University News Last updated 14 February 2012
Aspiring broadcast freelancers are being offered the opportunity to develop their knowledge, skills and career strategies at a two day course being held at Birmingham City University.
‘You’re Hired Professional Practice for Broadcast Media Freelancers’ run by Birmingham School of Media and NTI Birmingham, is aimed at graduates who are currently, or who are planning to be freelancers in the broadcast media industry, and who are looking to professionalise their career. Delegates from the course are also awarded 20 academic credits towards a Masters degree, as part of Skillset’s UK-wide Build Your Own MA.
Course leader Caroline Officer said: “We are delighted to be offering this course. It evolved after a long discussion with fellow professionals to see what would make people stand out in this competitive industry. We feel we’ve got a strong framework and a core content that will allow people to achieve this.”
The course covers skills such as how to network and make the most out of contacts, career planning, skill evaluation and how to adapt to different environments in a fast, ever-changing industry. In doing so, this course seeks to provide lifelong industry skills and set students up for a promising career.
The course is taught by Hilary Jones and Alison Grade who will be joined by industry guest speakers to share their experiences and advise students.
Caroline adds: “I’ll be responsible for finding guest speakers that are suited to the modules. If we are going to talk about industry structure, then we will get in a senior commissioning editor to talk about how they commission programmes.”
“We’ll also get some really good freelancers in to talk to students about their stellar careers and how they network and get the next job. Students will get to know a range of people including legal experts and media accountants who they can continue to have a working relationship with after the module.”
The short course runs for two days on 26th and 27th April 2012, at NTI Birmingham, followed by two months of online distance learning. The course costs £960 and also provides 20 academic credits towards a MA in Professional Media Practice (180 credits).
Hailed as ‘the future of professional development and postgraduate study’ by Caroline Officer, the course, aims to fit around those in full time work with only two full time, face-to-face days in the classroom. The rest of the module is left as directed study where students complete online learning, tasks and assessments in their own time.
- For details on how to apply and more information on the course, visit www.bcu.ac.uk/byoma.