Role Of The Institute

Training in hydrography was conducted onboard surveying vessels until the establishment of a Hydrographic School at INS Angre, Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1959. The first attempt to provide systematic training to officers and sailors in Hydrography, began with the establishment of this Hydrographic Training Unit at Bombay and thereafter at Kochi post its relocation to INS Venduruthy on 21st Oct 1961, where it operated from a temporary facility provided in the Gunnery School of Venduruthy. Subsequently, for most of its remaining stay at Cochin, it operated from the Navigation - Direction School.

The government sanction for a permanent establishment in Cochin was obtained in Apr 1965. Admiral J Cursetji, PVSM Chief of the Naval Staff, formerly inaugurated the Hydrographic School at Goa on 29 Nov 1978. Situated on the picturesque Alpequeiros Hill at the scenic port town of Vasco-da-Gama, the school is ideally located to impart quality training in the field of Hydrography. The Mormugoa Harbour bay, the surrounding coast with cliffs and short stretches of sandy beaches provides the ideal setting for afloat and ashore training in Hydrography. The unit was fully equipped to meet the training requirements of various Naval officers, sailors, and civilians from the Indian maritime states, Survey organisations, Major port trusts, Ministry of Shipping and Transport, and other Hydrographic surveying agencies within and outside India with a major United Nation Development aid.

In 1980, the Hydrographic School was accorded the status of Regional training centre in Hydrographic survey for the Asian region. In May 1981, the second wing of the Hydrographic school was completed and in 1982 the school's Long H training program and curriculum conducted was recognised by the IHO (International Hydrographic Organisation) as a Category 'A' course. This is the highest recognition of a Hydrographic specialisation course by the International body on Hydrographic matters. In 1997, the Hydrographic school was recertified towards Cat 'A' Certification by IHO for offering the Option II which deals with Industrial Offshore Surveying under Edition 7.0 of the standards of the IHO/FIG International Advisory Board. The school was the first in the world to offer this optional subject. The school was consequently re-designated as the National Hydrographic School since it provided training to Hydrographers from other National Maritime Organisations such as the Minor Port Survey Organisation, Port Trusts, Dredging Corporations of India, and Inland Water Ways Authority of India besides the naval fraternity of Hydrographers from both within India and abroad. In 1998, the Schools Cat 'A' Long Hydrographic Course, was revalidated under the edition 8.0 of the standards of the IHO/FIG international advisory board. The course was affiliated to the Goa University for the Award of Master’s Degree in Hydrographic survey to the Long Hydrographic Course. In 1999, the IHO/FIG International Advisory Board awarded the CAT B certification for Basic Hydrographic Course conducted by the school, under Edition 8.0 of the standards of IHO/FIG International Advisory Board. Thus both the professional Officer courses conducted at the School attained IHO recognition by 1999.

In 2005, the sailor’s course was affiliated to the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) for the Award of the Diploma in Hydrography on successful completion of PO Q course. Since its commissioning the school continues to be proficient in training all categories of personnel involved in the field of the hydrographic surveying. This initiative has been specially tailored for different categories of personnel from the National Hydrographic Departments, and other Maritime and Port Organisations, both from India and friendly foreign countries. Due to its National Stature in Hydrographic training and International recognition, the School was rechristened as National Institute of Hydrography (NIH) on 05 June 2009. Though, the Institute has grown leaps and bounds in National and International forums, the Institute’s committed staff continue to strive in pursuance of excellence. The Institute has a well-stocked Library catering to the professional needs and also other general inters to imbibe good reading habits amongst the staff and trainees. The Library is provided with interactive softwares, e-Granthalaya for effective e-administration. A large number of professional magazines/Journals are subscribed by the library. The primary role of the Institute is to conduct training in the applied science of Hydrography and allied studies for

  • Indian and International Naval Officers & Sailors. 

  • Civilian personnel from various Indian Ports & other Maritime Agencies.

  • Periodically review the syllabi of various courses as per the specifications of International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) & Goa University.

The Institute is responsible to the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command, at Kochi for imparting requisite levels of training to the personnel nominated by the Indian Navy, other National bodies within India and trainees selected by the Friendly Foreign Countries under the various technical cooperation programmes. The Institute is also responsible to the Southern Naval Command, through the National Hydrographic Office, at Dehradun, for the preparation of the draft, Biannual Training Programmes and periodic reviews for updating the syllabi of various courses. The Institute is responsible to the Chief Hydrographer to the Govt. of India for meeting the Standards of Competence while designing the Syllabi for the IHO CAT "A" and CAT "B" Courses. Additionally, the Institute also undertakes local and operational survey tasks in Goa Naval Area, as and when ordered by the competent authorities, without disrupting the primary role. The Institute conducts trials, commissioning and evaluation of new survey equipment as directed from time to time. The institute is the primary institution for advising the Indian Hydrographic department and the Training Command on Hydrographic training related issues and curriculum.

The Institute has always since its inception at Goa, been regularly visited by very high level Dignitaries, delegations from both India and Foreign Nations. Every Training Delegation and IHO dignitary makes it a point to visit the Institute at Mormugao, during their visit to India. The Institute and Goa have also been the preferred location for hosting of various International and National level Conferences, Meetings and Workshops. Various Seminars/ Conferences related to Hydrography at the National Level and the NIOHC, IRCC, and CBSC meetings as part of IHO at the International level, Training workshops under the IOC and MSIS ambit, including the first Oceanographers and Hydrographers Conference under the Colombo Security Conclave from 15-17 Nov 2022, have been held at Goa.

Training Facilities: - The Institute possesses all the requisite training facilities to carry out its mandate which includes:-

  • Hydrographic Equipment. Hydrography being a very practical intensive science requires training on all available equipment. The Institute proudly boasts of having all state of art hydrographic equipment and latest hydrographic software suite. Every effort is made to ensure the trainees are provided requisite hands on exposure on data collection, recording and processing aspects of each of these equipment. This ensures that the trainees are able to quickly adapt to the field requirements ashore and afloat on reporting to their unit post completion of training.

  • In addition, training on AUV and ROV is imparted onboard survey vessel INS Makar and trainees are also given real time exposure onboard surveying ships visiting Mormugao harbor.

  • Survey Software Training Centre. A state of the art Hydrographic Survey Software Training Centre for all vital hydrographic softwares in data acquisition, processing, QA/QC and Fairtracing production.

  • Survey Motor Boats. The Institute has three survey boats fitted with state of the art survey equipment for undertaking afloat practical of all courses and also to meet operational survey requirements. In addition, one BER boat has been retained in the premises in the Institute as demo boat to provide training, touch down drill and demonstration of various afloat hydrographic activities during all monsoon.

  • Apart from these classroom training facilities, library, internet kiosk, computer bay, gymnasium and sports infrastructure are available in the Institute for utilisation by the staff and trainees.

The Institute has been proudly training Indian Naval officers and sailors along with International trainees from countries around the world, as of 2022, the Institute has trained 858 trainees from 41 friendly foreign countries which includes 496 trainees in officer courses and 362 trainees in sailor courses.

 

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