Bauer Media invests in UK talent with Bauer Academy launch
16 April 2014 - Press release
- Bauer Academy to provide best-in-class multimedia training for the UK-wide media industry
- Bauer Academy to offer courses, funded projects and corporate services
- Pixie Lott is the ambassador for the Bauer Academy’s talent programme
- Media Training Centre of Excellence to launch in partnership with the University of Salford
Bauer Media has today announced the UK-wide launch of Bauer Academy, a ground-breaking initiative that fuses together business, media and education.
Following on from the launch of the award-winning Scottish Media Academy in 2012, the Bauer Academy provides a variety of training and development, with a team of academics and business experts from leading colleges and universities, Bauer Media staff, plus media experts from a range of esteemed media organisations. The Scottish Media Academy will now move under the umbrella of the national academy.
The Bauer Academy will run a range of multimedia training courses for individuals looking to develop their media knowledge and skills, focusing on a wide range of subjects, including radio production, creative writing, television presenting, video production, journalism and social media.
A talent programme will run alongside these courses, identifying talented individuals and investing further in their development. Funded places on additional courses will be offered to those on the talent programme, after which a selection of participants will have a personalised 12 week learning package developed for their use, as well as being assigned a talent mentor from the group of senior media executives working with the programme.
Pixie Lott is the ambassador for the talent programme, which has already benefited dozens of young people through the Scottish Media Academy. Through this talent pipeline, several students are already on air at some of the country’s leading commercial stations, including Claire Kinnaird at Forth One and Ryan Borthwick at Radio Borders.
Lott commented: “I am delighted to be the ambassador for the Bauer Academy’s talent programme. It gives young people a remarkable opportunity for development inside the industry with training that builds confidence and creativity. It’s been a pleasure to meet the students – there’s a real buzz around how they are learning.”
The Bauer Academy will also offer unique solutions for businesses via its corporate department, with bespoke programmes developed to cover everything from digital strategy sessions, to team building and interview coaching. Executive retreats are available for groups of senior executives looking to understand media trends in relation to their business. An annual Media Innovation Retreat sees executives from a range of organisations come together with some of the country’s leading media professionals and academics for cross sector learning.
Collaborative projects also offer support to not-for-profit organisations, working together to create unique initiatives and training for a range of organisations, including government departments, local authorities and charities. Examples include:
- Working alongside arts organisation TiPP to deliver a unique project for young people under the supervision of Youth Offending Teams across Greater Manchester
- A partnership with Glasgow City Council to deliver a customised journalism course for young people and teacher training events
- Cool FM successfully partnering with schools across Northern Ireland by using a media bus to let pupils use state of the art equipment to create commercials, news articles and other media releases, supporting a range of campaigns from cyber bullying to road safety
The Bauer Academy will initially be based at Key 103 in Manchester and Forth One in Edinburgh, and will deliver training from Bauer Media owned properties across the UK, with further bases planned for London and Belfast. Bauer Academy Director, Courtnay McLeod MA (Hons), PG Dip, FHEA, is an experienced academic and also headed up the Scottish Media Academy.
In addition, Bauer Media has announced the following two major partnerships:
- In partnership with the University of Salford the Bauer Academy is launching a Media Training Centre of Excellence in the summer of 2014 in the Quays, Greater Manchester. This will provide a range of accredited training opportunities for local, national and international businesses. The centre will be based in a state of the art campus at MediaCityUK with additional training facilities at Bauer Media premises across the UK.
- In partnership with Edinburgh Napier University’s Centre for Media and Culture, pedagogic research will be carried out in the summer of 2014 to explore how the Bauer Academy model can enhance, innovate and strengthen links between industry and education; embedding student learning, enhancing experience and developing essential employability skills
Graham Bryce, Group Managing Director, Place, Northern England and Scotland, Bauer Radio, commented, “I am truly excited to launch the Bauer Academy. It is completely unique in its approach, combining academic excellence with practical vocational expertise, which will make it stand out from other media academies in the UK. The success and feedback from our launch in Scotland has been exceptional, bringing new talent into the business and using our expertise to support our clients’ marketing communications using new and innovative techniques.”
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