Media qualifications have received much cynicism from the industry, but the number of students who flock to pursue them continues to grow. This week TV lecturer Royston Mayoh who nominated his former student and winner of the Runner of the Year Awards, Jade Gilbert, weighs up their real value.
How wonderful to hear that, Jade Gilbert, won the 2010 ProductionBase Runner of the Year award, and my personal congratulations to her for that, but how strange that in the very same week I am asked to write about my experiences as a college lecturer in TV production, what my view is about the value of these ‘media’ qualifications.
It is no secret that a degree in ‘media’ is viewed by both the academic world and the TV world with a certain amount of scepticism. Although it would be quite unfair to make a sweeping generalisation I think that, in the main, most would agree that the academic world regard it as a ‘soft’ subject, whilst the TV world regard it as having very little real value.