Royal Navy:

The MSA is pleased to welcome into membership the Royal Navy with effect from 1st May 2008. When confirming their decision to become a member, Rear Admiral Richard Ibbotson said that "the personal and professional development and training of our people is of key importance to the Royal Navy and I strongly believe that membership will deliver considerable benefit to both organisations'. The Alliance is convinced that the closer involvement of the Royal Navy in its affairs will add greatly to the strength and breadth of the UK maritime voice on education, training and skills issues.

Scottish Maritime Education and Training Project:

The MSA, working in conjunction with Glasgow College of Nautical Studies, has been successful in obtaining a grant from the Scottish Funding Council to research current maritime education and training provision in Scotland. The investigative work will be undertaken by the McKinnon Partnership who are specialist consultants in this field. The project will be managed through a Steering Group representing key stakeholders and chaired by the MSA. It is anticipated that the study will also examine future demand from employers and learners, so that any mismatches can be addressed. Work commenced in April and is expected to have been completed by September 2008. A copy of the final report will be made available on this web-site.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency:

The MSA are delighted to welcome The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) into full membership of the Alliance. The MCA employs a significant number of people associated with seafaring and search and rescue activities, as well as being the Maritime Regulatory Authority for the UK. They are already closely involved with the MSA work related to the development of Standards and qualifications and this new relationship will further enhance the credibility and standing of the Maritime sector.

A New Maritime Qualification:

The MSA are pleased to announce the availability of a new preparatory qualification - The Maritime Studies Award, which provides a useful broad based introduction to working in the maritime sector and seafaring in general. It is intended that those achieving this Award will be able to progress to further units of learning that will be relevant to a number of employment opportunities within the maritime sector. For more details see 'Testing and Trialling the new Credit and Qualifications Framework'