"Demand for well trained Maritime professionals is growing"

Source: www.sagarsandesh.com

Demand for well trained Maritime professionals is growing; especially for the technically skilled manpower, we are planning to launch new courses on ship building and electro-technical area soon, Mrs. Usha Srinivas, chairperson of Sri Chakra Maritime College, observed.
Outlining  the college’s terrific track record of seven times consecutive cent percent result, which is unprecedented , she spoke on  future plans to take the institute to new level , which will be making Sri Chakra Maritime College set global standards in Maritime Education and Training.

Mrs Usha Srinivas, chairperson of Sri Chakra Maritime College, was very expressive in a free-wheeling interview/interaction with Sagar Sandesh.

Excerpts of the interview:

Q. Tell us about the Sri Chakra Maritime College and its vision for skilled Manpower in Maritime sector?

ANS:    Sri Chakra Maritime College has already set bench mark in G P Rating Course in India. The College has turned out 100% results, seven times consecutively in the Exit Exam of GP Rating conducted by Board of Sea Farer Trust [A Unit of DGS]. It is a history of Maritime Education and training Institutes in the private sector in India,.

Our vision is to become a globally acclaimed Maritime Training Institute, offering Maritime basic courses to advanced level courses to senior cadre. We want to produce of Captains and Chief Engineers of calibre that world will look at Indian Maritime Education and Training very seriously.

Q. Tell us about the mission of the college?

ANS:    Our mission is to provide a full range of Maritime Education and Training courses  to meet the current and future needs of the Maritime industries- both national and International.

SMC endeavours to provide a quality Maritime education and training conforming to International standards. Knowing well the economic status of the aspiring students, we want to make the courses affordable to them. Our aim is to produce leaders.

Q. What is the future for maritime education and logistics sector in India?

ANS:    As of now, the Industry is short of right manpower. Demand for Skilled, trained Manpower is growing, by 2017; we will need additional 30,000 officers. So, to meet the growing demand, we are gearing ourselves by improving our facilities .We see plenty of opportunity for us.

Q. How is the response for SMC since it is in a union territory of Puducherry?

ANS:    We are actually in the best part of India. We started in 1993 with the aim of catering to the local people. We have turned the heads of people with our great results, apart from best of the facilities that a student can get from anywhere in India. We are now attracting students from, corners of the country. With the natural setting of Puducherry and excellent cooperation from the local authorities, we are able to provide excellent learning experience for the students.

The local students also join in our courses and getting benefitted immensely. Especially, coastal area, lower-middle class family from Cuddalore and the UT, are most benefited out of our college’s short-term as well as long term courses.

Q. What are the future plans Sri Chakra Maritime College has to create new heights in inculcating maritime education?

ANS:    We have proved ourselves with our results not one time but seven times, our commitment and dedication to take Maritime Education and Training India to a level; to be among the best, globally.

Now, we are planning new job oriented courses like B Sc in ship repair and ship building, which has become attractive to students who are interested in Shore jobs. I must tell you that we are one of the best when it comes to Industry connectivity. Ship building and Maintenance industry and shipyards offer plenty of scope for the trained and skilled manpower.

Any course we start we ensure, our boys will be preferred by the Industry. We give thrust to Placements.

Q. Tell us about the students studying at Sri Chakra?

ANS:    Our boys are regularly participating in national-level competitions and make their presence felt among the top maritime training institutions in the country. In one such event was in Cochin recently, our cadets, who were just 10th pass education, gave good competition to engineering students and reached up to the semi-final levels.

Q. Shed some light on key challenges as well as opportunities available for the budding seafarers in India?

ANS:    Our Indian seafarers are having proven track record for the last many decades in international maritime domain. Now with the technology advancements are coming in a big way, we have to update ourselves to stay in the ring. We are famous for two reasons, for our professional work culture and social culture.. To meet the challenges in the International Maritime Industry we give the best that they can though our Personality development, communication skills modules, which prepare them to meet the unexpected situation, when they go to work with people from other culture.

Q. What are the anomalies with the Government of India that need to be cleaned up to improve quality of maritime education?

ANS:    As for as government is concerned, what we expect is if they come out with a training ship like Japan and other countries, and allot the slots to training institutes then the problem which we are now facing due to recession, could be solved to an extent.

We have requested about the need for training ship in various forums. But otherwise, regulation wise, we appreciate DG Shipping as they made stringent guidelines in many areas. The recent grading system by DG Shipping is really an eye opener for many in the field.

Q. What about forming an alliance among private institutes for buying a training ship?

ANS:    It is an expensive exercise to go for a training ship by private institutions. But still, it is not a bad idea. Buying a ship is not everything, we have to run it. We have to see its commercial viability, port handling charges and other such expenses to run it smoothly. If government comes out with a subsidy or like, then only we could think of moving towards buying a training ship

 Q. What is the future of Indian seafarers?

ANS:    Internationally it is very competitive, especially from from seafarers of Philippines, as well as from the upcoming nations like Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

We are preparing our students to meet the challenges and prove themselves better than the best through dedicated professional work culture and continuous Learning and development. We believe Leaders have their place every where. 

Q. What are the advantages of IT sector in improving maritime education, shipping and logistics sector in future?

ANS:    IT sector is a very important sector in the maritime field and the latest developments are pointing towards total domination of IT on shipping and logistics sector in coming years.