TRAINING
City of Glasgow College | 7
Attracting, nurturing and
developing the seafarers of
tomorrow is a mutual aim
shared by Northern Marine Group
- a Stena AB subsidiary - and City
of Glasgow College. Through this
common objective, Northern Marine
and the college have collaborated
extensively over decades, primarily
through the training of Merchant Navy
cadets.
Northern Marine is an international
group of companies offering ship
management and marine services to
the world's shipping and offshore
industries. Headquartered in
Clydebank, west of Glasgow, the group
is currently the United Kingdom's
largest maritime training provider,
managing approximately 1,000 cadets
at any one time on behalf of numerous
shipping companies. Operating an
extensive fleet of vessels, Northern
Marine offers cadets the opportunity
to undergo onboard work experience
on a variety of vessel types.
As Dhan Swadi, personnel director
at Northern Marine, explains: "We
have worked with City of Glasgow
College for decades, as client, supplier
and as collaborators on many important
maritime projects. Glasgow is a hub
of maritime expertise and a global
centre for ship management companies
which manage a wide variety of the
world's commercial vessels. City of
Glasgow College is, therefore, ideally
placed and equipped to provide
services to companies such as ours -
the commercial custodians of seafarer
development. And it is this collective
Andrew Gibson,
media and
communications
manager at Northern
Marine Group,
explains how
the organisation
continues to produce
top-quality Merchant
Navy cadets
Setting the
highest
standards
determination to improve standards
which underpins our relationship."
Outside of Merchant Navy officer
cadet training programmes, City of
Glasgow College and Northern Marine
also collaborate on a variety of courses.
As well as classroom and simulator
learning, Northern Marine has joined
college representatives on a number
of industry initiatives over the years,
including the Stena Association of
Maritime Institutes which aimed to
highlight best practice in the industry
and set common industry training
standards globally.
A significant number of Northern
Marine's management team are
alumni of the college, emphasising
the educational centre's legacy across
Glasgow's ship management industry.
Philip Fullerton, managing director at
Northern Marine Group, says: "Stena
and Northern Marine's relationship
with City of Glasgow College is further
evidenced through our owner Dan
Sten Olsson's award as honorary fellow
of the college. Support of the college
is delivered through continuous
engagement and positive ongoing
communication with the principal and
chief executive, Paul Little."
The level of investment poured into
the college's twin site super campus is
truly phenomenal. And the Riverside
campus, where our cadets are trained,
is nothing short of a world-class
institution. The college's advanced
simulator training suites are well
placed to produce officers of the
future, equipping them with the
necessary understanding, skills
and resilience in relation to the
human element of seafaring. In
the past, this aspect of training - to
do with leadership and management
- has perhaps been overlooked by
industry in favour of technical
education. But City of Glasgow
College recognises the role of soft
skills, alongside those technical skills
needed at sea, which is why the college
continues to produce such high-quality
cadets, and why the Merchant Navy
values this deep talent pool.