The University of Lincoln Successfully Passed a Major Royal Navy Training Milestone

October 2021 marked a further significant milestone in demonstrating the strong and steady progress we have made in transforming and modernising the Royal Navy’s shore-based education as part of Team Fisher. The University was named academic partner to the Royal Navy in January 2021 and since then, we have been overseeing the successful transition of programmes from the University of Plymouth.

As of service commencement last month, Lincoln has taken over five new degree programmes within the “Project Selborne” portfolio being delivered across multiple sites, including Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) in Dartmouth (the home of Royal Navy Officer training), the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone (the home of Royal Marine Officer and Other Rank training) and the Royal Marine School of Music in Portsmouth.

The degree programmes are wide ranging and include BSc (Hons) in Defence Studies, BMus (Hons) in Professional Music Studies, Foundation degrees in Maritime Studies (FdSc) and in Leadership and Management (FdA), and a Dip HE in Marine Studies, with further opportunities currently in development. These programmes are key to preparing Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel – and in the case of the Dip HE international naval officers – for their future roles in Defence. They are central to people’s personal and professional development pathways.

While some of the degrees are delivered by the Royal Navy and validated by the University, those at BRNC Dartmouth are delivered by a small staff of 12 academics who joined the University on 1st September 2021. Their expertise ranges across Maritime Sciences (Ship Technology, Sensors and Telecommunications, Oceanography, Meteorology and Navigation) and Arts subjects (International Security and Defence Studies, Naval History and Strategy, Communication Skills). We are delighted to welcome them to the University of Lincoln community.

Service commencement coincided with the appoint of our new Director of Selborne Programmes, Heber Ackland. Heber joins the Research & Enterprise team having gained extensive experience within the Royal Navy and professional military education, with his previous role being Director of the Joint Services Command & Staff College at the Defence Academy.

The multi-disciplinary nature of the Selborne programmes has required a close relationship with all of the Colleges and many of the Schools across the University. The successful implementation of the contract thus far has been down to a lot of hard work and positive collaboration.

For more information on the Selborne educational contract, please contact Heber directly via hackland@lincoln.ac.uk.

Image copyright: MoD

Story submitted by Lucy Prescott
lprescott@lincoln.ac.uk