Meet the Finalists: Future Skills Award
Over the coming days, Maritime UK will be profiling each of the finalists in this year’s Maritime UK Awards. Winners will be announced on 10 March, live from the Glasgow Science Centre.
Trinity House are the proud sponsors of the Future Skills Award.
Open to a business, charity or organisation of any size, this award recognises those that have made a tangible contribution to meeting the future skills needs of the sector. The winner will be able to evidence pioneering activity across education, training or apprenticeship development, to help match available skills to the emerging and future requirements of the industry. This could be on a micro level, within a region or across the country.
Trinity House has promoted standards and safety at sea throughout our history. Training and development of the skills needed to operate ships in the fast changing maritime environment is absolutely essential and as ship operators and a major maritime charity we are delighted to have this opportunity to encourage delivery of the future skills needed in our industry.
The awards encourage members of the industry to compete and drive up standards and promote collaboration. The awards ceremony is a celebration of the energy in the industry and an opportunity to applaud success.
Highly respected experts from a variety of businesses and government departments were involved in the judging panel for this year’s Maritime UK Awards, which celebrate the achievements of the UK’s maritime sector, which adds £46.1bn to the UK economy every year, and supports 1.1 million jobs.
Three strong entries have been shortlisted for the Future Skills Award: Orkney College Maritime Studies Dept. University of the Highlands and Islands, Cowes Enterprise College and City College Plymouth.
The Maritime Studies Department of Orkney College or the “Nav School” has been training seafarers since 1967, working hard to keep up with the times, and sector needs. In collaboration with Orkney Ferries, the HyDime project and the MCA they have developed the world’s first Government-recognised training course for crews of hydrogen fuelled vessels. Training can be a crucial bottleneck in the commissioning of new technology and this training course has now attracted the attention of projects around the UK and abroad.
Cowes Enterprise College, is a secondary, non-selective academy for 1250 children aged 11- 19 on the Isle of Wight. The academy has developed a maritime curriculum called Maritime Futures and is leading the way at national level in the educational response to ‘Maritime 2050’. The academy is now working with other schools across the country to develop their own version of maritime curriculum, reaching out to children across the country to raise the profile of the maritime industry.
As a further education college, City College Plymouth is helping drive industry growth through the provision of the highly technical skills needed to turn the challenges of the future into opportunities. With its Marine Autonomous Vehicles Foundation degree, the College is providing future skills through project-based innovation. Supporting the maritime industry is a significant aspect of the College's vision to become a learning destination of choice and encourage new career opportunities for the people of Plymouth and the South-West region.
Sarah Kenny, Chair of Maritime UK, said:
“We’re delighted to announce the finalists for the Maritime UK Awards 2022. We were absolutely blown away by the number and quality of submissions this year. Organisations and individuals across the breadth of the maritime sector are making significant progress toward our shared Maritime 2050 ambitions, and this is certainly an exciting time to be in the maritime sector.
“Maritime is a sector that is now being recognised as critical to the country’s prosperity, sustainability, resilience and future. We’re a sector that makes a significant contribution to each and every part of the United Kingdom, and Glasgow is no exception. In Glasgow and Scotland as a whole, we have an incredibly compelling maritime proposition as the UK’s second-largest cluster. It offers Europe’s largest ship management cluster, world class naval ship design, build and support, globally recognised support to offshore energy operations, world-class nautical training and maritime universities and academics.
“Congratulations to everyone that entered the awards, and in particular to our finalists. I look forward to celebrating our tremendous maritime sector in Glasgow!”
The 2022 Maritime UK Awards are being hosted at the Glasgow Science Centre on 10 March.