IABM launches Training Academy
The IABM (International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers) has announced the launch of the IABM Training Academy (www.iabmacademy.org), an educational organisation dedicated to providing vocational training for engineers and technologists in broadcast and media technology. As yet though, sports and live production is not on the forthcoming slate.
The first courses are Broadcast and Media Technology – Understanding Your Industry and Audio and Video Fundamentals for Engineers, which will be offered in Reading, beginning June 22 and 28, respectively, and in Amsterdam beginning on Sept. 29 and Oct. 5. According to a statement, the academy will continue to roll out new courses held at sites worldwide on a quarterly basis and has already kicked off its offering with a free online course introducing participants to 3D and how it works for TV and the cinema.
More than 100 viewers registered for and took advantage of that course during its first week of availability at the IABM Training Academy website. “We’ve had a huge response,” said Roger Crumpton, director of education, employment, and training at the IABM. “ I’m surprised at the number of people who have done it and the feedback that we have had.”
“What we’ve decided to do was tackle the issue of training provision by making sure that there are good quality, internationally recognised, professionally-led training programmes that enable people to be trained at entry engineer and expert level, and we managed to persuade our board to finance a three year development programme,” he continues.
The choice of courses has been dictated by the regular surveys of its membership that the IABM undertakes, Crumpton saying that it is targeting ‘hot spots’ where the skills shortage is of most concern. “It’s not us cherry picking, it’s us trying to satisfy the most pressing demands from our member community,” he says.
And, as yet, sport and live production doesn’t figure in those demands.
“We’re not tackling live production per se, but we are tackling technologies that are important to that,” he says. “We have identified the first programmes we want to develop, and OB operational engineering isn’t one of them at the moment, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important and this will be revised as we move forward.”
Course cost for a two-day classroom based programme is roughly £800, and while the IABM will typically run the courses itself in Europe, it is in active discussion with delivery partners around the globe with a view of a global rollout from the autumn onwards.