Sounds good for jobs

Southampton Solent University is on course to beef up its presence in the student recruitment market with a raft of music, media and broadcasting programmes that will require an infusion of new academics in the coming months.

The university aims to fill six lecturer/senior lecturer posts in television and video production, screenwriting, print journalism, popular music, and cultural theory and fashion to help get the new courses running.

Keith Johnson, Southampton Solent's pro vice-chancellor for external development, said the jobs represented investment in areas where the university was already strong and expected to grow.

The move follows investment of about £500,000 in the past year to upgrade music studios, create two new digital radio facilities, and set up a new centre for professional development in broadcasting and multimedia production in collaboration with ITV Meridian.

Dr Johnson said: "All this is geared to the fact that the student market is changing. These are areas of strength and development for us, particularly in music. We believe we have a niche, as we are the only institution in the region providing popular music courses."

The university aimed to build greater levels of interdisciplinary work between its faculties of technology and media, arts and society, he said.

This is part of a general move to fine-tune the university's provision, which could mean courses in other areas being discontinued.