IABM To Develop New Advanced Courses

The International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers (IABM) is expanding upon the success of its specialist broadcast engineering and manufacturing courses by developing four new advanced courses to be introduced in this year's curriculum.
More than 560 people have attended the IABM training courses since the academy was launched in 2011, gaining valuable knowledge and skills that are essential in the rapidly changing global media business.
The academy currently has a portfolio of seven core classroom courses covering the fundamentals of broadcast engineering, all created in response to the specific needs of the sector.
The portfolio of courses, based on guidance from key people in the industry, includes everything from the introductory Understanding Your Industry, to specialised technical courses such as Broadcast Technology Workflows and Network Essentials for Broadcast Engineers.
The most recent addition is a course on Understanding File Formats, designed to provide a thorough understanding of current video and audio file formats plus their associated metadata and workflows.
The last two years has seen the Academy deliver a number of successful training modules both in the UK and in a variety of locations around the world, from South Africa to Singapore, and Germany to the Republic of Ireland.
The IABM Training Academy is currently developing four additional new advanced courses set to run in 2014, the details of which will be announced next month. There are also a number of overseas courses in the pipeline, with dates scheduled for training in Toronto and several under development for the Asia Pacific region.
Steve Warner, IABM Training Academy Manager, said: "The courses were created to address the massive skills shortage in the broadcast manufacturing sector and broadcast engineering in general. There are several factors that have contributed to the shortage, a significant percentage of broadcast engineers are within ten years of retirement and the work force is an ageing population.
"Also, many of the big players within the industry have reduced their facility to train apprentices and there are fewer universities offering true broadcast engineering degrees.
"There is a strong demand within the industry, which is why we'll be introducing this next tranche of advanced courses. These not only provide engineers and technologists with valuable technical skills training, but also offer administrative, managerial and executive staff training on the role that technology plays in the broadcast industry.
"We are very proud to be able to deliver training where it is most needed, and the contribution this makes to the future development of the industry."
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