City News

UCE Birmingham's new degree in Music Industries has welcomed its first intake of students.

The course was launched after staff at UCE Birmingham Institute of Art and Design identified a growing demand from the music industry for graduates with relevant skills. Degree leader Andrew Dubber said: "We have run courses for the music industry and there's a real demand for people who know how the business works, who understand the developments in digital music, and who can communicate with a range of media professionals, from music journalists to video makers, web designers, and radio programmers."

Indeed, research commissioned by the National Music Council in 2002 demonstrated the sheer size of the UK music sector: it employed around 125,000 people and generated more than £3.6bn for the economy.

The degree comes at the same time as the department's Head of Academic Studies Tim Wall has been awarded the title of Professor of Radio and Popular Music Studies in recognition of his record and reputation as a scholar and teacher. His well regarded book Studying Popular Music Culture was published in 2003.

Andrew Dubber sees this breadth of experience within the department as one of the unique selling points of the music industry degree. He added: 

"The course builds on the expertise of the staff in the department. We have lecturers who have managed and worked for record labels, launched music magazines and websites, and worked in music PR and radio. We also have a rich history of providing graduates who have worked in the music industry, so really this is a formalisation of something that's been taking place ever since we first began teaching media degrees twenty years ago. Because it's part of a media course it allows us to do things like Music Journalism, Music Online, Music Photography, Music Television, Music Radio, and Music PR - as well as learn about and become part of the diverse range of music industries here in the West Midlands."

Katie Diver is among students on the first year of the course. She said: "It's going to be really useful, especially because of all the contacts with the music industry." And first year student Matthew Hewitt said he chose the course because of its practical nature: "We get to start our own record label, manage a real band, put on a real gig - rather than just being told how to do those things."

For further information on the Media Industries degree, contact UCE Birmingham Choices on 0121 331 5595 or visit www.mediacourses.com.