The fledgling Indian Naval Academy (INA) at Ezhimala in Kerala’s Malabar region is throwing open its gates for trainees from friendly nations.
The first lot of seven foreign cadets — four from Mauritius, two from Si Lanka, and one from the Maldives — will begin training for the one-year Naval Orientation Course (NOC) beginning December 29.
10 per batch“Though there’s a lot of demand, the Navy has decided to restrict the number of foreign cadets to 10 for now. Meanwhile, countries such as Sri Lanka want to enrol their cadets for the four-year B.Tech. course, which will be done subject to clearance from the naval headquarters,” Vice-Admiral P. Ajit Kumar, INA Commandant told The Hindu.
All Indian Naval cadets enlisted for permanent commission in the Indian Navy undergo the B.Tech. course.
The academy, the Vice-Admiral said, was also contemplating designing a bridging course for naval cadets from the National Defence Academy (NDA) who join the INA for the last two semesters.
“Right now, they are awarded M.Sc. in Applied Electronics and Communication on completion of the course and the mandatory sea training,” Vice-Admiral Kumar said.
“This is a bit of a handicap as they can only join the executive branch unlike their peers who on completion of B.Tech. can be drafted into any branch. We are thinking if we can offer a bridging course for cadets from the NDA at INS Shivaji or INS Valsura so as to enable them to be qualified for the technical branches as well. We have also requested the NDA to address the issue by bringing about necessary changes in their curriculum,” he added.
