STUDENTS from an African country ravaged by civil war for nearly a quarter of a century have graduated from a Glasgow college.

Some 40 students from Angola came to the city last year to complete courses preparing them for a career in the maritime industry.

The project, which is run by City of Glasgow College in partnership with some of the world's largest multi-national companies, aims to develop skilled Angolans to work in the shipping industry, which is helping to extract and export the country's vast offshore oil reserves.

The Angolans joined 200 other nautical students from City of Glasgow College for its summer graduation ceremony at Glasgow Cathedral.

Paul Little, the college principal, said: "I am delighted to congratulate our Angolan students and confer their internationally recognised qualifications.

"We are committed to widening access to higher education for students not only in Glasgow, Scotland and the UK, but across the globe and these students are graduating from our partnership with Sonangol Shipping of Angola and Stena Africa at our awarding winning Riverside campus."

Mark Heater, President of Sonagol Marine Services, added: "It is with great pleasure that Sonangol shipping is graduating cadets from one of the finest maritime training colleges in the world.

"This training will provide our cadets with the best preparation as they embark upon their maritime careers within Sonangol shipping and we are grateful for this opportunity to partner with City of Glasgow College."

Under the partnership, staff from the college helped create a new £110 million training facility near the village of Sumbe, some 350km south from the Angola capital of Luanda.

Glasgow staff also developed the curriculum and taught the first batch of students at the Centro de Formacao Maritima de Angola, which trains students for a number of careers in the industry from ship's captains to engineers, navigators and deck hands.