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“You don’t find courses like this just anywhere.” Truer words have never been said by one Sven Saborowski about his postgraduate programme in superyacht design – now revamped into the MSc Sustainable Marine Craft and Superyacht Design – at Warsash Maritime School, part of Solent University.
“The moment I stumbled upon this programme, I was hooked,” says Saborowski, who graduated last year. “The course description promised a deep dive into a bunch of areas I was eager to explore. The fact that this course wrapped up everything from naval architecture to project management and superyacht styling into one neat package made me apply without hesitation.”
Today, Saborowski works on yacht and cruise ship designs at shipbuilding company Meyer Werft in Germany as a Project Engineer in Design. His programme is just one of the institution’s many master’s degrees that not only results in job security but ensures graduates are work-ready, world-ready and future-ready.
“From the sleek aesthetics to the engineering behind these luxury vessels, I had the chance to learn it all,” says graduate Sven Saborowski. Source: Warsash Maritime School, part of Solent University.
Warsash Maritime School is a one-of-a-kind maritime training college. It has been providing first-class education, training, and consultancy to the maritime industries for over 70 years. A master’s degree here is more than just a qualification for many reasons. Industry figures recognise and respect the School’s, and the University’s names. Graduates come from and now work in more than 70 nations. Its location, Southampton, a thriving south coast UK port city – is the ideal setting to expand knowledge and career prospects whilst developing one’s professional mindset and network.
For all these reasons — and more — a Warsash Maritime School master’s degree is known as the ideal route to a successful maritime career. This was precisely what Janek Ekeli did with his MSc in International Maritime Business. He says he benefited from the master’s heavy focus on strategic and current business practices as well. “There was a visible difference compared to other new hires who didn’t have the background,” he said. “Getting a well-rounded understanding of how the shipping market [works] meant I could hit the ground running from day one.”
The MSc International Maritime Business is not the only programme that prepares students to thrive in future roles as leaders in the maritime industry. An MSc International Shipping and Logistics is also available in collaboration with maritime industry organisations. This is to ensure that the programmes here are current and deliver the specialised industry knowledge and skills that the shipping and logistics industries value. There is an annual maritime conference in which students can participate to mingle with industry speakers and grab the opportunity to visit key maritime organisations that they represent.
Janek Ekeli, graduate of the MSc International Maritime Business. Source: Warsash Maritime School, part of Solent University.
The latest edition to the School’s portfolio is the career-advancing MSc Sustainable Marine Craft and Superyacht Design. The programme, which builds on 55 years of yacht and powercraft course delivery at Solent University, equips students with the engineering knowledge to design marine craft typically between 24 metres and 120 metres in length. Students also gain the analytical, practical, and technical design skills a future marine craft designer is expected to have.
“The course wasn’t just about following a set plan; it allowed me to explore the areas of yacht design that fascinated me the most,” says Saborowski, who graduated last year from the institution’s original superyacht design programme. “From the sleek aesthetics to the engineering behind these luxury vessels, I had the chance to learn it all, focusing on what caught my interest,” he added.
For seagoing maritime professionals seeking shore-based management positions, the MSc Shipping Operations offers a tailor-made route. Delivered online using Solent University’s virtual learning environment, this programme is accessible from anywhere in the world. This is ideal for serving maritime officers and aspiring international postgraduate students unable to relocate to the UK for study.
These master’s programmes may be built on a heritage of pioneering maritime education but they are just as informed by cutting-edge practice-led research, ensuring they address key issues shaping today’s maritime industry, in particular digitalisation, autonomy, and decarbonisation. Prospective students would be advised to learn more about how the School’s passion for continual innovation, practice and research underpins its programmes.
Source: Warsash Maritime School, part of Solent University.
Ekeli’s career trajectory is an example of how forward-looking his MSc in International Maritime Business was. After completing his master’s degree, he moved to Dubai to work as a bunker (marine fuel) trader for a Danish trading house. Just one year later, at the age of 23, he was encouraged to go on business trips to Singapore on his own. After two years in Dubai, he transferred to the company’s office in New York/Connecticut, built a new book of clients and got to see firsthand how the industry handled the IMO 2020 transition. IMO 2020 refers to the reduction of the global upper limit on the sulphur content of ships’ fuel oil to 0.50% (from 3.50%).
“It was there I started to see the writing on the wall regarding the green transition, and realised it was time to move back to Norway and create something new,” he says.
Returning to Norway, he founded ESG-NRG, an all-in-one platform for maritime shipping companies to manage the EU Emission Trading System. As its CEO, the most valuable skill the University equipped him with was good presentation skills. It’s something that’s paid off “tremendously” in his work life. “The last big pitch we had was in front of 200 shipping professionals in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as part of a maritime startup competition called The Captains Table during Hong Kong Maritime Week,” he says. “Now I can talk about our product in my sleep.”
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