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COMPANY FOCUS: RAVENSBOURNE COLLEGE OF DESIGN & COMMUNICATION
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What is the nature of your business?
At Ravensbourne College we specialize in training and education for the broadcast and digital media industry.
How long has your company been in operation?
The Enterprise & Innovation Centre has had a Short Course Unit for ten years. The unit has developed into a strong team who deliver courses to industry professionals and freelancers.
How many people are employed there?
The college has around 100 full-time staff and a similar number of part-time and freelance lecturers with a great deal of experience in the industry.
What has been your biggest job so far?
Developing and managing a portfolio of around 50 courses and making sure they reflect the needs of our target audience. We will be introducing a number of HD related courses over the next few months covering engineering, 5.1 sound and the Panasonic 900 DVCPRO camera, and this has meant going out and listening to the needs, present and future, of freelancers and companies.
How has the nature of your business changed over the years?
As the pressure to deliver has risen and deadlines become shorter, freelancers and independent companies’ training needs have changed. Courses lasting four or five days have almost disappeared, being replaced by tightly focused courses lasting one or two days and held at weekends. Training budgets have also been cut and clients are much more cost conscious than before. To respond to this we try to schedule a number of courses each weekend – this helps us to keep costs to a minimum by spreading them across all the courses and helps our clients to multi-skill efficiently and cost effectively.
What makes your company different from the competition? How do you maintain your edge?
The flexibility and range of courses we offer. We aim to be proactive and regularly develop bespoke courses for clients. Our portfolio covers programme development, production management, camera, lighting and sound operations, single and multi-camera directing, editing, SFX and H&S. We are also an Apple Accredited Training Centre.
Due to our contacts within the industry we receive feedback and analysis on future trends in the broadcast sector – this helps us to anticipate new training needs and to cater for their development.
In your time trading, what have been the most significant industry changes you have witnessed?
The convergence of the digital media industry has led to the need for staff to be multi-skilled. This trend has been accelerated by the changes (normally reductions) in training budgets.
As far as your business is concerned, what do you consider to be the most significant industry developments of the past 12-24 months?
The growing need for, and implementation of, shorter more focused courses delivered at weekends that support cross and multi-skilling.
On a five-year plan for the company, what would be the most important headings?
Range of courses
Relevance of courses
Improving access to latest equipment for training courses
Controlling course costs
Quality of resources
What does technology mean to the business?
Our business is technology led and we need to be aware of, and respond to, new trends and emerging technologies. This means constantly reviewing our courses, our equipment, our teaching resources and methods of delivery.
What is the single most important piece of advice you would offer to someone starting up in your line of business today?
Be realistic - you can’t meet everyone’s expectations and needs or offer every course. Don’t try and bluff clients onto courses that won’t deliver what they want. Be honest and refer people elsewhere; in the long run a reputation for reliability and honesty is profitable.
www.rave.ac.uk
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