MURMANSK, September 1. /TASS/. The Murmansk Arctic University will offer professional training programs for the Polar Code when the university's Coastal Training Center is ready, Acting Chancellor Maria Knyazeva told TASS.

The Polar Code is an international code for ships operating in the polar waters of the Arctic and Antarctic. The document is mandatory in compliance with the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). The Code covers the entire range of design, construction, equipment, operation, training, search and rescue, and environmental protection aspects related to vessels operating in the Arctic and Antarctic.

"Since we are getting a Coastal Training Center, we will expand the professional training programs to train students in compliance with the Polar Code. We will be able to do so, because we will have all necessary infrastructures," she said.

The Coastal Training Center, which is being built on the university's territory, has two buildings: a training complex for ship survivability, and a building with a deep-sea pool with modern simulators to train students for various emergency situations in the Arctic.

"We have developed a unique simulator related to the Polar Code - landing on an ice floe. This could have been done differently, but we've decided to do it in a way that no one else has done, namely, a drifting ice floe in a pool with waves of up to 1.5 meters, with generated wind. The conditions are most close to reality. We have already agreed with the factory that will this simulator for us," she added.

About campus and university

A world-class campus has been initiated by the Murmansk Region's Governor Andrey Chibis in compliance with an order from Russia's President Vladimir Putin. The construction continues under the Youth and Children national project. The due date is 2030. The Coastal Training Center is the campus' first facility in Murmansk.

The Murmansk Arctic University was created as a merger of two major universities in the Murmansk region.