Sea Captain

The medical eligibility of a person applying for a Bachelor of Maritime degree programme is validated according to the legislation of the maritime industry. The acceptance of a student into a degree programme of maritime studies is conditional until student presents a valid certificate of Medical Fitness Examinations of Seafarers. The instructions of delivering the certificate to SAMK will be provided for new students after the application process has ended.

To be able to serve at sea seafarers shall meet the medical fitness standards required by their duties on board. The requirement for medical certificate ensures that seafarers are medically fit to serve at sea without endangering his/her or other crew members’ maritime safety. The purpose of the medical examination is also to ensure that the persons unfit to the maritime industry are not pursuing a profession not suitable for them.

The Ministry of Social Affairs (224/2013) and The Act on Medical Fitness Examinations of Seafarers Health ((1171/2010) define the medical criteria for the maritime industry. Health requirements consists of

• physical and mental fitness for the intended duties and confirmation that the person does not have an injury, a functional impairment or a disease that impairs or manifestly obstructs work in the industry
• eyesight, hearing, and color vision
• an illness which is likely to be aggravated by service at sea or to endanger the health of others on board or put maritime safety at risk.

In addition to normal duties a person applying into the maritime industry must be able to take care of exceptional situations onboard (fire, rescue). The normality of limbs, the ability to move on stairs and to do semi-heavy work are basic requirements. The person must not have an illness or a condition that might worsen due to staying awake, unregular work rhythm or physical or mental stress or which to be controlled requires regular medicine. The national requirements are based on ILO’s Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) and International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW).

The health requirements not fulfilled may prevent maritime studies. These medical reasons can be for example neural disorders, failures in balance, epilepsy, diabetes, severe mental disorders (depression, bipolar disorder) disorders in hearing or speaking or understanding the speech, illnesses or disorders affecting to the ability to function normal, misuse of intoxicants, severe allergy or asthma, or contagious disease.

Cancellation of study right

Seafaring programmes are governed by section 33 of the Polytechnics Act (932/2014), which states that a student’s study right may be cancelled in cases where studies involve requirements concerning customer or transport safety and the student has been found to be unsuitable for the studies because

• the student has repeatedly or seriously endangered the health or safety of another person during his or her studies, thus proving to be obviously unsuitable to perform practical assignments or work placements as part of his or her studies;
• it is obvious that the student, in terms of his or her health status and functional capacity, does not meet the admissions criteria;
• during the application phase, the student has concealed information on a decision on cancellation of study entitlement that could have prevented his or her admission as a student.