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Launch your career in maritime.

The maritime industry is the backbone of international commerce, with shipping responsible for approximately 90% of all global trade. Whether you’re interested in a role at sea or more focused on shoreside opportunities, there’s scope for a huge range of rewarding roles and careers across maritime business, shipping, education and naval architecture.

Hugely respected in the industry, our programmes and courses at Solent cover subjects as diverse as marine underwriting and maritime law; shipping and port management; deck (navigation), engineering and electro-technical officer cadetship programmes; maritime education and training; and yacht design.

With over 70 years serving the maritime industry, our Warsash Maritime School is known the world over and enjoys the active support and engagement of alumni from and working in more than 70 nations.

Key selling points

  • Our maritime business courses achieved positivity measures of 97% for academic support, 98% for learning resources and 91% for learning opportunities (NSS 2025).
  • Our yacht design courses achieved positivity measure of 92% for teaching (NSS 2025).
  • Study in the heart of Southampton, the UK’s largest maritime and shipping cluster and one of the most significant in Europe.
  • Our maritime training facilities are among the world's best including the UK’s largest ship and port simulation centre, well-equipped engineering workshops and laboratories, a dedicated fire training school, and the nation’s only manned model ship handling centre.
  • Get real-world skills that employers love. From working on live business projects to exploring the latest industry research, you’ll build experience that sets you apart, whether your future is at sea or on shore.
  • We’ve opened more doors into the maritime world than ever. From UK-based pre-cadetship programmes to international opportunities with top maritime academies in Greece, our global partnerships create pathways to an exciting career at sea, or on shore.
  • Our graduates are making waves across the global maritime industry. From designing cutting-edge yachts and leading shore-side operations to taking command at sea, Warsash and Solent alumni are proving what success looks like.

Some courses in this subject are accredited or endorsed by:

  • CILT logo
  • ICS logo
  • MCA logo
  • South Coast Institute of Technology logo

Discover our maritime courses

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Graduate stories

Hear from Solent alumni about where their careers have taken them and how studying at Solent prepared them for their future.

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Facilities

We’ve invested more than £43 million in maritime training facilities and an additional £5 million through the South Coast Institute of Technology (IoT) to ensure students have access to the very best resources.

Facilities include the UK’s largest ship and port simulation centre, a dedicated fire school, and the nation’s only ship handling centre at Timsbury Lake.

The University also boasts a composite materials lab; mechanical, electronic engineering and yacht design workshops; a 60-metre towing tank; and a four-metre static stability tank—tools trusted by industry leaders and students alike.  

  • Bridge simulation

    Bridge simulation

    The bridge simulators and ECDIS suites are used for training deck officers in the use of radar, ECDIS, automatic radar plotting aids and other electronic aids to maintain safety of navigation.

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  • Engine room simulation

    Engine room simulation

    The engine room simulator is set up to replicate a real ship's engine room using touchscreen technology and low voltage switchboard with real 440V breakers.

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  • Fire school

    Fire school

    Our purpose built fire school provides a realistic but safe environment in which seafarers can learn the vital techniques of fighting fires at sea.

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  • Library

    Library

    The Library building is open for Solent students and staff to access computers and study spaces, and for browsing the shelves and borrowing items.

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  • Medical training centre

    Medical training centre

    The medical centre uses the same type of equipment as found on board ship for mandatory medical training for ships' officers.

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  • Ship handling centre

    Ship handling centre

    Timsbury Lake is the home of our scaled model ship handling centre which provides specialist training for pilots, masters and senior ship's officers.

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  • The Spark

    The Spark

    Solent's £33m Spark building combines interactive teaching spaces with lecture theatres and an atrium with social spaces. Central to The Spark building is the futuristic Pod, which has a full-size lecture theatre and open-topped breakout space.

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Come to an open day

Our open days are the very best way to see what Solent can offer – a perfect opportunity to talk to our lecturers and meet current students, discover our facilities and explore our campus.

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