BBC Academy Lauches

Written by Mike Watkins

Monday, 14 December 2009 13:13

BBC Logo - ATV Network Photo The BBC today officially launched the BBC Academy which will be a dedicated centre of excellence for training in journalism, production, leadership and technology. The corporation has also unveiled a number of partnership agreements to share specialist training and resources with other broadcasters, industry organisations and the public across the UK.

The new initiatives are part of a strategy to develop and give wider access to the BBC's training resources and skills to support the wider UK media industry. Part of the BBC Academy will see the BBC College of Journalism's website freely available in the UK. The site – which has been running for three years inside the BBC – contains master classes from leading BBC journalists such as Evan Davis, John Humphrys, Robert Peston, Jenni Murray and Jeremy Vine. It covers craft skills and ethics and values and there are hundreds of video and audio examples alongside interactive modules where you can test yourself. The site will be available by subscription outside the UK.

The beeb is teaming up with Channel 4 in order to found the Diversity 2010 programme, which aims to increase understanding of “diversity” in the workplace though, a series of workshops.

ITV are also part of the new venture. The commercial arm has had much praise for its Signpost service for deaf viewers and they, with the BBC are now looking to improve employability in the media industry for people with disabilities. By sharing best practice and enabling two-way placements, ITV will further develop its Enabling Talent disability programme and the BBC its award-winning Extend Scheme.

Speaking at the launch, BBC Academy Director, Anne Morrison says: "The quality of the BBC's training across journalism, production, technical and leadership skills is rightly renowned across the world. These partnerships will open up our training resources to the industry in new ways as never before. We'll look for further opportunities to do this wherever we can.

"Our aim is to create a world-class organisation that benefits all BBC staff and, through partnerships, helps support the wider industry. These major new agreements mark a major step towards our long-term ambitions."

Established in April 2009, the BBC Academy brings together all the BBC's training and development across four areas – Journalism, Production, Leadership and Technology. The Academy focuses on providing high-quality training to all BBC staff and building external relationships to extend the BBC's training resources to the wider industry.

The BBC's Charter Agreement includes a responsibility to train the broadcasting industry.