NAVAL ARCHITECTURE COURSES IN INDIA

The course deals with the design, construction, maintenance and repair of all types of marine vehicles and can play a major role in the economic development of a country

There is no harm in being a bit futuristic. After all, the world survives on dreams. If space is considered to be the final frontier, then there is another frontier that is yet to be explored to its full. It is much within our grasp and it has immense potential. Well, the inference is about water – the oceans, the seas, the rivers and the lakes.

A senior professor from the Department of Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture in Andhra University noted that a lot remains to be explored about the water bodies in the world and with the rising crunch on the land resources; the seas and the oceans could be the next destination. “Floating cities would become a reality one day,” he said.

Be it floating cities or floating international airports or for that matter bulk transportation of goods by marine vessels, across continents, water bodies serve to be a useful medium, and the engineering and science needed to understand its dynamics is in demand. The demand opens up new vistas in the discipline of Naval architecture.

Naval architecture is an engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, maintenance and repair of all types of marine vehicles.

It practically deals with any body that has to work on water, just like civil engineering that has to deal with anything on land.

Naval architects say that the discipline is part of the core industries and it can play a major role in the overall economic development of a country.

Course

The course is a four-year B.E. or B.Tech degree programme that covers the aspects of ship design, ship construction, ship theory, ship maintenance, ship hydrodynamics, ship hydrostatics and ship structure. All the four years are interspersed with practical and hands-on training. The basic idea is to make the students employable from day one after passing out.

Institutes

Naval architecture is classified as a specialised course and only a few institutes in India offer the course. Here are the details:

Andhra University College of Engineering – 4-year BE course- qualifying examination- EAMCET.

IIT – Kharagpur – 4-year BE course – qualifying examination- IIT-JEE

IIT- Chennai- 4-year BE course – qualifying examination- IIT–JEE

Kochi University of Science and Technology - 4-year B.Tech course- qualifying examination- Cusat-CAT

Institute of Ship Building, Goa: Four-year Diploma in Ship Building Engineering (organises its own examination) Naval College of Engineering, Lonavla, Pune, also admit 50 male students having minimum 70 per cent marks in physics, chemistry and mathematics put together and 50 per cent marks in English in the Plus Two or equivalent examination. Adequate professional training will be given in different branches, including naval architecture. Those who successfully complete the four-year course will be awarded a B.Tech degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Since all the courses imparted by the above mentioned colleges focus on the merchant ship design and construction, qualified Naval architects can join the Indian Navy to undergo specialised two-year training in Naval ship design at the Naval College of Engineering. Indian Navy recruits a good number of naval architects every year to serve its requirements.

In the post-graduation level, IIT-Kharagpur offers a PG course called Marine Technology and IIT-Chennai offers a PG course called Ocean Technology. There are facilities for research at both the IITs.

Career options

Since Naval architect is an engineer who is responsible for the design, construction or repair of ships, boats and all types of marine vessels and offshore structures like merchant ships, oil tankers, gas tankers, bulk carriers, container ships, passenger ships and ferries, cruise ships, frigates, destroyers, aircraft carriers, amphibious ships, submarines, underwater vehicles, icebreakers, offshore drilling platforms, semi-submersibles, high speed crafts, hovercrafts, multi-hull ships, fishing boats, tugs, platform supply vessels, pilot vessels, rescue crafts, yachts, power boats and other recreational crafts, the opportunity is immense. There is a huge demand for naval architects in the countries where ship building industry is in a large format like US, Korea, Singapore, UK and Netherlands. Naval architects can not only fit in the ship building industry but also in Naval dockyards and ship design and research centres. They are in demand both in the private and government sectors.

Naval architects can also join ships for onboard duty after undergoing the one-and-a-half-year practical training on a ship and after receiving the MOT certification from DG Shipping.

Naval architects are considered to be professionals who not only understand the design, construction and running of ships but also the commercial aspects involved in building a ship. This puts them in a niche segment over others.