University of Guyana to Establish World-Class Subsea Centre of Excellence; Partners with COAST Foundation

June 30th, 2021 | Related To: Offshore Innovators Limited

The University of Guyana, on Thursday, 17 June 2021, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Caribbean Oceanography Aquaculture and Subsea Technology (COAST) Foundation to collaborate on the establishment of a Subsea Centre of Excellence training facility. This would now allow the University to deliver world-class programmes designed to prepare students for careers in Subsea Operations and Engineering.

The MOU was signed by Vice-Chancellor, Xi, Professor Paloma Mohamed Martin, Dean, Faculty of Technology, Ms. Verlyn Klass on behalf of UG and Mr. Keith Lewis and Mr. Aaron Hardowar on behalf of (COAST) Foundation, during a simple ceremony in the presence of a few other faculty members and staff of UG.

Professor Mohamed Martin expressed sincere gratitude to COAST Foundation for choosing UG and for understanding how important the National University is to fulfilling the present and future needs of the industry noting that the Subsea Centre will be it is the first of its kind at a University in the Caribbean.

She posited: “We are excited about the innovative aspects of what you are proposing, we also are not only interested in producing people, we are also interested in advancing ideas and working on solutions because that’s really where the intellectual power and manifest value of the University really lies.”

Mr. Keith Lewis, who is leading the project highlighted the significant benefits of having the Centre of Excellence training facility at UG. He said: “COAST Foundation believes that there is a future for local students to become engineers in the subsea field and support the Deepwater development in Guyana.”

“All of the development, past and future in Guyana will be via Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV), therefore we want to ensure that we train local technicians and subsea engineers to support the process,” Mr. Lewis expounded.

The Subsea Centre of Excellence will be home to the first Remotely Operated Vehicle simulator in the region which will be the foundation of training and competency development programmes aimed at supporting educational programs from the Trade School, through Associate, Bachelors and Masters levels.

Through the partnership, the University of Guyana will collaborate with international universities in the U.S., Canada and Scotland to deliver world-class programmes designed to prepare students for careers in Subsea Operations and Engineering. In addition to an ROV simulator, the Subsea Centre of Excellence will have an ROV Test Tank, an Electrical Workshop, and Hydraulic-Mechanical Workshop.

A key component of the programme will be a collaboration with the local and international subsea industry corporations to ensure stakeholder buy-in and a sustainable holistic approach to the Transfer of Technology to Guyana.