2nd December 2019
As part of South Devon College’s recent partnership with Princess Yachts, one of the key plans was to accommodate the needs of the luxury yacht building company by providing an exceptional training and project space. This would allow apprentices to be taught at the College whilst gaining a realistic experience working with the same products and systems that the company uses.
On Tuesday 26th November 2019, that plan turned into a reality as the Chief Operating Officer of Princess Yachts, Matt Pears, cut the ribbon at the new workshop and declared the Princess Yachts Learning Academy at South Devon College officially open.
The hull that is placed within the workshop is one of Princess Yacht’s successful V Class yachts. The V40 hull was crafted by Princess Yachts especially for this facility. The Learning Academy workshop is 90m2 which leaves plenty of working space around the hull. The facility will provide real life skills training and allow apprentices to practice their areas of specialism in relation to their individual apprenticeship. Both South Devon College and Princess Yachts are confident that this dedicated workshop and facilities at South Devon Marine Academy offers the perfect environment in which to train Princess’ future workforce.
To complement the newly opened workshop, there is also the new Princess Yachts classroom in the £17m Hi Tech & Digital Centre in addition to the wide array of existing facilities across the South Devon College campuses. Apprentices will receive a truly immersive experience of all operations over the four-year apprenticeship, with the workshop authentically replicating the assembly line, right down to the scheduled ‘buzzer’ break times and clocking-in machine.
Through on and off-water activities, apprentices will receive first class training for their apprenticeship qualifications and will also receive full exposure to each of the other roles involved in the building of luxury yachts, including the game changing X95 ‘Superfly’ coming later this year. The College week will be structured to follow Princess Yachts’ working hours to provide a realistic work experience, with South Devon College providing a coach to pick up apprentices from Princess Yachts’ Coypool base at 7am, returning to the site at 5pm.
In addition to their apprenticeship qualifications, each apprentice will receive the Open Awards Exploring Maritime Skills qualification, as well as a range of additional transferable skills; lean manufacturing, problem solving, creative thinking, effective communications, leadership and aftersales.
Ensuring they get the finest, most rounded education in the world of maritime construction, South Devon College will provide a host of other qualifications that will ensure they complete their apprenticeship with a thorough understanding of the marine sector. These qualifications include the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Survival, RYA VHF Radio Operators License and RYA First Aid.
South Devon College are excited to be working with Princess Yachts and to see the Princess Yachts Learning Academy now officially open. There is a lot of anticipation to see the space being utilised by the apprentices whilst also looking forward to growing the apprenticeships programme offering even more and providing more opportunity for people to work and learn in the marine industry.
To find out more about studying a course in the Marine sector, you can look at what courses are available at southdevon.ac.uk and you can also get in touch with our Helpzone team at [email protected] or call them on 08000 380 123.