| iymcs Portal |
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Click on image for access. A secured server with log-in access, dedicated to iymcs Members, Students & Candidates. Content includes: Course Management Docs, Student & Candidate Docs, Course Books & Materials, Operational & Safety Notices, Marketing Materials and Member's Accounts. |
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Low annual Member fees.Sign-up to the iymcs newsletter
Welcome to our Society, the International Yacht Marine Certification Society ( iymcs ).
Society Annual Report 2025
During 2024, the Society experienced a steady increase in the number of iymcs Courses being run in the Society's Member schools: the feedback from
them and their students, continues to be good. General acceptance of the iymcs Certifications has been positive due
to their high level of; detail, security and compliance: the certification presentation is in keeping with Flag Administration requirements.
On a regular basis, we receive certification enquiries from; Flag Administrations, marine insurance underwriters, industry professionals and crew:
that we deal with promptly through our 7 day a week technical support service.
Our custom-built Quality Management System (QMS) has proven to be robust and is able to adapt to the needs of our Society Member Schools and their operations.
Every year, the Society's operations are audited by the British Standards Institute (BSI) of the Netherlands whose auditing standards are considered one of
the highest.
We are also required to undertake internal audits of our procedures by an appointed independent ISO qualified auditor. All this ensures a high standard of
operations, an essential quality standards assurance for our Society Member Schools and their students. It is an important element for gaining certification
acceptance by the Flag Administrations and industry professionals such as the marine insurance underwriters and the pleasure yacht charter fleet operators.
Uniquely, of all the yacht training organisations, that our Society probably is one of the very few, if not the only one, that has been ISO 9001:2015 Certified for operations and for the issuing of certifications.
With regard to the Flag Administrations,the Society is currently liaising on a regular basis with 15 flag administrations, plus 3 flag administrations of the Red Ensign Group (REG). The majority of the these 18 Flags have indicated that, in principal, they have no objections to the iymcs Certificates of Competency (CoCs) or Certificates of Proficiency (CoPs) and will consider them for acceptance on a case-by-case basis.
The Society can report that during the last 3 years, the iymcs recreational certifications have been widely used to charter a pleasure yacht on a bareboat basis, in the Mediterranean sea and northern Europe waters with no problems to date. There are numerous professional crew working on the superyachts under 500GT that are holding iymcs professional certifications; this is in adherence to the requirements of the manning scale of the vessel for watchkeeping and deck duties. The acceptance of the iymcs Certifications on a case-by-case basis is demonstrating that they are standing-up to scrutiny.
During the year, the Society has been undertaking essential work in completing the course packages for each iymcs course that consists of the; iymcs Course Book, digital teaching presentations, course teaching notes, home study test/exercises, written exams and practical workshop/simulator/onboard assessment or examination.
At the time of writing, we have 15 signed-up Members of our Society, 12 of these being long-established entities with good track records. Additionally, we have a further 6 schools joining as Society Members during this year 2025.
Since 2020, the Society has run numerous teaching courses, namely the iymcs Instructor Trainer Course (IMO Model course 6.09) and the iymcs Instructor Profiency Course. Additionally, we have a formal crossover procedure for previously qualified instructors or teachers that can demonstrate teaching experience. As of January 2025, we have 26 iymcs instructors in the Society, many of these are senior experienced instructors.
The Society is pleased to report that the process has been completed of the realignment of the iymcs professional Certifications of Competency (CoC) to the STCW convention 1978/2010 amend. under the watchkeeping and sea service requirements, together with the introduction of a selection of ancilliary IMO model courses to support the iymcs CoCs.
Society Progression & Industry Projection for 2025:
The Society will continue to focus on liaising with Flag Administrations, and continue to seek either recognition, accreditation or acceptance of iymcs Courses and Certifications. The further development of the course and certification design and configuration process is required for the Society's QMS.
The writing and publication of iymcs Course Books, teaching notes and digital presentations remain a high priority for 2025. The second stage of development of our Extranet Platform is due to be completed in the 1st quarter of the year and will feature a certified document verification service. The introduction of professional simulators to our Member schools is currently under development.
About our Society
We operate in three main maritime sectors:
Recreational Yachting
Professional Yachting
Commercial Workboats
We have taken a fresh approach to course design and content, as well as the Certifications themselves. We cannot 're-invent the wheel' as the saying goes, and there are IMO conventions that we have to respect: But in saying this, we believe that we have managed to create a set of courses and certifications that are unique in their aspect as well as their principals.
Our core development base is centred around a custom-made Quality Management System (QMS) which has been ISO 9001:2015 certified by the British Standards Institute (BSI) of the Netherlands. This QMS and its compliance are important elements in obtaining recognition and approvals from Maritime Administrations & Industry Bodies alike. Unusually for such an organisation, all our courses & certifications, as well as our operations, will be under these standards. The principal reason is for us to maintain consistency in quality right across the board.
A unique aspect of our Society is that all the Nautical Schools and Maritime Colleges running iymcs courses are 'Members' and are actively involved in the development of our Society. The Members are in effect part of the Society. We are a profit-making organisation though the majority of our annual profits are re-invested into the Society and its Members, as declared in our Society Statutes and within our QMS.
Thank you for taking the time to visit our webpage, we hope that, if you are not already, you become a Society Member and on behalf of our team, we look forward to working together with you.
Kindest regards
Roger G. Harrison
Managing Director
| How to become a Member |
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We have a simple application process. Please could you fill-in the attached form. (To fill out the form, you will need a PDF editor to do this, some of these can be found here...) |
How much are the Member annual fees?For Member Categories I, II, III & IV: 693,25 Euros + VAT @21.0%. |
What is included in the annual fees?
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Other Member fees?Other fees are listed in our "Members General Fees List" (ref 8.5.1). Some key points:
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| How to become an iymcs Instructor or Teacher |
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Our Society differentiates between a teacher and an instructor: Both have their qualtities. The ability to teach or instruct others is a skill in itself, and some would even go onto say a calling. A person can be an expert in a subject but not neccessarily have the abilities to deliver it in class. No matter your experience or level of knowledge, the Society welcomes everybody who is keen to instruct or teach. We have two iymcs instructor training courses: iymcs Instructor Proficiency Course iymcs Instructor Trainer (IMO Model course 6.09) For the qualified instructors or teachers that can demonstrate teaching experience, we have a formal crossover procedure that upon a successful instructor application, an iymcs Instructor Authorisation Certificate will be issued. All the iymcs instructors & teachers are assigned to a particular Member School. We have a simple application process. Please could you fill-in the attached form. To fill out the form, you will need a PDF editor to do this, some of these can be found here...) |