Identifying TV industry skills gaps and training needs in Wales

University of South Wales and Screen Alliance Wales

The Strategic Insight Programme (SIP) allowed education and industry partners to establish strategic relationships through short term placements, aimed at encouraging enhanced cross-sector collaboration to develop new partnerships and insights that address industry skills-gaps and strengthen graduate talent pipelines.  To read more about SIP please visit here.

About the Placement

The placement involved shadowing and learning from/contributing to Screen Alliance Wales (SAW) activity, including training and education activity. This included attending college visits, SAW classroom activity, working with trainees and exploring the Screen Alliance Wales portal – which is a recruitment tool for the industry.

The University of South Wales worked closely with the Education and Training Officer at SAW and had the opportunity to talk to industry professionals and experience first-hand the skills and training needs of the industry, with the focus on the current high-end drama productions based in Cardiff.

Outcomes

• SAW and USW have enhanced their relationship and partnership, specifically in relation to identification of training needs and skills gaps; providing further opportunities to work together to ensure a rich future talent pipeline for the sector in Wales.
• The placement has helped develop the relationship between SAW and the USW Schools and Colleges team to open up a dialogue and identify opportunities to work together and with FE and Careers Wales, to promote screen industry careers at school and college level.
• A live Q&A event with a panel of USW graduates and Allison Dowzell (Managing Director, Screen Alliance Wales) was hosted to openly discuss graduate experiences of gaining work placements through Screen Alliance Wales and their different experiences within the industry.
• Finally, the collaboration has led to a schedule of successive events being planned which will bring together USW, Screen Alliance Wales, FE colleges, Careers Wales and Creative Wales, with a focus on discussing industry skills gaps and proactive planning as to how each organisation can play their part in addressing these challenges.

“It has given both SAW and USW an insight into how our relationship works at ground level and has strengthened our already existing partnership. It has also allowed SAW and our work to reach a wider audience. We now have a formal partnership in place and I hope our relationship can continue to grow and allow both USW and SAW to focus more on skills gaps in the Film and TV Industry moving forward.” – Sarah O’Keefe, Screen Alliance Wales.

To find out more about the latest for industry to engage with expertise at University of South Wales, contact our Exchange team on uswexchange@southwales.ac.uk or view our webpage.