STEM subjects are often perceived as dry and boring because of the lack of hands-on practice.

One Scottish college is proving this is not the case by investing millions of pounds in new technology to bring the sea into the classroom.

Fittingly, this technology overlooks the River Clyde, one of the world’s great waterways, and it is here at City of Glasgow College that students can actually steer a ship without ever having to leave the building.

This is because the entire fifth level of the Faculty of Nautical Studies is filled with simulators, including the first 360 degree shipping stimulator in Scotland which is so realistic it could trigger a bout of seasickness in an unwary landlubber.

The Herald:
Other simulators give 135 degree views – similar to looking out the front windscreen of a car – and there is an engine simulator and several part-task simulators to teach specific skills. For staff and students alike, the technology, which was formally inaugurated by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in 2015, is a revelation.

Using these state of the art simulators offers a uniquely stimulating environment for students and offers them an opportunity to learn at their own pace. Something which lecturers have found has positively improved student retention rates.

In traditional classrooms, the students’ retention rates of the wisdom imparted by their lecturers hovers between a rather ineffective 30-40% but here they are doubled to 80-90%.

“With this wonderful technology the students are learning by doing,” explained senior lecturer and simulator manager Kirshan Singh, whose background is in the petroleum tanker industry. “We deliver a lot of content but the retention rate is excellent because the environment is very engaging for the student.”

As a result, demand for the courses is very high.“It is a very sought-after piece of training because we are offering real world skills for real world jobs.

What they learn is easily transferable,” said Mr Singh. City of Glasgow College is one of only four maritime colleges in the UK which delivers Merchant Navy officer training to Chief Engineer and Master Mariner level. It is in the top 10% in the UK for issuing Tier 4 visas and works with the top 10 shipping companies across the globe.

The Nautical faculty also works closely with industry and provides training for a number of organisations which recruit new entrant deck and engineer officer cadets for a career at sea on vessels operating worldwide.

It has recently expanded its portfolio of training partners both in the UK and internationally and this is continuing to expand. Part of the recent success is due to its innovative cadet training programmes like Bridge Ready and Engine Ready which run alongside existing courses. These have been designed with input from industry to contextualise the learning and provide the cadets with both the critical thinking and emotional intelligence skills that a ship’s officer needs in the workplace today.

“Some of the training is mandatory for the purposes of certification but other parts are bespoke, value added elements added by the college,” said Mr Singh. “In mandatory training sometimes there is a gap between what is required and what is now happening in the industry so the college fills the gap with these added value elements.”

With the amount of sea traffic significantly increasing and technology playing a more essential role, Mr Singh explained it was vital that all seafarers are well prepared. “They need to have polished skills and they need to be able to make quick effective, positive decisions at all times.”

Lecturer and simulator manager Captain Philip Taylor said that even when cadets and officers are at sea they may not necessarily be exposed to situations that could increase their skills and confidence but the simulators could provide virtually any experience.

“You can spend your whole time at sea without ever doing certain aspects of seafaring,” he said. “For example, a simple procedure like using an anchor to hold a ship in position may not be familiar to some searfarers.


Out of the class of 15 students who had already had two years at sea two of them had never carried out this procedure as they had been on standby vessels in the North Sea. Putting that on the simulator means we can fill in the gaps in their knowledge. They know the theory but might not have had to do it and the simulator can take them out of their comfort zone. The facilitators know enough to answer all their questions but we would rather they learned by experience.”