New course to entice students offshore
A new course starting at Høgskulen på Vestlandet (HVL) in Bergen, Norway this autumn called Offshore Survey Operations is redefining the accepted formula for high school and college programmes to introduce new students to the world of hydrographic survey. Industry-driven by 13 companies providing their time for free, the goal is to educate and prepare students for a career in survey through increased awareness of the opportunities that exist offshore.
Dynamic, interesting, global; some have even called it ‘sexy’! It’s a wonder, with all those adjectives thrown at hydrographic survey, why there are not more people working in the field. The recent rise in global offshore operations has only exacerbated a problem that has existed and been known about for years: that more young people are needed to work in offshore survey.
In Norway, a historically rich maritime country with the second-longest coastline and a trailblazer in oil and gas exploration, you would think that more attention would have been paid to this potential shortfall. Not so. Unsatisfied with this status quo, the Norwegian forum for Offshore Survey and Positioning (NOSP), a non-profit, voluntarily run organization, was established in 2013 to provide a bridge between industry and academia that did not previously exist. One of their three statutes was the representation of the survey profession to universities and other educational institutions. The goal was to provide a joined-up, cohesive approach to growing offshore survey in Norway.
Increasing awareness
Sponsorship from up to 40 key members in the offshore community, including those not necessarily survey affiliated, allowed NOSP to grow to a member base of upwards of 600 people. Now, their monthly social interaction, networking and exchange of ideas has finally borne fruit, with an innovative course to educate the next generation of offshore surveyors, due to start in August 2025. Entitled Offshore Survey Operations, it will do so by taking industry to the students. Thirteen companies, not all of which have roots in Norway but also come from the United Kingdom, Denmark, France and the Netherlands, will provide their time, equipment and expertise for free in the hope of increasing the number of surveyors at their disposal. This will ultimately reap benefits regardless of whether they start and continue their careers offshore or decide that management or other routes in survey are preferred; the objective is simply to increase awareness of what exists out at sea for those curious to find out more.
Even before the course has started, benefits are being seen. NOSP’s increased focus on academia in recent years has highlighted how little known the offshore world is to students soon to graduate. With this in mind, meetings have been organized, which in Bergen for example often garner upwards of 30 students. As a result of these meetings, almost all of those students aware of what survey opportunities lie offshore have now taken positions with, among others, DOF Subsea, UTEC and AkerBP. Had it not been for these NOSP evenings, these students would likely be working on civil engineering projects onshore.
Industry ownership of the syllabus
To facilitate the course, each week one company is the subject matter expert to a group of approximately 20 students studying land surveying and property design. Although NOSP had a rough plan for how the syllabus would be structured, each NOSP sponsor was offered the opportunity to contribute to the course, and those who accepted offered exactly what was required. With companies dictating the content, and given the knowledge they possess regarding offshore operations, current trends and future innovations, it is hoped that the course can remain current without too much external control. NOSP will merely be its custodian, to ensure that it all happens seamlessly and to the benefit of those attending.
Everyone involved in this initiative is already proud of what has been achieved. With other such courses elsewhere in the world falling by the wayside, it is important that this one stays the distance. Making it sustainable and taking it further look promising given industry’s ownership of the syllabus. The admission of students not just from within the HVL system has been floated, as has those from overseas, too. There is even a possibility of franchising the idea, together with the companies involved, out to other countries where surveyors are needed. Cat A and Cat B accreditation has not been discounted. Whatever happens, by the end of 2025 at least 20 students could have seen enough to entice them into what most of us already know: that a career offshore in hydrographic survey can be a lifelong passion, endlessly fascinating, and even ‘sexy’.
About the author
Stuart Duncan has almost 30 years’ experience in offshore operations, a journey that has taken him from online surveyor to managing survey & inspection department operations. He is currently team lead for seabed mapping and positioning at Skanska Survey, Norway, and chairman of NOSP, a position he has held for the last five years.
This article is dedicated to the memory of Derek Jardine, a NOSP board member and supporter of greater offshore survey awareness who passed away on 17 June 2025.
