Accreditation by other organisations

As well as providing its own accreditation to courses, Creative Skillset recognises five other accrediting bodies:

• The Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC)
• JAMES (Joint Audio Media Education Services)
• The National Council for Drama Training (NCDT)
• The British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society (BKSTS)
• The Periodicals Training Council (PTC)

Each one shares the main objective of creating standards of excellence in professional training across all skill areas and creative media sectors. Each promotes a model of best practice mutually agreed between industry and education and training providers.

A healthy relationship and continuous liaison between these accreditation bodies ensure a full coverage of all sectors within the Creative Media Industries. Skill areas addressed by the accreditation schemes of BJTC, JAMES, NCDT, BKSTS and PTC complement the coverage of Creative Skillset's Approval and Accreditation.

Find out more about each of the accreditation bodies below:

Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC)

The Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) is a partnership of all the main employers in the UK broadcast industry. One of its functions is to accredit courses relevant to a career in Broadcast Journalism.

Its accreditation standards are based on direct practical experience and all accredited courses aim to be valued by teachers and students, employers and employees, and relevant and responsive to the operational demands of the broadcasting industry. The BJTC is also heavily involved in helping set vocational education policy in the fast changing world of convergent journalism and the skills required by employers in the future.

JAMES (Joint Audio Media Education Services)

JAMES (Joint Audio Media Education Services) is the educational support arm of the Association of Professional Recording Services (APRS), Music Producers Guild (MPG) and the UK Screen Association. These three organisations are the principle industry associations representing recording and audio post-production studios, sound and recording engineers, record producers, manufacturers and companies providing services to the audio, music, media, film and television screen industries.

The JAMES accreditation system is a rigorous and supportive process, which assesses the quality and suitability of a course to meet industry needs. JAMES also provides curriculum advice, master-classes, seminars, conferences, an educator's forum and careers guidance. Continuing Professional Development for teachers is also part of the JAMES educational support system.

The National Council for Drama Training (NCDT)

The National Council for Drama Training (NCDT) is a partnership of employers in the theatre, broadcast and media industry, employee representatives and training providers

One of its major tasks is to accredit full time vocational drama courses in the UK. These include courses in acting, musical theatre, stage management and Technical Theatre training courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

NCDT accreditation aims to give students confidence that the courses they choose are recognised by the drama profession as being relevant to the purposes of their employment; and that the profession has confidence that the people they employ who have completed these courses have the skills and attributes required for the continuing health of the industry.

The British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society (BKSTS)

The British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society (BKSTS) serves the film, television and new media industries. As well as meetings, presentations, seminars and conferences, the BKSTS also organises training courses, workshops and special events. BKSTS individual members and BKSTS sponsor organisations operate across a diverse range of technical and creative sections of the industry.

The BKSTS accreditation scheme covers full-time and short courses. Accredited courses are vocational and aimed at the craft and technical sections of the media industries or students who wish to work in these areas. The accreditation criteria against which a course is judged reflect the requirement to learn and develop skills applicable to working in the media industry. Graduates of an accredited course should be immediately employable within the media industry.

The Periodicals Training Council (PTC)

The Periodicals Training Council (PTC) is the lead body for best practice in training and development and people management for the magazine and business media industry. PTC enhances the performance of people working in these areas by improving the quality and availability of training, acting as a focus for guidance on employment best practice and encouraging new talent into the sector through the provision of careers information.

PTC accredits a number of pre-entry journalism courses. For a course to become accredited, the training provider must prove it works closely with the industry and meets PTC's standards. Accredited status is designed to recognise and ‘kite-mark’ high quality journalism training, involve the industry in the training of journalists and allow tutors and students to benefit from the services provided by PTC.