Marine UK South West Event

A groundbreaking and innovative event for Marine UK South West was held for the very first time at Bournemouth and Poole College, with the college widening its arms further into partnership and collaborative working – hosting representatives from BAE Systems, Dorset Careers Hub and Dorset Chamber, Dorset Marine Training, Norco and Rockley Watersports Ltd, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and the Ministry of Justice. The seminar-style event took place on Monday, 30^th September 2024.

David Massieu-King, Business Development Manager for Bournemouth and Poole College opened the meeting, followed by Sheldon Ryan, Chief Executive for Maritime UK South West, who walked attendees through recruitment, careers and any adversity that he was aware of in the sector, that were barriers to recruitment. He explained the great disparity between businesses seeking marine employees and people applying to enter the industry, where GVA (Gross Value Added) accounts for £3.82bn, 24,541 jobs and 3,000 businesses in the West region - and growing (data – 2018).

Sheldon Ryan outlined Marine UK’s South West has a 2024 workplan on its website which is a plan to engage with strategic partners including colleges and universities across the large region which spans from Falmouth to Bournemouth and beyond. He spoke of challenges for the industry where some marine companies need up to 500 new welders, and where one college - which had the highest intake of all intakes nationally - where enrolment on marine apprentices sign up – was only 800 students. That company alone would have absorbed the majority of the yearly intake.  James Hills, Director of Learning for Engineering including Marine and Automotive at Bournemouth and Poole College said: “Our college is bucking the national trend. Our statistics are significantly higher for intake of apprentices in Marine than those nationally. Recent stats show that our Level 3 Marine Electrical success rate is 92% (but there is as yet no published national average). Our Level 3 Marine Engineer output is 75% as compared to the national average of 13% (up 60%) and our Level 3 Boat Builder is 73% against a national rate of 36%.”

Another speaker for the Prisons and Probations Service (HMPPS), Michelle Downer, spoke of how prisoners on the Release-on-Temporary-License (RoTL) or Employment-on-Release (EoR) programmes are potentially great candidates for skilled workforce roles such as welding and electrical. She emphasised that these would-be employees are extremely grateful for the work, available from Level 2 – Level 7 in their ability and as they are a source across the country they can be matched to a job or employer. Michelle’s talk captured the audience’s interest and many asked questions afterward. 

Phil Sayles spoke of the college’s investment into Marine learning. The college is keen to support Marine UK South West and our three university partners, including Bournemouth University - as well as other partners - in this venture. He also talked of having over 2,000 apprentices and 750 employers across the college and highlighted that in the BCP conurbation, on average 16-18 year-old figures for enrolment markedly across the region.

James Hills, Director of Learning for Engineering put a finer point on the Marine courses, specifically, when questioned, saying: “One of the key challenges for us, is how to tell students who might come to the college what marine courses are, and what options are available to them. We have work to do in this area; for how do they know they want to be a marine student if they don’t even know the job exists? That said, our apprentices are coming out with some great results, we’ve seen 6 cohorts run through the Sunseeker boatbuilding front-loaded apprenticeship. We’re seeing some great successes recently at the college, with some of our students winning top awards in the Marine industry – such as at this year’s Marine Apprentice of the Year. 

Attending the event, Jon Bird, Service Manager for Growth and Economic Regeneration Growth and Economic Regeneration at Dorset Council said: “I’m very impressed with what Bournemouth and Poole College are doing and hope the experience gained developing the innovative block release courses can be used to help employers in the Dorset Council area.”