X WMA 2nd Mates Course

Course Title:

Officer of the Watch (OOW) – Examination Route (earlier called as 2nd Mates course)

Documentary Evidence of Sea Service

The following documentary evidence would be required as proof of sea service:

Deck Cadets from India (DNS / HND) can however give 2nd Mates exams from New Zealand after completing 12 months of sea service as a Deck Cadet whilst completing the Indian TRB or the ISF TRB. After completing the 2nd Mates from New Zealand, students can come to Warsash Maritime Academy, Southampton Solent University, UK for doing their Chief Mates and Masters CoC.

Course starting date and duration

There are 3 batches in a year.

January ; April ; September (every year)

The total course duration works out to be 7 months excluding holiday period like Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays. A student joining the January or September batch can come back with his CoC in about 8 months period if he clears all his exams in time. A student joining the April batch will come back with his CoC in about 9 months time because of the 2 months of summer holidays & 1 month of Christmas holidays within course duration which makes the duration longer.

The visa that a student will get will be for approximately 10 – 11 months. The visa will end 2 months after the course completion date and can start a maximum of 2 weeks before the course commencement date.

Some key advantages of studying at Warsash Maritime Academy, Southampton Solent University, UK are the following:

Admission Procedure

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

We will send you the University bank details by email / Whatsapp whenever you wish to make the payment to the University.

Seats get filled up about 3 months in advance and are alloted on a first come first served basis. Hence, it is always advisable to book early so that you are assured of seat in the college.

It is not necessary to have completed your 36 months of sea service for booking a seat in the college. However, you should have completed your 36 months of sea service before you travel to the UK for joining the OOW course.

Warsash Maritime Academy is a part of Southampton Solent University. All tuition fees payment are made to the University.

If you happen to be on board a ship, you can email / Whatsapp the scanned copies of your documents and application form to us. The electronic wire transfer payment to the college can be done by your parents / relatives / friends on your behalf or by making a payment using your debit card on the University website. Hence, you can book a seat in the college even if you happen to be on the ship at that point of time.

STCW advanced courses & GMDSS

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

You can do the UK GMDSS at any of the following authorised centers

If for some reason, the student is not able to complete these STCW courses prior to going to the UK, he can come back from the UK, finish the short courses, send the certificates to MCA, UK and the MCA will post the CoC to the student in about 3 weeks time.

The following two short courses have to be necessarily done in the UK as they are not accepted from India:

UKVI IELTS English Language Test:

An English language test is a requirement before you can apply for the UK student visa. The UKVI IELTS test is not required for booking a seat in the college but you will not be able to apply for a UK visa if you have not cleared this English language test.

You may book the UKVI IELTS test online by visiting the website given below:

The UKVI IELTS test is a paper and pencil test in which you will have to score no less than 4 in all the individual sections of Reading, Writing, Spoken and Listening. If you score 3.5 or lower in any one section, you will need to resit the full exam again by paying the full fees for the test.

Although, coaching for the test is not a requirement, if you feel that you need coaching for the test, you may take it and the cost normally in different cities in India is about 9,000 Rs/- for 1 month of coaching. When you book the UKVI IELTS test, you will be provided with the study material for the exam. You can also buy UKVI IELTS study material from book stores as these are available from 500 – 1,000 INR approximately. You can also go through UKVI IELTS preparatory videos on You Tube. You can also download free IELTS coaching apps on your smartphone instead of paying for IELTS coaching.

Total expenses in the UK

Your expected total expenses in the UK inclusive of Tuition Fees, Exam Fees, NoE, Short Courses, Food & Accommodation, Flight Tickets (to and fro), Visa Charges, health insurance, etc, will work out to about £ 13,000 (approx. 13.50 Lakhs INR assuming 1 £ = 105 INR). If the value of £ w.r.t INR goes up, your total expenses will go up as well and vice versa.

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 but those visa rules may necessarily hold true now.

From Nov 2015 onwards, the funds to be shown for the UK visas after booking your seat is as given below:

UK Visa Application Procedure:

We will assist you with the complete visa procedures. The x2 things that the student needs to complete from his end before his UK visa can be applied for are the following:

There is also a Fast Track Visa application system wherein by paying 230 GBP extra over and above the visa fees, students can receive their visas in 5 working days. This is helpful for students who are applying for their visas very late. The college will allow students to join the OOW course a maximum of 2 weeks after the course commencement date.

Applying for a Notice of Eligibility (NoE)

Students need to apply for a NoE to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), UK to be eligible to sit for the MCA 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, company did not give sea service letter, sailed on scrapped 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 – 3 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 hotel) 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 Budget 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. Your arrival airport in the UK will be London Heathrow.

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 to 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. We can also send your the educational loan sanction letters on Whatsapp to you.

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 course duration is less than 6 months, then you are not allowed to work part-time in the UK. For courses more than 6 months duration, students are allowed to work part-time in the UK if you are studying in a University. As 2nd Mates course at Warsash Maritime Academy, Southampton Solent University is of more than 6 months duration, hence you would be allowed to work in the UK during your studies and this would be mentioned on the visa stamped on your Passport. The initial visa stamp in India will be for 1 month and later this will be extended in the UK for another 9 – 10 months after you receive your biometric identity card.

As per the present rules, you would be allowed to work 10 hours / week during your study period and full time during vacations (Christmas, Easter ad Summer holidays). By working within the above working hour limits, a student can hope to recover between 2 – 4 Lakhs Rs/- during his 10 – 11 months of stay in the UK. There is no compulsion for a student to work and it is entirely up to his own discretion, however the student should not work for more than 10 hours / week during his course study period. The minimum pay rate in the UK is about £ 8 per hour and you will not be paid less than this amount. However, if you are working in night shifts, week-ends or during holiday season, you may expect to get paid higher also.

The following are the different kinds of jobs that students take up in Southampton during their stay in the UK

The following are the different ways of finding jobs during your stay in Southampton, UK

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