Fareham College, the TES UK College of the Year, has announced a partnership with the Maritime Warfare School, HMS Collingwood to provide a career pathway for students wishing to embark on a naval engineering career.
The initiative will see HMS Collingwood maintain a small ‘cross-rank’ team who will work with students and teaching staff at the College’s Centre of Excellence in Engineering and Manufacturing Advanced Skills Training (CEMAST).
The team will offer valuable advice, support and guidance, helping those students interested in becoming a Royal Navy engineer to discover what opportunities exist.
Captain Rob Vitali RN, Commanding Officer of HMS Collingwood, said,
“When I visited CEMAST in September 2018, I was impressed by the training that was taking place at the Centre and explored how the Royal Navy might establish mutually beneficial links between HMS Collingwood and Fareham College to provide up to date expertise, advice and guidance for students interested in a Naval engineering career. I’m delighted to say that this link has now been formed and we believe it will give Fareham College students access to a wide variety of engineering careers available in today’s Royal Navy.”
Fareham College Principal, Nigel Duncan said,
“I’m delighted to announce this partnership with HMS Collingwood. It will give our engineering students a greater understanding of what the Royal Navy can offer and is another example of how we provide our students with the necessary experience to make important decisions about their future careers. As a mark of our future partnership, a co-designed plaque will be displayed at CEMAST recognising the long-term relationship between our organisations.”
As a result of the new partnership, Fareham College students were invited to attend a trade fair and given the opportunity to visit HMS Chiddingfold, a Hunt Class Minehunting Vessel based in Portsmouth.