The Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) shipping company operates the largest fleet of car and passenger ferries in the UK, serving Scotland’s island communities. It has partnered with City of Glasgow College to train up the next generation of seafarers.

The Beacon assessors considered this an “outstanding project”.

City of Glasgow College’s modern apprenticeship programme offers meaningful employment to young people in remote island communities as well as the deprived areas of inner-city Glasgow.

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The college is the only training provider in Scotland to maintain all the internationally mandated safety standards. But it prides itself on going further than offering the minimum training required: apprentices are equipped with a range of academic and professional qualifications to start them on a career route to more senior roles as their skills and experience develop.

Students go through a rigorous application and selection process for the maritime apprenticeship, which means that a pipeline of new talent has been established to secure CalMac’s future plans to connect more remote island communities to the Scottish mainland. The apprenticeship is subject to regular review to ensure it continues to meet the current and future needs of the employer.

The assessors said the programme “clearly demonstrates how the college used its experience of working with one employer to develop a highly responsive and innovative apprenticeship scheme, which, in turn, positively influenced the shipping provision for the whole sector”.

“This project had a significant and massive impact on the economy of the Western Isles, the employer concerned and the life chances of its learners,” they added.