Budding stars get full picture

Higher education landed a starring role in the British film industry this week with the launch of a network of academies to train everyone from set builders to movie moguls.

Skillset, the sector skills council for the film industry, announced the creation of seven academies run by universities and colleges across Britain. They will share more than £5 million in funding over two years.

The network includes the UK's first academy to focus on the business side of the industry, based at the Cass Business School, which is part of City University.

Cass will receive £1 million over the next two years from the UK Film Council and will offer the country's first MSc in business in film from September. It will also offer a part-time MSc in distribution, exhibition and marketing and, from next year, an MBA in the business of the film industry.

Chris Brady, associate dean of MBA programmes at Cass, said he was aiming for 30 students.

He said the courses would cover subjects such as distribution, marketing and supply chain, as well as "all the normal things that would go into an MSc or MBA, but tailored to the film industry."

Six other academies will receive £4.3 million in the next two years.

They are based at the Arts Institute Bournemouth and Bournemouth Media School; the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, and the Ealing Institute of Media/Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College; Napier University and Edinburgh College of Art; London Film School; the National Film and Television School; Glamorgan University and the International Film School Wales at University of Wales Newport.