From the horse s mou - what s needed to bridge the skills gap

From the horse's mouth - what's needed to bridge the skills gap 09 September 2014

Training

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It's a widely acknowledged fact in the broadcast and media space that a widening gap exists between the skills we have and the skills we need. This is brought into sharp focus with the convergence of broadcast and IT there is a wealth of expertise in the individual areas, but we're falling short as the two spheres overlap.

We recently conducted research into the skills shortage, polling organisations within the broadcast and media industry. One of the highlight findings was that 44% of respondents indicated that a certified technical broadcast qualification could help bridge the skills gap. Almost 75% recognised the need for technical broadcast training and a further 27% identified that IT convergence was the area where most upskilling was needed.

As an industry body with a dedicated training arm IABM Training Academy we receive a lot of feedback, queries and requests from our members regarding training; and this latest research underscores the need for more education in our industry.

The survey identified specific areas where additional knowledge was urgently required, including networking, workflow management, audio training, the use and benefits of IP-based solutions for media broadcasting, media management skills and multimedia skills.

To meet the needs of a dynamic industry, as well as our members' requirements, the IABM Training Academy is driven to develop and deliver courses that address the skills shortage. We recently introduced two new courses to our extensive programme Advanced Networking for Broadcast Engineers that follows the basics course that has been incredibly successful. The advanced course is largely practical and has been created to give broadcast engineers the confidence to work with streaming video over IP networks. The second course is Video Systems and Applications which caters to a wider audience of engineers in production, operators, technical support, engineering and IT. It also follows on from a ground level version, Broadcast Technology Workflows The Fundamentals, and was developed as a result of industry demand.

The academy, however, doesn't just focus on the technical side of things. In partnership with a well-established training provider, we have also introduced a number of soft-skills courses, including coaching, presenting and negotiating, using accelerated learning techniques.

It is true that the broadcast and media industry is evolving rapidly and that that the convergence with IT is spurring this change. It is also true that we're facing a skills shortage as a result, but through collaboration between companies, industry bodies and training providers, the gap doesn't need to grow into a gulf.

LINK:	http://www.theiabm.org/news/news_detail.from-the-horse-s-mouth-what-s-...
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