (any unaccounted expenses): £500

Total = £13,380 (approximately 14.70 Lakhs INR at £ = 110 Rs)

If you need to do the tanker courses, then add an extra £600 per tanker DCE (dangerous cargo endorsement).

Overseas students who plan to come to India to do the MCA, STCW advanced and ancillary courses need to budget an extra £1,000 towards flight travel and living expenses in India.

Course Booking:

Please WhatsApp or email the following documents to me for seat booking:  

■ Passport 1st page and address page 

■ CDC 1st page and sea service stamped pages after Class 4 CoC (STCW III/1 FG)

■ Class 4 CoC – All relevant pages and expiry date page 

■ Highest qualification certificate for e.g. Class X, XII, Diploma or Degree.

■ University application form (Take a B&W printout of the first 2 pages of PDF, fill it with pen and email / WhatsApp to me).

■ Payment of £1,000 has to be paid for seat booking. This amount will be reduced from your EK General and EK Motor course fee amount of £2,200, the balance of which you will have to pay before the course commencement date. You may opt to pay the full £2,200 for course booking so as to avoid repeated bank charges which will be around £25 per transaction incase you wish to do the paments of £1,000 and £1,200 separately.

NOTE: The deposit payment of £1,000 is NON-REFUNDABLE should you wish to withdraw from the course after seat booking. You can however CARRY FORWARD this NON-REFUNDABLE booking deposit for upto 2 years in your OWN name for the SAME course in the same university. For e.g. if you have booked for the APRIL 2025 session and could not attend the course for whatsoever reason, you can carry the deposit forward upto APRIL 2027, not beyond that.

A sample filled-up form (pages 5 and 6 of the PDF) is enclosed for reference at the end of this message to help you fill in the main application form.

Please make PDF copies of the above documents using the CAMSCANNER APP on your phone and send me 5 independent PDF files via email / WhatsApp.

Bank details of the University are given on Page 9 of the PDF file.

We will assist you with the money transfer procedure to the University.

How do I schedule my study, exams and travel from start to end:

Written exams are held in the following months every year.

• March/April
• July
• October
• December

The 8 written exams will be held over 4 days with 2 exams per day. One exam will be in the morning session and the next exams will be in the afternoon session. Results come out in 6 – 8 weeks’ time.

You can view the written exam dates from the link below:

https://www.sqa-mcaexams.org.uk/MCA/Examination-Timetables/Marine_Engineer_Officers

EK General and EK Motor live online classes of 6 weeks are held in the following months:

• January
• April
• September

The X6 academic subjects are offered as distance learning (not live online classes). You can purchase the study material at any point of time from the university unless you have an IAMI course exemption letter based on your bachelor’s degree.

There are 2 approaches to obtaining your 2/E CoC from the UK. Let us name them Approach A and Approach B. Which approach suits you will depend on your present financial standing in life and whether you can afford GBP 12,000 – GBP 15,000 expenses over the next 10 months without having a regular in-coming salary.

Approach A: Example.

• You have signed off from the ship or plan to sign off in the next one month (Dec 2024) whilst looking to join the EK General and EK Motor live online 6 weeks course starting 6 Jan 2025 at Southampton Solent University, Warsash Maritime Academy, UK.

• You have savings in the range of GBP 12,000 – GBP 15,000 to take care of your studies and have additional savings to take care of your family expenses and any loan EMI’s that you may have got.

• You do the EK’s online course starting 6 January 2025 and prepare simultaneously for some of the x6 academic subjects through self-study or by taking private tuitions in India. We will introduce you to private tuition teachers if you so desire.

• You appear for 4 – 5 subjects written examination in March/April 2025 including the EK’s General and Motor exams as you have done the 6-week EK’s online course. Normally, one month of preparation time with 6 hours of intensive self-study per day is required for each subject. The visa processing time is around 2 – 3 weeks and we will help you with applying for your UK visa around mid-February 2025. Your expected stay in the UK will be from 25 March 2025 till 5 April 2025. Examination dates are from 31 March 2025 till 4 April 2025.

• End-April 2025 you plan to sit for the MCA oral online exam as what is asked in the MCA orals is similar to what you have studied for your EK General and EK Motor written exams. The MCA orals is online, and you do it from your home country.

• You prepare to sit for the remaining academic subject written exams in July 2025. The UK visa that you hold is a 6-month visa and hence the same visa that you used for giving exams in March / April 2025 can be used for appearing for your written exams in July 2025. You, however, need to get a new visa letter to sit for the exams in July 2025. The immigration officer in London may want to check what is the purpose of coming to the UK again and may wish to see your new visa letter. You will return in about 10 days after appearing for your exams in July 2025, similar to your earlier trip.

• Once your examination results are out in 6 – 8 weeks and if you have passed all your written exams and the MCA orals, you can apply for your UK CoC from your home country itself. Do note that you need to, however, have completed all the MCA, UK approved STCW advanced and ancillary courses for e.g. AFF, MFA, PSCRB, High Voltage (M), HELM (M) and Tanker Courses (if required). We will guide and assist you with booking these MCA, UK courses at a discounted rate. These MCA courses may take anywhere between 4 – 6 weeks depending upon how many courses you must do.

• If you did not clear some of the written papers, you will go back to the UK in October 2025 to re-sit those exams. As your 6 months visa would have expired by then, you will need to re-apply for the UK visa. We will assist you with the same. Your stay in the UK will be for about 10 days or less. Once the results are out in 6 – 8 weeks and you have passed the exams, you then apply for the UK CoC. If you start running short of funds since you have been off salary for 10 months now, you can join ship and apply for your UK CoC after signing off from the vessel.

• Do understand that when your bank balance starts falling, your mind will get clouded by financial stress and studying will become difficult. Hence, you must be well capitalised before you embark on your UK 2/E study as some of the subjects like Mechanics, Drawing, etc., are difficult and study could be a lot more stressful than what you had pre-imagined. Many of you would be married and handling studies along with the demands of wife and children could be something that you had not anticipated before-hand.

Approach B: Example.

• You have signed off from the ship or plan to sign off in the next one month (Dec 2024) whilst looking to join the EK General and EK Motor live online 6 weeks course starting 6 Jan 2025 at Southampton Solent University, Warsash Maritime Academy, UK.

• You have savings of GBP 10,000 approximately but also have some EMI’s like home loan, car loan, etc., because of which you need to join back ship again in the next 4 months’ time. In such a situation, you can opt to finish your studies part by part rather than be at home for 10 months and try to complete all your studies in one go.

• You appear for 4 – 5 subjects written examination in March/April 2025 including the EK’s General and Motor exams as you have done the 6-week online course. Normally, one month of preparation time is required for each subject. The visa processing time is around 2 – 3 weeks and we help you with applying for your visa around mid-February 2025. Your expected stay in the UK will be from 25 March 2025 till 5 April 2025. Examination dates are from 31 March 2025 till 4 April 2025.

• End-April 2025 you sit for the MCA oral online exam as what is asked in the MCA orals is similar to what you have studied for your EK General and EK Motor written exams. The MCA orals is online, and you do it from your home country.

• At the end of April 2025, after appearing for your MCA orals, you join back ship for a 6-month contract. Whilst on the ship, if you get time, you do self-study for those remaining academic subjects for which you did not appear exams in March 2025. You have bought (or you can buy whilst onboard ship) the distance learning study material from the University for those academic subjects. Mid-October 2025, you sign off from the ship after having earned 6 months of salary.

• You now apply for the UK visa so that you can sit for the 3 – 4 remaining academic  subjects in December 2025 and re-sit any of the exams which you did not clear in the March 2025 attempt. Your visa will be for a 6-month period. We will assist you with the visa procedure.

• You will be back from the UK by the 20th of December 2025 after having sat for the written exams. Now you will complete all the MCA STCW advanced and ancillary courses as may be applicable for you. In the interim, you wait for your written exam results.

• If you passed all the exams that you sat for in December 2025, you would apply for your UK CoC sometime around mid February 2026. Incase, you did not pass some of the written exams, you have the option of appearing for those exams in March 2026. Your earlier 6 months visa to sit for the December 2025 exams will likely be valid. You will need to get a new visa letter from the University so that you can show to the immigration officer at London Heathrow airport, the reason for your travel in March 2026.

• Incase, your exams are not clear, and you fall short of funds, you can join ship back in January 2026 and look to re-sit for the exams in July 2026 or October 2026. In such a case, you will however, need to reapply for a UK visa again. Once you have cleared all your written exams, MCA oral and done the MCA, UK approved STCW advanced and ancillary courses, you can apply for your UK 2/E CoC.

If someone already holds an India 2/E CoC and wishes to do the C/E CoC from the UK, the procedure will be like the explanation above. You will, however, sit for the MCA C/E orals and not the 2/E orals. The MCA may exempt you from Math’s and Drawing subject as those are only at the 2/E level and not at the C/E level. However, this decision lies with the MCA and not with the University.

IELTS English test:

There is no requirement for an IELTS English test as your visa duration is of 6 months.

Visa Procedure:

We will assist you with the visa procedure. The visa processing time is normally about 3 weeks. At times of crisis like a pandemic, war, etc., the visa processing time may extend up to 2 months or more as well.

Show money for UK visa:

You need to show £2,000 (approx. INR 2 Lakhs) savings in your bank when applying for your UK visa subject to already having paid the course fees for the exams you are going to sit in the UK. Your visit to the UK will be for 10 days only (or less) to sit for the written exams and then return to your home country. For every subsequent trip that you make to the UK for your written exams / re-sit exams, you will again need to show £2,000 for the UK visa. You also need to explain the source of this money that you will show in your bank account. Any large incoming remittance in your bank account (not consistent with historical financial records) must be explained with documentary evidence. Otherwise, it is a red flag in the eyes of the visa officer and can lead to a possible visa refusal. If your visa is refused, you can re-apply again by showing the proper financial documents.

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 period. Spouses and children are not allowed to work in the UK on a visitor visa. There is no IELTS test requirement for spouse and child. The visitor visa application fee is £100 per applicant. You will have to show an extra £2,000 per family member. For E.g., if a wife and one child are accompanying you to the UK, then you must show £4,000 extra funds for their visas. You can show this money in your bank account or your spouse’s 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 the 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. NOTE: As you are going to the UK not to study but for only your written exams, the probability of getting a visa for a wife and child is low. If you were going for x6 months of study to the UK, then yes, the probability of your wife and child getting their visas is good, but you are going only for 10 days to sit for your exams and will then return to your home country.

Accommodation:

As your stay in the UK will be for 7 – 10 days, you will be staying in a budget hotel also called B&B (Bed & Breakfast) accommodation. Expect to spend about £50 per day on average on food and accommodation during your 10 days of stay in Southampton. Total expected food and living expenses for 10 days will be  £500. A list of budget hotels has been given as a PDF file at the end of this message.

Travelling to Southampton:

You will fly to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and then take a coach/bus to Southampton. We will do your flight ticket bookings if you want us to do or you can do it yourself online on various travel portals. The bus journey time will be around 90 minutes. The coach/bus starts from LHR airport to Southampton, and you can book the ticket on:

 www.nationalexpress.com 

Educational Loan / Personal Loan:

We assist students with the educational loan / personal loan procedure. Although a loan is not guaranteed, about 70% of the students can get a loan.

Private Tuitions:

Private optional online tuition is available for all x6 Academic Subjects through tutors in India. These online private tuitions are not offered by Solent University, UK but by private teachers in India on their own initiative. If you are interested in these private online tuition classes, please let me know and I will share the tutor contact details with you.

Past Question Papers:

Click on the RED coloured links to download the last 10 year question papers.

HEAT: 2015 – 2024

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tzlEr8ABCgb5g3QSAfrT4hQXDgcBEvMn/view

MECHANICS: 2015 – 2024

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nHp7zQSgTHnjay4yL_L9zh4tP1Z1C-Vb/view

NAVAL ARCHITECTURE: 2015 – 2024

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p4Cb7QQ11acO5MvFk5XHvsvhjp7xt1qI/view?usp=sharing

ELECTROTECHNOLOGY: 2015 – 2024

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kUfiTZomOPHbEXwGzUKSwbD1Z7cqllb3/view?usp=sharing

MATHS: 2015 – 2024

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_4U2YdhJZX4lFztFLmjfiaWNhBj6wBJT/view?usp=sharing

ENGINEERING DRAWING AND SHIP SYSTEM: 2017 – 2014

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vjVCw00VqVAxbepyw-bwyG7-8cPql9w-/view

ENGINEERING KNOWLEDGE GENERAL: 2021 – 2024

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pg_mcNEh-Cmy3IqAu10Ib2OE8wC2riMa/view

ENGINEERING KNOWLEDGE MOTOR: 2021 – 2024

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_5oa0IiOc_MoRAHrGtJJXRplfORW_q_d/view

Pathway to Migration Abroad:

As the UK 2/E CoC course is offered via distance learning for the 6 academic subjects and 6 weeks of online classes for EK General and EK Motor, it has an inbuilt flexibility wherein a student holding a BE Mechanical / BE Marine could be studying a post-graduate course like an MBA or an MSc whilst simultaneously completing the UK 2/E course. We have such a post-graduate program in New Zealand of 15 – 18 months duration with 8 hours classroom teaching per week (and rest self study) which you can complete whilst doing your UK 2/E course. It will be tough doing 2 courses together and is only recommended if you have high academic standards. This course in New Zealand will allow your wife to work full time during the 15 – 18 months of your NZ course study and give you 3 years of post study work visa in New Zealand to take up employment which can later lead to a permanent residency in New Zealand. This combined study is only relevant should you wish to quit your sailing career and move to shore based employment abroad. With a New Zealand permanent residency (PR) you can live and work in Australia as well. If you wish to know more about this New Zealand course, please visit the link below:

https://ukcoc.in/masters-in-applied-management/

If you have any queries, please revert by phone, email, or WhatsApp.

Contact Us:

Kunal Anshuman,
Springdale India
Tel: +91 – 98927 25375
Email: kunal.anshuman@springdaleindia.com
Visit: www.ukcoc.in 
Address: 529, Mastermind 4, Royal Palms, Aarey Colony, Goregaon E, Mumbai – 400 065

NOTE:

WE ARE AN AUTHORISED REPRESENTATIVE OF WARASH MARITIME ACADEMY, SOLENT UNIVERSITY AND HENCE DO NOT HAVE ANY SERVICE CHARGES.