Admission to the undergraduate programmes offered by the Indian Maritime University will be through Common Entrance Test, Vice-Chancellor Malini V. Shankar said.
Around 1,000 seats are available on the six campuses in Chennai, Kochi, Kolkata, Nerul-Navi Mumbai, Sewri-Mumbai and Visakhapatnam. Seventeen maritime training institutes are affiliated to the university with an intake of 600 to 700 students.
Ms. Shankar said candidates must appear for CET conducted by the university for the technical programmes such as B. Tech (Marine Engineering), a four-year specialised course; B.Sc., (Nautical Science) a three-year course; and B. Tech Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering. The latter is available in only a few institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur and Madras and in IMU and in Kochi. A BBA in Logistics, Retail and e-Commerce is offered.
Students who do B. Tech Marine Engineering, B. Sc. Nautical Science and DNS can aspire to careers on board a ship as captains, second officers or third officers for the navigation side or as chief engineers of the ship for the ship engine side.
Non-marine programmes at the UG level such as B. Tech (Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering) and BBA Logistics, Retail and e-Commerce would be suitable for those aspiring for a career as naval architects, ship designers or ship maintenance engineers, maritime logistics managers or in port management areas. Diploma in Nautical Science is a year-long certificate course where students could take up a job and return to do a B.Sc in Nautical Science later.
Ms. Shankar said candidates in Tamil Nadu do not know much about the courses. Only around 100 to 200 candidates applied for the programmes, she said. Registration for the programmes will end on May 17.
According to the V-C, of 3,000 students currently on the campus, as many as 330 are girls. Around 200 girls are doing the technical course. “In recent times, international companies also give scholarships to women students. Last week, six students got scholarships,” she said. From the current academic year, women cadets enrolled in one-year DNS course would be eligible for the scholarship as well.
