Media boom

In an economic environment where companies are tightening their belts and laying off employees, the creative media industry is set to experience a worldwide boom, says Marco Bettelli, international business development director at the SAE group. Speaking at a recent creative media roundtable, he said this can only mean good things for students studying in these fields such as those at the Dubai-based SAE Institute, which is among 50 campuses worldwide.

Entertainment education

"At a time when companies are shrinking and going down to the bare bones SAE Institute is expanding and developing, which is proof that in difficult economic times people tend to revert back to investing in things like education," said Bettelli.

He explained that when unemployment rises, people go back to re-educating themselves, updating their skills or staying in education longer. The institute, he added, has seen a surge in students for its degree programmes compared to its shorter diploma or certificate ones, with a waiting list for many courses.

"People are wanting to stay in school longer to get a higher qualification than getting in and out quickly. They are more interested in getting that higher quality education, which is converted to jobs," he said.

Industry changes

Bettelli revealed that almost 90 per cent of SAE graduates have found positions in the creative media industry and demand is still strong. However, the industry is set to change since there will be a higher demand for entertainment products, especially interactive ones.

"The media industry and entertainment industry tend to boom in times of economic difficulty because people have less disposable income and stay home. They go to movies and tune out from reality and prefer to watch some action or comedy film than something serious."

Gaming, too, will continue to grow. The average game player has gone from the mid-twenties age group to mid-thirties and the average video game player is about 35 years old.

"People won't be travelling as much, they won't be going on holiday as much, they'll be staying at home, watching TV, playing games, socialising, visiting networking websites and using open source software." What will suffer are smaller, more independent productions that need funding from banks and film bodies. "The gut feeling is that they will retract their investments, especially for the up and coming and indie films, which usually dwell on topical issues. People don't want to hear about it – they want to zone out into a world of their own."

Curriculum changes

As the SAE group is involved in production, equipment, education and technology they know what kind of skills are required by the industry, said Bettelli.

"One of the hardest things about educating people in media is that it changes so rapidly. If we were still teaching what we taught 10 years ago we'd be out of business. We know exactly what people in the studios need today and by having that we are able to keep abreast with change pretty quickly and ensure our programmes are in line with the times."

While audio engineering and filmmaking are the most popular courses, multimedia topics such as social networking and programming are also in demand.

The institute believes print media is in sharp decline and the demand for interactive media will replace it, which is why emphasis on the former is being decreased.

To improve student skills in multimedia, SAE Institute plans to give new film students video recorders in addition to Apple laptops. This would help students who are interested in journalism as the industry is moving towards "backpack journalism" where one person goes around shooting pictures, compiling copy and conducting interviews. The institute plans to offer a photojournalism programme in the future.

Career options

Bettelli said SAE students go on to work in a variety of industries – live sound, post-production, broadcast with many of them setting up their own businesses.

"Actually when I opened the school in 2005, of the first batch of 70 or 80 students, half of them said they were enrolling because they wanted to open their own companies."

"There are jobs out there. There are hundreds of television stations in the Arab world and what they're looking for is content. We provide students with the tools to tell stories."