Australia gives green light to naval shipbuilding college

A naval shipbuilding college will be established and managed by the Naval Shipbuilding Institute (NSI) in South Australia.

The joint venture between Kellogg Brown and Root and Huntington Ingalls Industries, NSI has been selected as the preferred tenderer to manage the college.

It will work with shipbuilders to understand their workforce requirements through the different stages of project construction and sustainment to enhance education and training skills of future employees.

Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne said the NSI team represents more than 200 years of commercial experience in naval shipbuilding education and skilling.

Mr Pyne said more than 25,000 personnel will be needed directly or indirectly for the AU$90 billion (US$70 billion) commitment to a shipbuilding program.

The naval shipbuilding workforce in Australia is likely to grow to 5,200 workers by the mid-2020s across diverse jobs.