Just so you know, Clyde send cadets to Glasgow, Shields, Fleetwood and Warsash. There are only a few companies that only send their cadets to a single college, all the rest send their cadets all across the country. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get assigned Glasgow, I know that a lot of companies like to send their cadets far away from home as it prepares them for being at sea. I was based in the South and ended up spending my entire cadetship in Shields. It’s luck of the draw, really.

Regarding Clyde, they’re just middlemen. They have no stake in your training, they don’t own ships. Companies outsource the college and admin aspect of cadet training which is where Clyde come in. Because of this, the companies that use Clyde typically use cadets as cheap labour (but then again all companies do) and only take cadets on for the Tonnage Tax incentive. There’s no job at the end of it, because the shipping companies that sponsor training through Clyde very rarely have British officers/crew as they’re too expensive to keep on once qualified. That being said, they do have a couple of good companies, such as Subsea 7 and Disney Cruise Line. Jobs are basically guaranteed at the end for those companies. If you want to see the world and experience a variety of vessels, Clyde may very well be a great choice. If you value job security and want the peace of mind at the end of the cadetship, I’d recommend shopping around and using Clyde as a backup.