Marine Engineering: Entrance exams, courses and job roles

Maritime transport is the backbone of international trade and economy. But it’s not always smooth sailing as technical snags can leave both cargo and passenger vessels stranded in the unlikeliest of places and endanger lives. This is where marine engineers come in as they test and repair, among other things, the ship’s machinery.

What is Marine Engineering

Marine Engineering deals with everything related to the design, innovation, construction, test and repair of seagoing vessels, navigation equipment and harbour installations.

Marine engineers mainly work on the development and manufacture of the international systems of boats, ships, maritime instruments and submarines. They design steering and propulsion systems, auxiliary power machinery and other vessel-related equipment. They work on-board to constantly monitor and maintain these machinery.

Studying Marine Engineering:

You can take either of the two pathways mentioned below that lead to Marine Engineering.

Pathway 1: You can get admission to BE/BTech courses in this discipline after clearing state or national-level joint entrance exams.

• You need to clear your Class XII board exams or an equivalent exam with Physics, Chemistry and Maths as compulsory subjects. You need at least 75% aggregate for admission to IITs, NITs and GFTIs.
• You need to clear JEE Mains, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), for admission to NITs, CFTIs and other engineering institutes.
• You need to clear JEE Advanced to get into IITs and IIT (ISM) Dhanbad. To be eligible for JEE Advanced, you need to be among the top 2,50,000 successful candidates (across all categories) in the BE/BTech paper of JEE Mains.

Pathway 2: You can get a BTech degree in Marine Engineering from Indian Maritime University (IMU) by clearing its common entrance test conducted.

• You need to clear IMU-CET conducted by Indian Maritime University for admission to its BTech course in Marine Engineering. Writing this three-hour online entrance exam is a must to get enrolled in the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes of the university.

• You can learn more here.

MTech entrance exam for Marine Engineering:

For a master’s degree in Marine Engineering, you need to clear GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering). Other than that, you must clear GATE for admission to MTech courses in Environmental Engineering at IITs and NITs.

You can appear for the exam even if you are in the final year of your BTech course.

• You can learn more here.

Some top institutes for Marine engineering:

Indian Maritime University (IMU) Kolkata, West Bengal

Course: BTech in Marine Engineering.

• Duration: Four years.

• Admission: Depends on your rank in IMU-CET.

Course: MTech in Marine Engineering and Management.

• Duration: Two years.

• Admission: Depends on your rank in IMU-CET.

• Click here to learn more.

IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal

Course: BTech in Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture.

• Duration: Four years.

• Admission: Depends on your rank in JEE Advanced.

Course: MTech in Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture.

• Duration: Two years.

• Admission: Depends on your GATE rank.

• Click here to learn more.

Indian Maritime University (IMU) Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Course: BTech in Marine Engineering.

• Duration: Four years.

• Admission: Depends on your rank in IMU-CET.

Course: MTech in Marine Engineering.

• Duration: Two years.

• Admission: Depends on your rank in IMU-CET.

• Click here to learn more.

IIT Madras, Tamil Nadu

Course: BTech in Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering.

• Duration: Four years.

• Admission: Depends on your rank in JEE Advanced.

Course: MTech in Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering

• Duration: Two years.

• Admission: Depends on your GATE rank.

Course: BTech+MTech in Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering.

• Duration: Five years.

• Admission: Depends on your rank in JEE Advanced.

Course: MTech in Ocean Technology.

• Duration: Two years.

• Admission: Depends on your GATE rank.

• Click here to learn more.

Maharashtra Academy of Naval Education & Training (MANET) Pune, Maharashtra

Course: BTech in Marine Engineering.

• Duration: Four years.

• Admission: Clear the entrance exam conducted by the institute called MANET.

• Click here to learn more.

International Maritime Institute Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Course: BTech in Marine Engineering

• Duration: Four years.

• Admission: Depends on your rank in IMU-CET.

• Click here to learn more.

NIT Surathkal, Karnataka

Course: MTech in Water Resources and Ocean Engineering.

• Duration: Two years.

• Admission: Depends on your GATE rank.

• Click here to learn more.

Job roles with a Marine Engineering degree:

Marine engineer: They are in charge of maintaining, repairing, managing and inspecting important mechanical and engineering equipment on ships and in seaports.

Navy officer: They are in charge of maintaining and operating ships and their systems. These professionals are also responsible for supervising the crew.

Maintenance engineer: They are responsible for repairing, inspecting and maintaining machinery, systems, equipment and infrastructures. They also plan and carry out routine maintenance on ships.

Marine surveyor: They carry out thorough and exhaustive surveys of a ship. They also test, monitor and maintain ship machinery before embarking on a voyage at sea.

Ship manager: They are in charge of a variety of responsibilities, including packaging, shipping, receiving products, supplies, and guiding and managing employees.

Port manager: They ensure that goods move smoothly and arrive at their destination on time. They also plan, administer and review port terminal operations in order to maximise resource efficiency and maintain quality standards.