CCI INTEGRAL PART OF WORLD'S FIRST MEDIA ACADEMY NETWORK
The world's first Media Academy Network was launched in the UK on Thursday 13th Dec - a national footprint of colleges and universities to work with industry in developing a new wave of talent to create the 'Facebook', 'You Tube' and ‘Bebo’ style concepts and media content of the future.
The Skillset Media Academy Network was launched in London by Culture Minister James Purnell and Skills Minister David Lammy, and leading figures from academia and the media.
The network has been devised by Skillset - the UK Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industries. The Network is made up of 17 Academies, drawing together creative education partnerships from 43 colleges and universities across the UK.
The institutions in the network are already centres of excellence in interactive media and include the CREATIVE LOOP (www.creativeloop.org) as the only Scottlish academy.
This is the first attempt anywhere in the world to 'hardwire' collaborative partnerships between the media industries and academia into the fabric of national education infrastructure.
The network will see world-leading academics, content creators, computer games developers, software programmers and creative artists working with industry to develop talent, creativity and business ideas to exploit new technologies and opportunities in broadcast television and interactive media.
The industry engagement will be high-level.
Greg Dyke, former Director General of the BBC, Skillset patron and chair of the Media Academy approvals panel, said:
"We live in a very competitive world where one good idea can see a person move from mum's garage to global media magnate virtually overnight. The problem for the UK, though, is that a lot of people all over the world are having good ideas in television and interactive media! Good ideas are simply not enough – they have to be world-beating! This is where education and industry collaboration can play a crucial role.
"Media organisations are all about ideas and doing the unthinkable - going left when the herd veers right. You’re looking for people who do things very differently. You go into a college or university in the Skillset Media Academy Network and you find people who are working with industry and doing remarkable things that aren’t predictable, and that’s what you’re looking for all the time.
"We are talking about the next wave of talent, the people who are going to come up with the next 'Facebook' or 'You Tube' and brilliant interactive entertainment concepts. It makes absolute sense for media companies to have partnerships and collaborations with the best academics and the best talent in a network that has benchmarked standards of excellence."
James Purnell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said:
“The collaboration between Skillset, Industry and Higher and Further Education must be applauded for its strategic thinking, insight and commitment in establishing the Skillset Media Academy Network. The partnership will guarantee a continuous flow of talent, creativity and business ideas to fully exploit the opportunities of the digital age.”
David Lammy MP, Minister for Skills, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said:
"The Skillset Media Academy Network is the realisation of a new tradition of partnership between Industry and Higher Education. I applaud the initiative taken by Skillset in building the key relationships that are needed to ensure the UK remains at the forefront of global competitiveness.”
