Universities Step In to Fuel Australian Shipbuilding Boom

ADELAIDE,
Australia — Flinders University has partnered with the Naval Shipbuilding
College, which is also in Adelaide, to ensure graduates are ready to seize
future cutting-edge jobs in the National Naval Shipbuilding Enterprise, the
Lead, a south Australian newspaper, said in an Aug. 1 article.

This week
the University of Adelaide announced that its rejuvenated master’s of marine engineering
program had grown in popularity more than five-fold since 2015, thanks in part
to a partnership with Australian submarine company ASC.

Flinders
University is the first Australian university to be endorsed for delivering a
course aligned with the future employment needs of the naval shipbuilding
industry. Its bachelor’s of engineering (mechanical) (honours) has been
endorsed by the Naval Shipbuilding College with five other engineering programs
expected to follow.

The
Australian government is investing $90 billion into the continuous shipbuilding
program, which is expected to create 5,200 shipbuilding jobs within 10 years,
to build Australia’s new fleet of 12 offshore patrol vessels, nine Hunter-class
anti-submarine frigates, 12 submarines and 21 Pacific patrol boats.

Based in
Osborne, South Australia, the Naval Shipbuilding College is a hub that links prospective
workers with suitable and accredited training at universities, TAFEs and
training institutions in all states and territories.

It is
operated by the Naval Shipbuilding Institute, an Australian joint venture
between Kellogg Brown & Root and America’s largest military shipbuilding
company Huntington Ingalls Industries.

A TAFE SA
welding course became the first training program endorsed by the college last September,
but the Flinders program is the first university course to be approved. Five
courses at Tasmania’s Australian Maritime College were also endorsed the last
week of July, a few days after the Flinders University announcement.

Flinders
Learning and Teaching Innovation Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah West
said the university was committed to the partnership with the Naval
Shipbuilding College, which would provide high-quality education pathways into
shipbuilding careers for students.

“The
endorsement of our degrees will ensure our graduates are well positioned for
the large number of job opportunities that are being created as a result of the
growth in the shipbuilding industry,” she said.

Naval
Shipbuilding College sits alongside the Osborne Naval Shipyard near Port
Adelaide. The shipyard has been at the heart of Australia’s defence shipbuilding
program since the late 1980s and has delivered six Collins-class submarines and
three Hobart-class air warfare destroyers. It is also expected to play a key
ongoing role in the $90 billion continuous build program.

The
University of Adelaide’s rejuvenated master’s of marine engineering program is
backed by the expertise and resources of ASC.

This year
49 students are undertaking master’s degrees by course work in submarine design
(naval architecture and maritime engineering), sustainment, supply chain,
project management and related subjects, within the University’s School of
Mechanical Engineering.

The
program, offered every two years, has grown from 27 students in 2017 and nine
students in 2015. It is among only a few postgraduate courses available in
Australia in marine engineering and is the only one in submarine design.

The
students are drawn from industry, defense and recent graduates as well as
French exchange students from the prestigious French Grande Ecole d’Ingénieurs
ENSTA Bretagne, which last year signed a collaboration agreement with the
University of Adelaide.

In the
program each student completes an individual project developing a submarine
concept design using professional tools. Enrolled students are being offered
free membership with the prestigious Royal Institution of Naval Architects and
the best projects are presented to the Submarine Institute of Australia
Technical Conference, SubsTec.

Newly
appointed course director Associate Professor Eric Fusil said the ramp-up in
enrolments for the course reflected the place Adelaide will occupy at the center
of submarine and major warship design and construction in coming decades.

“We are at
the start of a historical and challenging build-up in the submarine sector in
Australia,” said Associate Professor Fusil, a former submarine designer with
both Naval Group of France and ASC in Adelaide.

“The
students are drawing on an incredible wealth of real-life experience in terms
of submarine engineering at ASC — Australia’s only established submarine
company.”

Naval
Shipbuilding College program director Bill Docalovich said the unprecedented
upgrade of the Royal Australian Navy’s fleet was taking a national approach.

“Through
collaboration with education and training providers in every state and
territory we are strengthening student pathways into rewarding, long-term,
sustainable shipbuilding careers,” he said.

“It
demonstrates our commitment to ensuring our students are skilled and capable of
meeting the changing needs of the workforce and future industries in
Australia.”

The
Australian government established the Naval Shipbuilding College in 2018 to
help secure a sovereign workforce to implement its $90 billion continuous naval
shipbuilding program.

A national naval
shipbuilding workforce register has been established for students and workers
interested in working on some of the world’s most technologically advanced
projects.