Table 1 Responses of 74 companies, by employee number, to the question: How during the next 3-5 years, do you expect your company’s requirements for graduates to change? (responses ranked according to % change)

Table 2 Responses of 67 companies, by annual turnover, to the question: What skills do you look for in your BSc/BEng recruits? (Responses sorted by weighted mean: 1-low; 5=high)

Table 3 Responses (numbers and percentage) of 72 companies (by employee number) to the question: What types of training are used for skills advancement of employees?

Table 4 UCAS Data 1994-96 Outlining Course Availability and Demand in MST-related Subjects (Note that students made multiple applications of up to 8 before 1996 and up to 6 in 1996)

Table 5 Marine Science BSc degree courses from which student numbers graduating in recent years have been made available to the Working Group

Table 6 Marine Engineering/Technology first degree courses for which numbers graduating in recent years have been made available to the Working Group

Table 7 UK Postgraduate courses in marine science and technology: data from Merlin Falcon Postgraduate Course Guide on the WWW

Note that other, more generally designated courses, may include some marine components.

Table 7 (continued)

Table 7 (continued)

Table 8 Marine Science MSc taught postgraduate courses for which numbers graduating in recent years have been made available to the Working Group

Table 9 Success rate by UK applicants and success rate of UK institutions in attracting other European nationals for training, based on applications for EU MAST Programme Research and Training Grants 1993-96

Annex 1

IACMST Working Group on Marine-Related Education and Training

Membership

Dr R L Allwood Professor N Hamilton

Chairman, Education & Training Committee Southampton Oceanography Centre

Society for Underwater Technology European Way

76 Mark Lane Empress Dock

LONDON EC3R 7JN SOUTHAMPTON SO14 3ZH

Mr R H Bond FEng Dr P Head

54 Farnham Road North West Water Ltd

GUILDFORD Dawson House

Surrey GU2 5PE Great Sankey

WARRINGTON WA5 3LW

Miss A M Bowen (Secretary)

The Royal Academy of Engineering, Professor P Holmes

29 Great Peter Street, Dept of Civil Engineering

LONDON SW1P 3LW ICSTM

LONDON SW7 2BU

Professor P R Boyle

Department of Zoology Dr F A Johnson

University of Aberdeen Director, Special Projects

Tilly Drone Avenue GEC Marconi Research Centre

ABERDEEN AB24 3TZ West Hanningfield Road

Great Baddow

Dr J Dering CHELMSFORD CM2 8HN

Director

DERA Professor E Naylor (Chairman)

Centre for Marine Technology School of Ocean Sciences

Haslar University of Wales Bangor

GOSPORT PO12 2AG MENAI BRIDGE LL59 5EY

Mr A Docherty Dr M Preston

Director, Corporate Services Chairman, Education Committee

British Maritime Technology Ltd Challenger Society for Marine Science

Orlando House Oceanography Laboratories

1 Waldegrave Road University of Liverpool

TEDDINGTON TW11 8LZ LIVERPOOL L69 3BX

Professor R Eatock Taylor Dr D Pugh

Dept of Engineering Science Secretary - IACMST

University of Oxford Southampton Oceanography Centre

Parks Road European Way

OXFORD OX1 3PJ Empress Dock

SOUTHAMPTON SO14 3ZH

Annex 1 (continued)

Professor P Tyler

Department of Oceanography

University of Southampton

Southampton Oceanography Centre

Empress Dock

SOUTHAMPTON SO14 3ZH

Annex 2

Discussion-Leader Summaries of Sub-group Deliberations

What Employers Seek.

I opened the discussion, on what Industry is looking for, by noting the survey made by Cliff Funnel & Associates. This survey, however, "excluded the low technology activities such as ship building...". GEC’s shipbuilding firms, Vickers and Yarrows, employed 7,000 people of whom 430 were engineering graduates (6%). These graduates were mostly general engineers from Mechanical, Electrical, Structural and Naval Architects. I added a few comments on GEC’s experience. A lively discussion followed which was primarily focused on engineering graduates. Some of the points made were:

1. the group should ask inputs from the Institute of Marine Engineers, the Naval Architects and others;

2. most firms used informal recruiting techniques and all had some difficulty in knowing how to compare standards between different HEI’s - this, in spite of the accreditation arrangements for engineering courses. BMT operates a operates a sponsorship scheme for engineering graduates to provide their requirements and this works well;

3. small firms generally have to recruit more specialised postgraduates since they had to be productive virtually from day one. Larger firms looked to more general graduates learning on the job during their first year or two;

4. continuous career development is nice if it can be done but the trend is towards "on-the-job training";

5. there was general agreement that marine engineering courses need to be made more attractive to students, possibly by better PR. The point was made that Universities find a much greater demand for aero-engineering courses simply because the work was believed to be more attractive;

6. there is a considerable shortage of seafaring skills and it was felt that more courses should be provided;

7. it was felt that there were very large opportunities for the UK if it could set up a "shipping design bureau" which could operate at an international level, rather than each shipbuilding firm trying to do its own designs;

8. there was considerable discussion about the need for engineers to have good communication skills - computer literacy was taken for granted - and some minimal business skills so that they could at least understand and contribute to arguments about the cost of programmes - however such requirements cut across the accreditation system. The accreditation requirements are largely set by engineers at the end of their own careers and have little to do with today’s industrial requirements. Further, they set such full courses that there is simply not enough time to attend to commutation skills or other useful training;

9. in the absence of engineers with good communication skills, firms are tending to look to non-engineers with these skills to become the future managers. This results in non-engineers managing engineers, often with little understanding of their work or its potential;

10. this highlights the circular nature of the problem. If non-engineers are normally in charge of engineers, the status of engineers becomes diminished. This, in turn, reduces the attractiveness of engineering to better students so that only the less able enter the profession. This may account for the generally poor communication skills among graduate engineers and thus reinforce the trend to look to non-engineers to manage engineers.

Dr F A Johnson

HEI Courses and Training Methods

As would be expected, most of those present were academics involved in providing courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, with also some representation from relevant organisations to this activity, e.g NERC.

It proved difficult to keep the discussion structure as per the suggested plan, but nevertheless a number of interesting and useful observations were made.

Those who offered MSc courses were very aware of the requirements, in terms of both subject and numbers of students, for the particular area they were serving. ‘Market saturation’ in, for example, aquaculture was a reality which could not be ignored.

There was a perception that a number of MSc courses, however, were being driven by overseas student demand (where students can be charged a substantially higher fee). The Research Councils, through ‘course approval’ and provision of Advanced Course Studentships, control to a certain extent the operation of MSc courses. Their criteria for course approval of both quality and UK industry uptake, were thought to be acceptable.

At all levels, the perception was that industry required the ’specific’ skills and the transferable ‘non-specific’ skills. The feeling was that the larger companies placed great importance on the non-specific skills, whereas the smaller companies needed the specific skills in a designated area.

PhDs were regarded as being very useful for those wishing to enter the technology/ engineering sector of the industry, but not nearly so useful for the marine science sector.

Undergraduate course demand appeared to be driven by the student applicants. It could fluctuate wildly and there appeared to be a link with media/entertainment industry programmes.

I raised the question as to whether undergraduate courses should concentrate on the traditional areas, leaving specialisation and work of a vocational nature to a postgraduate course (or 4th year of an

MEng). There was no strong feeling either way, but the point was made that the system should still cater for those seeking to gain an education in a field of interest without necessarily planning to pursue a later career in the field.

In view of the importance placed on fieldwork by employers (from the questionnaire), it was felt that more needed to be included in all types of course. A number of people made the comment that fieldwork had had to be cut (or reduced) from courses because of its comparatively high cost when overall funding was being reduced.

It was also felt that courses in marine science often concentrated too much on temperate waters, whereas perhaps if other regimes were addressed in more detail, this would improve exportability/mobility of graduates.

All the academics felt they were being required to do more and more for less. It was economic forces that had been largely responsible for making changes to teaching and learning methods, e.g. the growing use of computer packages in some areas. However, it is too soon to say whether these techniques are proving more or less effective than the more traditional methods of teaching.

Dr R L Allwood

Learning, A Lifetime Commitment

The discussion divided into two contrasting parts: the Merchant Navy sector in which training is very well structured, controlled and monitored, and the broader marine sector in which training following an initial degree qualification is seen to be unstructured.

In the Merchant Navy sector there was seen to be a case for the provision of access to appropriate degree courses extending beyond the existing officer cadet structure. The existing training structure is, by its nature, closely linked to operators and legal qualification requirements; it is well-designed in a continuous evolution with close monitoring and assessment.

In the wider maritime field it was recognised that graduates are recruited from a wide range of academics disciplines - the majority with no marine component. This was considered to be an advantage in that it allowed delay in vocational choice but, clearly, requires in-career training. Such training is well-provided in taught MSc courses which are in general highly focused and directly related to the needs of industry. Graduates from these courses are highly marketable.

However, for graduates who are not able to undertake study at the MSc level although training "on the job" is provided by employers, such training is not structured, assessed or monitored. This was seen to be particularly important for small and medium sized enterprises in which excellent on the job, one-to-one training is given with no tangible, externally visible recognition. Various academic and other institutions provide short courses which are specialised in nature. Companies are thus able to select courses for their employees (and employees can select courses which match their personal aspirations) which suit company interests and targets. The group noted with concern the lack of courses for middle/senior management which could provide an awareness of new techniques and capabilities and which would potentially enhance the management of innovation and novelty in the profession.

Comment was made, unsubstantiated, that there is likely to be a pan-European shortage of engineers in the marine sector in the near future.

In summary, the three key factors emerging from the discussion were:

1. Well-structured and effective learning provision in the Merchant Navy - with a desire to provide paths to degree levels and beyond.

2. MSc course provision is good, targeted and graduates are sought after by the profession.

3. In-career training is provided by employers, often at very good levels, but there is little coherence, monitoring, assessment or external recognition of achievement.

Professor P Holmes

Annex 3

List of Companies Responding to CFA Questionnaire/Survey

 

Addison & Baxter Kort Propulsion Co Ltd

Alcatel Submarine Networks Marine Acoustics

All Oceans Engineering Marine Mechanical

Andrews Hydrographics Marine Microsystems

Applied Research & Technology Maritech Consultants Ltd

Aquatec Electronics Marr Vessel Management Ltd

Argonaut Marine Navtech Systems Ltd

Absys Marine Navistar Systems

Blackdown Consultants Neptune Sonar

Benthill Sciences Oceano Instruments (UK) Ltd

Bridon plc Oceanroutes (UK) Ltd

Briggs Marine Environmental Services Ocean Scientific Int Ltd

British Maritime Technology Offshore Technology Management

Caltec Oqo UK Ltd

C-Max Ltd Paras Ltd

C.D.S.S. Ltd Polaris International

Chelsea Instruments Quest Consulting Ltd

CODA Technologies Racal-Decca Marine

Coulter Electronics Seaeye Marine

Crestbury Ltd Seaspeed Technology

Davimar Seatex Ltd

Deershill Engineering Sensor Technology

Differential Technology Simrad

Duckbill Smith Engineering

Earth Observation Sciences Sonardyne International

Echopilot Stenmar

Ensoco UK Ltd Stenmar Hydrotech

Environmental Tracing Systems Systems Engineering (Lancaster) Ltd

ETL (Explorocean Technology Ltd) System Technologies

Euronav Submetrix

Fawley Aquatic Research Laboratories Tower Computer Systems

Fish Farm Develoment International Ltd Transas Marine UK Ltd

Great Yarmouth Port Authority Tritech International

Halcrow Underwater Test Centre

Halmatic Valeport

Hydrosphere UK Ltd Vikoma International Ltd

Hydrvision WS Atkins

Innovatum International WS Ocean Systems

Interdive Services Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd

InstallOcean Ltd

Jonathan Jenkins Associates

Marine Inertial Systems Ltd

Annex 4

Annex 5

Some WWW home pages relevant to education and training in marine science and technology

http://wwwl.naoe.ish.dtu.dk/ WWW virtual library - Naval

Architecture and Ocean Engineering

http://www.mth.uea.ac.uk/ocean/ WWW Virtual library - Oceanography

oceanography.html

http://www.iit..edu/~vlnavmar/ WWW Virtual library - Naval and Maritime

http://www.unesco.org/ioc/iyo/ International Year of the Ocean

iyohome.htm

http://www.unesco.org/ioc/iyo/ International Year of the Ocean

education.htm (Education)

http://www.unesco.org/ioc/ioc19/ 19th Session of IOC discussion re Year of

ioc19item13.htm the Ocean

http://www.olympus.net/IAPSO/ Worldwide Universities and Institutes for

instit.html Oceanography

http://bigfoot.cerc.wes.army.mil/ Coastal Engineering and Oceanography

event_cal.html events 1997-2000

http://www.oc.nps.navy.mil/edu.html Oceanography University sites

http://www.riam.kyushu-u.ac.jp/ship/ Links to relevant Japanese servers

marine-e.html

http://www.unesco.org/ioc/news/ US sites for pre-college education

items/1997/news116.htm in marine science

http://www.vims.edu/adv/ed US Website for marine educators

Glossary of Acronyms

BRITE- EURAM EU Industrial and Materials Technologies Programme (Basic Research in Industrial Technologies for Europe and European Research in Advanced Materials)

CCMST Co-ordinating Committee for Marine Science and Technology

CEFAS Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science

CFA Cliff Funnell Associates, Management Consultants

COMETT EU university-business co-operation in training programme (now part of Leonardo da Vinci)

CPD Continuing Professional Development

CSMS Challenger Society for Marine Science

CSWIP Certification Scheme for Welding and Inspection Personnel

CVCP Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals

DERA Defence Evaluation and Research Agency

DETR Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

DfEE Department for Education and Employment

DOCS Development of Certificated Seafarers Scheme, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

GAFT Government Assistance for Training Scheme, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

GIS Geography Information Systems

GNVQ General National Vocational Qualification

HEBE Higher Education Business Enterprises Ltd, an agency of CVCP and SCOP

HEI Higher Education Institution

IACMST Inter-Agency Committee for Marine Science and Technology

IMPACT EU Information Market Policy Actions Programme

JAMSTEC Japan Marine Science and Technology Centre

MAST Marine Science and Technology Programme of the European Union

MST Marine Science and Technology

MST E&T Marine Science and Technology, Education and Training

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

NVQ National Vocational Qualification

ORI Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo

OST Office of Science and Technology

SCOP Standing Conference of Principals of Colleges and Institutes of Higher Education

TMR Training and Mobility of Researchers Programme of the European Union

UCAS Universities and Colleges Admissions Service

WEGEMT West European Graduate Education in Marine Technology