KOCHI: What do you do when your ship develops a technical fault while at sea? As a marine engineer, you would be expected to handle the problem because there is nowhere to go when you are in deep water. The marine engineering students of the Kunjali Marakkar School of Marine Engineering (KMSME) at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) are undergoing rigorous training at the ‘ship-in-campus’.
Situated on the main campus in Kalamassery, the students are graduating to become marine engineers in the Merchant Navy by undergoing a training programme that is as good as any other in the country. Built at a cost of `6 crore, the ‘ship-in-campus’ laboratory gives hand-on experience of an engine room of a real vessel.
“The objective is to familiarise the students with a ship engine room. The facility will help marine engineering students learn the working of a ship’s engine and related areas without sailing in a ship,” N G Nair, course-in-charge , KMSME, said.
The intake of students is about 30 for each B-Tech batch. “The curriculum is inclusive of a strict physical regime. While working in ships, people have to be physically fit,” Nair said.
The ‘ship-in-campus’ has all the equipment, including a telescope and chimney. All the instruments are in excellent working condition and we have made a separate workshop with faulty engines,” he said.
According to the Directorate-General of Shipping, all maritime academies must build such a facility for marine engineering. The highlight of the campus is the simulator facility which is an interesting experience for not just students who are doing their undergraduation but also for those who are working in ships. “We’re giving a training programme for engineers who need to write an internal evaluation examination conducted by the DG Shipping which qualifies them for the next post,” Nair said.
The course fee is `1 lakh. “We are able to give placements for all our students because the Merchant Navy is always on the look out for qualified engineers,” he said. For admission, a student has to get a rank in the Cusat engineering entrance examination which is held in April or May every year.
Though the ‘ship-in-campus’ (which is also called the ‘afloat facility’) was dedicated to the state recently by the Fisheries and Registration Minister, it will be formally inaugurated later this month.
