Training in Year 2:

Students who complete all of the necessary pre-modular courses during stage 1 are then able to choose to progress forward onto the HSE Professional Scuba course which is incorpoated into an academic module during stage 2.

Once they have selected to take this module, students will undertake a brief interview with a member of Dive Centre staff, to provide information on the course and commitment levels required, and also to allow us to begin to get to know the students. After the student interviews an aptitude swimming test follows: 



The final part of the induction into the course is for students to visit the Diving Diseases Research Centre and successfully complete a HSE approved diving medical examination.

If you've never dived before, don't worry. At the beginning of the course the students are taken through all of the basic skills and drills that they will need as divers (not applicable to students from the Biology Dept). These will include setting up the scuba equipment correctly, buoyancy techniques, self rescue drills and how to assist other divers in difficulty. These initial sessions will start off in a warm water swimming pool so that the basic skills are learnt as easily and as comfortably as possible. Once mastered in the pool, students will move on to try these skills out in our fresh water quarry and then on to the sea.

Students will attend a series of 2hr lectures, providing them with all of the theoretical knowledge that they will need for the course. These lectures will cover information ranging from basic diving theory, equipment, diving techniques, recompression chamber, safety, underwater voice communications, nil visibility diving, decompression and UK legislation before completing 4 examinations at the end of the course.

Having now learnt to dive and be able to look after themselves and others underwater students will progress on to performing tasks that are oriented to the professional diving environment as well as tailored more specifically to their individual degree. These tasks vary but a selection follows: biological and engineering surveys, searches; underwater photography; using lifting bags; using hand tools underwater; constructing pipework assembly.

Throughout the course students will learn to use a variety of scuba equipment including diving using full face mask systems, underwater communications and diving on their own attached to the surface with a lifeline. Students will also dive in a variety of conditions including drifting in heavy tide, low visibility conditions, around wrecks and even at night.

Towards the end of the module, when students have learnt all of the required skills and gained sufficient experience, students will attend a week long intensive assessment period with the dive centre. This period provides students with invaluable experience of working with a team of students from different groups, where they are set tasks and challenges to complete as a unit. This week also allows students to see what it is like to dive and work continuously for a whole week, and although it is hard work it is also immensely fun and rewarding.

At the end of this week the students are always very tired but also very adamant about celebrating the fact that they have finished the Professional Scuba Diving course.