New Delhi, May 24: Manning a ship or a submarine is no more a general science graduate’s cup of tea.

Driven by the need for technological knowledge, the Indian Navy has enhanced the basic educational qualification of its officers from BSc to BTech and has started imparting the four-year course at the Indian Naval Academy (INA) at Ezhimala in Kerala’s Kannur district.

Around 300 cadets, including 50 coast guard trainees, constitute the first batch to complete the BTech course from the INA this year. They will participate in the passing-out parade tomorrow.

Earlier, cadets passing out of the Pune-based National Defence Academy (NDA) with BSc degrees were inducted as naval officers.

Now the INA has started four-year BTech courses in two streams of engineering — like electronic and communication engineering, and mechanical engineering.

“The issue is that executive officers have to be technologically sound to operate on any platform. Any problem in a ship or submarine has to be solved by the team of these officers,” the navy’s human resources in-charge, Rear Admiral Satish N. Ghormade, told a news conference.

He said present-day naval operations had much to do with cutting-edge technology. The assets, whether a ship or submarine or aircraft, need highly equipped personnel for management.

The BTech course was launched in 2009 at the INA, which has advanced facilities in infrastructure like laboratories, swimming pools and playing grounds.

The course has been designed by the academics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), to which the INA is affiliated. The course is recognised by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), the technical education regulator. JNU awards the degrees.

Ghormade said around 1,050 trainees were currently enrolled in the BTech course at INA.

He said the navy was currently facing a 20 per cent shortage of officers. It has 8,700 officers against the sanctioned 10,600.

The sanctioned strength of sailors and civilian manpower in navy stands at 50,000 and 43,000 respectively. The navy has prepared a manpower prospective plan for 15 years under which the strength of officers, sailors and civilian manpower will be increased to 13,700, 85,000 and 75,000 respectively, Ghormade said.

The navy has also prepared a maritime capability plan for next 15 years, but Ghormade did not divulge details.

He cited the example of the US Navy, which has made engineering courses mandatory for all officers so that they can carry out their responsibilities better.