Icra unveils rating tool for maritime bodies

Rating agency Icra has announced it first set of gradings under the recently launched service of grading of maritime institutes in India.

The agency has assigned identical grades of Grade 2+ (pronounced ICRA Grade 2 plus) to HIMT Educational Trust (HET) and HIMT Marine Academy Private (HAMPER). Grade 2+, defined as very good, means the institution has resources and processes consistent with those required for delivering quality of maritime education and training that is high but not as high as Grade 1.

Icra has arrived at the grades for HET and HMAPL on the basis of grades assigned to courses offered by the two institutes, a media release stated.

This is now the second time that a maritime training institute is being rated in India. Earlier, the first rating was done by Crisil of the Marine Engineering & Research Institute at Kolkata.

India has taken the lead in the grading of maritime education with the directorate general of shipping mandating three Crisil, Icra and Care to conduct such ratings.

While HET offers post-sea competency and modular courses, HMAPL offers value-added maritime courses. Both entities operate under a common management team, from a common campus in Chennai, and under the common brand name of Hindustan Institute of Maritime Training.

The grade assigned to HET takes into account the institute's relatively strong management information system (MIS) and controls, the focus of its management on student feedback, its strong faculty appraisal system, and its relatively strong infrastructure.

However, the grade is constrained by the still-evolving nature of HET's nautical competency course and of its policies on faculty development. The grade assigned to HMAPL reflects the same strengths as in the case of HET, but is constrained by the developing nature of HMAPL's ship security officer course.

Icra has recently launched its service of grading of Maritime Training Institutes (MTIs). The extension of service is aimed at promoting standardisation of infrastructure and practices within maritime education industry, and at addressing the perceived need among students and other stakeholders for an informed, reliable and independent opinion on the quality of education imparted by various MTIs in the country.

The grades that Icra assigns under its service of MTI grading reflect the agency's current opinion on the quality of education imparted by the institutes concerned.