NextGen Skills Academy Celebrates Successful Launch of Brand New Level 3 Diploma

NextGen Skills Academy Celebrates Successful Launch of Brand New Level 3 Diploma

LONDON, September 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

    NextGen Skills Academy's first qualification in Games, Animation and VFX Skills being

                                 taught in colleges now 

    Just one year after announcing the launch of NextGen Skills Academy, Ed Vaizey, the
Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, today visited Uxbridge College to see
NextGen's brand new course in action.

         (Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150924/270525 )

    NextGen Skills Academy is a government and industry-invested initiative offering young
people new pathways into a variety of digital creative sectors, whilst at the same time
addressing specific skills shortages that have been identified by employers in the games,
animation and VFX industries.  Today Ed Vaizey met the first students enrolled on the
Level 3 Extended Diploma in Games, Animation and VFX Skills, a two-year course that is
comparable to three A' levels and is being taught in four colleges across England now.

    Minister for Culture Ed Vaizey said, "NextGen Skills Academy has done a fantastic job
working with employers to deliver a course that will equip students with the knowledge,
skills and confidence to forge a career in the creative industries. The Academy will play
an important role in providing a pipeline of highly skilled talent into animation, video
game and VFX businesses across the nation, helping to cement our position as a world
leader in these fields."

    For September 2016, NextGen Skills Academy is planning to have a further 16 colleges
offering the Diploma. "All the colleges who are running the courses from September 2015
have full classes so it's crucial that we recruit more colleges to bring this opportunity
to an even broader range of students across the country," said Gina Jackson, Managing
Director of NextGen Skills Academy. "We exceeded our recruitment target by more than 50%
this year, which is evidence that young people want this course, and we know employers
want to develop more future talent so we'll continue to bring more colleges on board.
We'll also be growing our portfolio of products this year by launching a range of taster
sessions and short courses for 13-18 year olds who want to explore some simple game
creation or VFX or animation work before signing up to the Level 3 course."

       
         
        Amanda Slayton-Joslin 
        HonchoPR  
        Tel: +44(0)7774-601059 
        Skype: honcho.amanda 

     

    Photo:
    http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150924/270525

Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150924/270525
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150924/270525
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
NextGen Skills Academy