The value of Media Studies Degrees

Dr Bex Lewis posted an extract from A Times Educational Supplement article about Media Degrees and I have posted the following as a comment...

Don't get me started on Media degrees. well you have, I do't have a problem with a Media Studies degree "as an object of academic study" as long as graduates don't consider, or get sold the idea, this will prepare them for a career in the media industry because it won't. 

The industry is fed up of people leaving uni with a media degree and expecting to enter the industry at a higher level or even at an entry level, at which point you have to ask what was the point of a 3 year degree course especially from next year! My experience as an industry practitioner and sometime involved in training at both apprenticeship and degree levels, as well as talking to key staff involved in finding new talent, is that very few media degrees actually prepare students to work in the industry without significant additional training. 

The industry has got so fed up, it has put its money where its mouth is and set up a range of apprenticeship schemes so it can train and prepare students with the skills needed.  

You talk about transferable skills and the skills you list are transferable IF they were delivered and developed properly in university, but experience leads me to believe they rarely are. 

We find these practical skills are rarely delivered in a real world and current way, rather they are dealt with in a generalised unrealistic way and students believe they are being prepared for a career in the media industry and I am afraid a lot of universities are letting their students down badly. 

For example, I delivered a Media Induction Course for a dozen cohorts and the first 8 or 9 cohorts were largely graduates with a variety of media degrees and I have lost count of the number of times they would tell me that they learnt more in that 9 day course about working in the media industry than they did throughout their 3 year degree course. 

A Media Degree shouldn't be a soft option. To prepare students for the relatively small number of opportunities in the media industry, it should be a tough course learning a range of practical skills in the first and second years and specialising into a specific area in the 3rd year. Media is a very practical and hands on industry. This needs universities to employ a broad range of associate lecturers who remain active practitioners in the industry so they can deliver current and future practice. The industry is changing so fast that someone who has left the industry even 3 years ago will be out of date.

BBC anounce applications for new apprenticeship scheme

BBC North has announced its new apprenticeship scheme. From their web site...

BBC North is delighted to launch our new entry-level apprenticeships. If you’re aged 16 and over, live in the Greater Manchester area and have left formal education and not gained A Levels or equivalent qualifications, then our new Apprenticeships provide you with the ideal route of entry into the BBC.

Running for 12-18 months, Apprenticeships at the BBC combine college learning with full time paid jobs. You’ll find all that you need to apply on this webpage, so check through all the information on how to apply below, and head to the right side of the page to read the job descriptions for exciting new apprenticeships at BBC Learning, BBC Marketing & Audiences, BBC Technology Operations, BBC Head Quarters North and BBC Children's (roles at BBC Children's are only open to those who are 18 years of age and over.)

You will be based at our new location at Salford Quays. When you've completed your apprenticeship, you'll not only have had valuable work experience to help you get started in your career, but you'll also have a chance to apply for a permanent position at the BBC.

This will be a specific job in a specific department and will be day release to college. It is being run in conjunction with Manchester College and will be overseen by David Longworth who is now working for the BBC. Also please note the salary scales £8K per annum for 16-17 yrs old, £11.1K per annum for 18 + yrs old which works out at around £154 per week for 16 to 17 year ols and £212 for 18 plus. 

The closing dates for applications for all posts is on 8th July at midnight.

More info, including job specs here

Is Media Studies at University a good idea?

This is a question I am regularly asked and my answer is "don't!".

Let me explain, in my opinion most media degrees are all about theory and don't actually prepare you for a career in the media. I have some evidence to back this claim up. Firstly, I have delivered and then improved the technical units of a City & Guilds Media Induction course which is described as.....

"This qualification is for new entrants to audio visual industries, both freelance and employed, or those who are looking for their first role in the field. You don't need any previous experience and you don't need to be working already. "

We delivered this 9 times in a year and for at least the first 6 or 7 most of the students were media graduates who routinely told me that "they had learnt more about the media industry in 10 days than there entire 3 year degree course".

Secondly, I am the NVQ assessor for the Advanced Media Apprenticeship scheme that has been piloted here in Manchester as is now in its 4th year. It is now being rolled out nationally. It was the industry itself that have driven this programme forward because they haven't been getting enough new entrants into the industry with the correct knowledge and experience.

These apprentices get practical and relevant knowledge based study at college as well as real work based placements in a wide range of industry placements for up to 12 weeks at a time where they undertake real jobs and so get experience, and build up a reputation in the industry.

The apprentices go on and get real jobs in our industry because they have a proven track record and an qualification respected by the industry because they have been involved in forming and developing it. That said I think there are a few careers paths where a degree is still useful like Journalism for example. But remember most people get work in this industry by being able to prove then can do the job and being known by key people.

Here is a video completed from star to finish by a team of the apprentices...

CIPD gets it wrong on interns’ pay

The TUC "Rights for Interns" web site has posted about a new Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) report on interns rights and pay. The TUC site says....

A CIPD report out this week calls for a new National Minimum Wage ‘training rate’ of £2.50 to be applied to all internships.  In response, the TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber commented “Although this proposal is well-meaning, in practice it would represent a  significant watering-down of the current rights for most interns. The vast majority already have the right to be paid the minimum wage in full, and the problem has been in getting employers to face up to their responsibilities.  What is really needed is simply better awareness and enforcement of the existing law.”

CIPD assert that interns and apprentices share considerable similarities, warranting a common wage entitlement.  But we would question this.  Apprenticeships are governed by regulations and vocational frameworks that guarantee a certain level of quality (or at least consistency) and lead to a recognised qualification.  Internships do not, they don’t even exist in the law and their design and delivery are governed exclusively by the whim of the employer. 

The Low Pay Commission introduced a training rate in the early days of the National Minimum Wage.  It was not widely used but when it was it was often abused, with employers taking people on a reduced rate but offering little in terms of training.  Under these proposals, we see potential for similar sharp practices that a voluntary code of practice would fail to address.  Its telling to note that the LPC shelved the training rate some time ago.

Go to the Rights for Interns site for more details.

According to the People Management site....

The suggested rate of £2.50 is the same as a newly announced government rate for apprentices. This was announced at the same time as increases in the national minimum wage. The adult minimum will increase by 2 per cent in October to £5.93 an hour. Workers aged between 18 and 20 will receive a 9p increase to £4.92, while those aged 16 or 17 will get £3.64 – a rise of 7p.

It seems like one step forward and two steps back with a reduction in payment. I agree with the TUC that the alignment of internships and apprenticeships is not a valid one and the start, or even continuation, of a slippery slope.


Folks, another reason to join a union to have someone who can protect and fight for your interests.

Education

The news this morning has covered the potential revision of university education as the costs have apperntly increased and are placng too higher burden on the state finances.

I am getting increasing frustrated about the pressure for more and more people to have to go to university to get a degree to stand any chance of getting a job.

Why do we have to do this. There has always been a proportion of our young people for whom an acedemic univeristy education is not the right solution and yet they feel presurised in going so as to get a good job.

I didn't go to university, instead I served an apprenticeship at Marconi Communications Systems Ltd in Chelmsford, Essex because my dad (who was in a position to know) said it was the best scheme in the country.

I am involved with the Advanced Media Apprenticeship, which is in its 3rd year up here in Manchester, and enabling young people who wouldn't have had the opportunity to undertake a proper 18 month block release apprenticeship and are getting real jobs in this sector. However, although there is a push by government to resurrect the apprenticeship scheme following its decimation in the last recession  it doesn't yet seem to be having a positve affect on young people's expectations.

I would also add this to the UK's lack of respect for engineering and science. It was reported on BBC Breakfast this morning that we are only filling 50% of the science posts from home grown talent. The guy from Dyson was at pains to point out that if we want to get out of the current mess then we will need to start to innovate again and return to the place where we punched above our weight.

So we need to make engineering and science a respectable career as we do with other professions like law, teaching etc. In Germany they respect their engineers and in my business they have a phrase for someone who works in sound as a Tonmeister.

So come on folk respect and value your engineers and scientists and lets not force everyone to have to get a degree to get a job. Let us train people for the jobs they are going to do. Surely it is a "no brainer" as industry will get people you can do the job rather than people who can talk about it.