THE MARINE SOCIETY COLLEGE OF THE SEA was inaugurated in 1938 as part of the Seafarers Education Service (SES) to provide the means whereby British seafarers who made their living at sea could continue their education and benefit from education services and facilities taken for granted by their counterparts ashore.
The SES itself was founded by Albert Mansbridge in 1919, who had earlier founded the Workers' Educational Association (WEA), which is today the largest provider of adult learning in the UK.
Mansbridge became conscious that the education reforms for the masses he had instituted through the WEA were of little use to seafarers and he was determined to do something about it. The result was the creation of what was one of the world's first exclusively distance learning colleges.
The Seafarers Education Service and The Marine Society merged in 1976. Thereafter the College of the Sea became known as The Marine Society College of the Sea (MSCoS).
MSCoS is a Learning & Skills Council funded college with a remit to promote and facilitate learning opportunities amongst those who go to sea professionally. In its latest inspection by the Adult Learning Inspectorate it was described as 'offering outstanding access to learning opportunities' and was awarded the highest grade for overall performance achieved by any of the UK's 400 colleges of further education.
And it is kept busy! There are 38,710 personnel serving with the naval service, the second strongest in the world
[source: MoD]. There are 27,180 other British seafarers
[source: UK Seafarers Analysis - Department for Transport, 2008] employed in the commercial sector. Plus it provides for the learning needs of some 9,000 adults who serve with the Sea Cadet Corps.
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