UKHO International Training
Students from six different countries were the latest to learn how to produce and maintain Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC) by attending an intensive five -week course delivered by UKHO's staff.
The training took place at the Marine Cartographic Training Centre at UKHO's headquarters in Taunton and was supplemented by visits to work areas within the UKHO along with external visits to Devonport, Britannia Royal Naval College (Dartmouth), and Brixham Harbour.
This course is part of the UKHO Bursary programme which supports the International Hydrographic Office's (IHO) commitment to capacity building, and developing international capability. The course introduced the students, who were from Vietnam, Venezuela, Argentina, Romania, Poland and Thailand, to the international standards relating to ENC production and maintenance.
The training team of Ken Blagdon and Nick Morrison, led by Corporate Training Manager Peter Westcott, oversaw training in the classroom as well off site where the students were able to make practical use of their new found skills.
At Devonport the students went onboard HMS Somerset to familiarise themselves with the layout of a bridge and navigational equipment, at Dartmouth they took to the water to look for and plot navigational aids and at Brixham they gathered data to help produce an ENC of the harbour.
The course provides the students with the key skills and knowledge to produce and maintain ENCs in support of the IHO's programme to ensure the quality and consistency of ENC provision worldwide. The hard working students were Octavian Buzatu of Romania, Tran Ngoc Tu of Vietnam, Marke Szatan of Poland, Rolando Rios of Argentina, Pairat Pikulthong of Thailand and Alfonso Salazar of Venezuela.
The UKHO has now trained over 200 students from over 40 countries since 2002. In addition to delivering training at the UKHO HQ in Taunton the Training Team also provides training "in country" and in the past year has delivered its accredited 15-week-long course to the Royal Malaysian Hydrographic Office in Malaysia, delivered a two week ENC programme to the Oman Navy in Oman, and an eight-week programme to the Australian Hydrographic Office in Australia.
