WMA Class 4 Course For Engine Ratings

Warsash Maritime Academy

(Southampton Solent University)

Course Title:

STCW III/I Engineer Officer of the Watch (EOOW) ? Examination Route (earlier called as Class 4 course)

Course Starting Dates:

23rd August ? distance learning; 25th October campus workshop skills.
6th December ? distance learning; 21st February campus workshop skills
28th March ? distance learning; 30th May campus workshop skills

There are 3 batches every year. Seats get filled up about 6 months in advance usually.

Applying for the UK MNTB TRB and Course Booking:

  • The acceptable ranks under this route would be OILER / MOTORMAN and FITTER. Sea service as a WIPER is not counted as WIPER rank is associated with cleaning duties only. If C/E testimonial for Wiper rank mentions nature of duties as IVb i.e. first assistant to the main watchkeeper, then Wiper seatime may also be considered on a case to case basis.
  • The first step is to apply for a UK MNTB Training Record Book (TRB). You need to have completed atleast 24 months approved seagoing service in the engine room of a merchant vessel having propulsion power of 350 kW or more in the rank of a Oiler / Motorman / Fitter. You also need to have a STCW III/4 Watch Rating Certificate before you can apply for the UK MNTB TRB. Please scan & email or Whatsapp the following documens to apply for the UK MNTB TRB:
We will assist you with the money transfer process. You will be making the payment on the University website using your debit card / credit card. This procedure will take approximately 5 minutes. You can also make the payment using the debit card / credit card of your parents / relatives / friends as well.
  • Please note that a Watch Rating Certificate (STCW III/4) from Panama is also acceptable if you have not got one from the Indian MMD. For Fitters, their sea service upto 24 months before a Watch Rating Certificate will be acceptable under the new rules. However, before applying for the MNTB TRB they will need to get a Watch Rating Certificate and thereafter complete another 9 months of sailing whilst completing the MNTB TRB.
  • It will take about 2 weeks time to receive the MNTB TRB from the Univesity.
  • Along with the UK MNTB TRB, you will receive the Letter of Initial Assessment (LiA) from the University. The MNTB TRB comes as a hard copy (not as a soft copy) from the UK and will be posted to our address in Mumbai by the college. We will guide you on how to complete the MNTB TRB when you come to collect the MNTB TRB from our office in Mumbai. If it is difficult for you to come to collect the MNTB TRB in Mumbai, we will courier the MNTB TRB to your address or your shipping company incase you are already onboard ship.
  • You must now complete a minimum of 9 months (not 6 months) of approved sea service in the engine room of vessels of 750 kW or more including six months of sea service as the first assistant to the Engineer Officer in charge of the Watch whilst undertaking watch-keeping or UMS duties. You will also complete the Merchant Navy Training Board (MNTB) Training Record Book (TRB) while completing the sea service under the training scheme and maintain a workbook describing the TRB tasks carried out. Your total sea service should not be less than 33 months (24+9) whilst you should have completed the MNTB TRB over a minimum period of 6 months during this 9 months of sailing period.
  • For booking a seat in the college, the student has to pay a deposit of 1,000 GBP to the University. This deposit will be adjusted against your workshop tuition fee, the balance of which you have to pay on joining the course in UK. This deposit is not refundable but can be transferred in the name of the student against a future course date within 24 months from the first course starting date. There is no transfer charge for postponing your seat upto a maximum of 24 months.
  • If a student wants to apply for the MNTB Book and book a seat also simultaneously, he can make a payment of 200 GBP + 1,000 GBP together. In such a case, the student is assured that he has got a seat confirmed from the University and will not miss out on the batch because of seats having got filled up earlier.

Applying for a Notice of Eligibility (NoE):

Students need to apply for a NoE with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), UK to be eligible to appear for the SQA wriitten and 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 a 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, CE testimonials not in the proper format, less propelling days, time in dry-dock, etc.), it would be advisable to do your NoE before booking your course. The processing time for the NoE is normally 28 working days normally. 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:

  • Download the NoE Form MSF 4275 and fill up the NoE form by pen in CAPITAL LETTERS only.
  • The documents you need to send for your NoE application are the NoE form, LIA issued by the college, Passport (first and last page notarised copy), CDC, STCW basic courses (PST, PSSR, FPFF, EFA), CE testimonials of 33 months as Oiler / Fitter, MNTB Training Record Book (including workbook and piping line diagrams), valid Medical Fitness Certificate in ILO 147 Format, 2 passport size photographs (size 40mm x 50m with white background) and a payment of GBP 220 in favour of ?MARITIME AND COASTGUARD AGENCY? has to be done online using your debit / credit card using the link given on your NoE form. Please note that all documents have to be in original except for the Passport whose notarised photocopy of first & last page is to be sent.
  • Send the documents by a good courier for e.g. DHL and check on the DHL website when the documents have been received by the MCA. MCA postal address is given in the NoE form.
  • If you have not got any information from the MCA after 40 days, please send an email to the MCA at engineering@mcga.gov.uk mentioning your Name, Date of Birth and Courier consignment number. Ask them, what is the status of your NOE.
Due to Covid 19 pandemic, the MCA is presently accepting all documents and NoE application by email only. This will however change in future.

The NoE is not required for booking a seat in the college or for applying for a UK visa application. It will be required before you can sit for the MCA orals or the SQA written examination.

MCA, UK rules explaining eligibility conditions for Engine CoCs can be read in MSN 1857

STCW short course details:

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

  • Advanced Fire Fighting (AFF)
  • Medical First Aid (MFA)
  • Proficiency in Survival Craft and Rescue Craft (PSC&RB)
  • HELM (O)
  • High Voltage (O)
The above MCA approved short courses are now available in India and can be done from BP Marine, Mumbai or HIMT, Chennai.

If for some reason, the student is not able to complete these 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.

Course Examination and Duration

You will need to clear the following exams successfully to be eligible for a EOOW CoC:

  • EK Motor, EK General and EK Control – SQA written exams
  • IAMI General Engineering Science A and Science B examination
  • Workshop training skills
  • MCA oral examination.
  • STCW advanced courses (AFF + MFA + PSCRB) + HELM (O) + High Voltage (optional)
Your course duration in the UK will be for 5 months. The visa will be for a period of 6 months during which a student will get 2 – 3 attempts to clear his exams. MCA oral exams can be given at any time during his stay in the UK after having received his Notice of Eligibility (NoE). IAMI and SQA written exams are held 5 times in a year. It takes 3 weeks to apply and get your CoC after having cleared your MCA orals, SQA and IAMI written exams and workshop skills test.

If you did not clear your written exams in the 2 – 3 attempts that you get in the UK, then your visa would have expired and you will need to make an additional trip to the UK to resit those pending exams. There is no restriction in the number of attempts a student can give to clear his exams. Normally 90% of the students are able to clear their exams within the 2 – 3 attempts and hence do not have to make the additional trip to the UK. Visas cannot be extended in the UK. If you do need to make a 2nd trip to the UK, you will incur an additional expense of about ?800 (approx. 85,000 INR if 1 ?= 105 INR) for your flight ticket, visa fees, resit examination and approximate 3 days of hotel stay in the UK.

Total expenses in the UK

Your expected total expenses in the UK inclusive of Tuition Fees, Exam Fees, NoE, STCW Short Courses (AFF + MFA + PSCRB + HELM + High Voltage), Food & Accommodation, Flight Tickets (to and fro), Visa Charges, etc, will work out to about ? 11,500 (approx. 12 Lakhs INR if 1 ? = 105 INR). If the value of ? goes up, your total expenses will go up as well and vice versa.

Out of this total expense of ? 11,500 (approx. 12 Lakhs INR if 1 ? = 105 INR), you will spend ? 900 on doing all the MCA approved short courses in India whereas ?10,600 will be spent on your tuition fees, written and oral exams, flight tickets, visas, food and accommodation, etc., whilst doing the course in the UK. For non-Indian students, doing the MCA, UK approved short courses in India, you will need to add cost of your visa, flight tickets and accommodation to India as well which may add an extra ? 1,000 to your costs.

The approximate living cost is as given below but it will vary from person to person:

  • Accommodation rent: ? 220 ? 260 / month / person in a non-sharing room
  • Accommodation rent: ? 160 ? 200 / month / person in a room shared by 2 students
  • Food (home cooked): ? 40 ? 50 / month / person
  • Electricity and heating bills: ? 10 ? 20 / month / person

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:

Ms. Navida Khan

Mr. Baldev Singh

Mr. Pravin Patel

Mr. Rafiqui

Ms Geeta Uppal

Mr Paul Singh

Mr Harpal

Mr Singh

Mr Steve Athwal

Mr Yougesh Vashist

Mr Singh

Ms. Anupreet Kaur

Mr Iain Macdonalad

Home Life Lettings

Most of the landlords are Gujaratis or Punjabis. The accommodations are located about 5 – 20 minutes walking distance from Southampton Solent University.

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 visitor visa. Students usually book their flight tickets after having received their UK student visa. A to & fro fare will cost about 50,000 INR. Prices vary depending upon season and how far is your travel date from the date of booking. You arrival airport in the UK will be London Heathrow. If required, we will introduce you to a travel agent who will assist you with the flight ticketing process. It is strongly advised that you buy a to & fro (i.e return ticket) as some students with a 1 way ticket have faced problems with airlines in boarding the aircraft.

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:

  • Seafarers are often not considered by banks as students and hence banks are reluctant to sanction loans to them.
  • Some bank managers do not understand what a CoC course is and hence their reluctance.
  • As CoC courses do not fall under the category of Degree / Diploma courses, hence the reluctance from banks.
  • CoC course duration is usually less than 1 year and banks are reluctant to give loans for courses less than 1 year.
  • Some banks insist on students getting a letter from DG Shipping, India stating that overseas CoC courses are approved. It is next to impossible for students to get such a letter from DG Shipping, India.
If you know somebody in a bank, it gets much easier to get your loan sanctioned. If not, it is always advisable to approach atleast 5 different banks and hope that some of these banks may consider your loan application favourably. Do not chase only 1 bank as it is possible that the bank may refuse your application and you may not have enough time left to apply for educational loans to other banks.

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.

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.

If you wish to apply for an educational loan, please let us know and we will ask the bank personnel to get in touch with you.

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 the UK:

Students can carry money to the UK as currency notes, travelers cheques, demand drafts and international student forex cards. We advise the students to carry about ? 500 as cash (? 1,000 if they are carrying their family) and ? 1,000 in their international student forex cards. International student?s forex 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 forex card are given below:

  • For any purchase in the UK, you can swipe your student?s forex card without any additional charges instead of having to pay in cash.
  • If you lose the demand draft, it is a very tedious process to get your bank to cancel the draft as you will have to file an FIR in the police station and follow up the other procedural formalities. If you lose a forex card, you simply call the bank, they will cancel the debit card and post a new card to you for a small fee.
  • If you fall short of money in the UK, your parents / friends in India can contact the bank and pay the bank in Indian rupees to top up the forex card. You can withdraw the money from your card in the UK. It saves your parents the hassle of trying to figure out how to do the telegraphic transfer from India and the charges involved in the telegraphic transfer.
  • If you are carrying a demand draft in your personal name for your living expenses in the UK, you will have to wait till your bank account is opened in the UK. This process may take 2 ? 4 weeks and then only will you be able to deposit the demand draft. If you are carrying an international student?s forex card, you can withdraw cash from any ATM machine in the UK at any point of time. You must note that your bank will charge you for cash withdraw from the ATM using your international students debit card.
  • The best procedure is to load your card in India with ? 1,000 and carry about ? 500 as cash with yourself. This amount of money should be able to cover the cost of your food and accommodation during your stay in the UK.
  • The tuition fees would have been paid by electronic bank transfer to the college already prior to your departure to UK and hence it need not be loaded on the students travel card.

Visa Procedures

The visa rules keep on changing very frequently. Hence, the rules that are valid today may not be the same in the future. We will assist you with the visa procedure. Please take note the following:

  • Your passport should be valid for atleast 6 months after the course commencement date at the time of visa application.
  • There should be atleast 3 blank pages in your passport out of which there should be 2 back to back blank page.
  • You need to show about ?13,000 funds for your visa after booking a seat in the University.This can be shown as cash in your bank account, educational loan or a mix of the above. You will need to explain the source of cash being shown in your bank account. It is best to allow your salary to gradually build up in your bank account as it is easy to explain salary as your source of funds in the bank. You can show money in more than 1 bank account also in your name. Any sudden reflection of money in your bank account before the visa application date which cannot be explained becomes a cause for visa refusal.
  • Your parents can also show funds on your behalf. You will need to submit your parents source of income.
  • The visa processing time is 3 weeks normally. 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.

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. As the EOOW course duration is only for 5 months, hence the visa stamp on your passport will mention that work is not allowed. Please DO NOT WORK in the UK on this visa because you will be deported back to India if caught working on this visa. Also, you will be banned from applying for a UK visa for the next 10 years. You could also face problems if you join a ship which were to touch a UK port in the future.

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

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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

Note: To reach our office, take autorickshaw from Goregaon (E) station. It will cost you about 70 Rs/- and the distance is 3.0 kms from station. It should take you about 20 minutes to reach our office in normal traffic conditions from the station. Alternatively, take Bus No. 452 from Goregaon (E) station and get down at the last bus stop i.e. Mayur Nagar. The office is about 10 minutes walk from the Mayur Nagar bus stop. If you are coming from Powai direction, it will take you about 30 minutes to reach our office by auto rickshaw and the fare will be about 150 Rs approximately.

Please call before you plan to come to the office so that we can schedule a mutually convenient date and time.