“By working with Avid in class, students develop solid and marketable skills they can use immediately in the workplace,” explains Beth Agnew, Chair, School of Media at Seneca. “This gives them an advantage over any competitors, and they can produce better quality work for their employers.”
Seneca is one of the leading destinations for students who are planning a career in the media industry. Students are drawn to the institution in Toronto, Canada, because it combines a strong academic foundation with hands-on training on industry-leading media technology. At Seneca’s School of Media, students prepare for careers in a variety of media-related industries, including movie and television production and digital media.
Seneca has been using Avid Media Composer nonlinear editing systems and Pro Tools digital audio workstations for the past decade, initially with a few editing suites connected to Avid centralized storage. However, Seneca wanted to provide students with broader access to the Avid technology, outside of the classroom. Plus, in the rapidly changing media industry, keeping technology up-to-date is a constant challenge.
The Avid Media Campus program will allow us to plan where we will be in the next five years. Avid’s commitment to hardware and software licensing models, support, and training allows us to establish an upgrade pathway.
Beth Agnew, Chair, Seneca School of Media
That’s why Seneca recently expanded its partnership with Avid to become an Avid Media Campus site, standardizing on Avid’s platform-based workflows across its programs. The Avid Media Campus program ensures students have access to the same state-of-the art creative tools they will use in their professional careers, while providing Seneca with a predictable budgeting process.
“We are committed to implementing innovative technologies and services in order to offer real-world learning experiences to our students. By establishing Seneca as the most advanced institution in Canada, providing cutting-edge media technology, we have taken a major step in fulfilling our commitment,” states Radha Krishnan, Associate Vice-President of Information Services at Seneca.
Adrian Klymenko, Senior Media Specialist and Avid Certified Support Representative (ACSR), is responsible for deploying and supporting the Avid solution throughout Seneca. As Klymenko explains, “Seneca’s existing media production infrastructure was more than five years old. The legacy technology did not enable students to develop the requisite skills to compete in a rapidly-changing industry; plus, it was expensive to maintain and support.”
“We needed to take advantage of the interoperability of the Avid suite of products,” continues Klymenko. “But, one of the challenges we faced was dealing with a series of silos, including classrooms, editing suites, television studios and centralized storage. Each silo had unique limitations and was at a different stage of maturity in its upgrade path.”
Avid Media Campus keeps Seneca and its students on the leading edge of technology
Seneca partnered with Avid to define a five-year Avid Media Campus agreement that provides flexible volume licensing and a range of industry solutions tailored to the institution’s specific needs. Avid channel partner Deltech Communications is supporting the implementation of Avid’s industry-leading tools including audio and video editing, asset management, storage, graphics, music notation and publishing, and content ingest and playout.
Seneca selected Avid’s Maestro Graphics family for on-screen graphics creation and management. Maestro Graphics will enable students to create state-of-the-art, real-time broadcast graphics and high-end virtual environments. To facilitate group collaboration, a core component of Seneca’s media training; Seneca will implement Avid NEXIS and MediaCentral | Production Management.
Seneca will be able to provide students with access to technology outside classrooms and laboratories, facilitating remote collaboration and increasing the quality of content creation. “The Avid Media Campus program will allow us to plan where we will be in the next five years,” notes Klymenko. “Avid’s commitment to hardware and software licensing models, support and training allows us to establish an upgrade pathway.”
“Our faculty are familiar with Avid and appreciate the value of Avid products in the workplace,” adds Agnew. “It makes sense for us to be closely connected to an industry supplier that has the confidence of our faculty and our industry employers. It will give us a competitive advantage.”
By working with Avid in class, students develop solid and marketable skills they can use immediately in the workplace. This gives them an advantage over any competitors, and they can produce better quality work for their employers.
Beth Agnew, Chair, Seneca School of Media
The first Avid Certification program in Canada
As part of the Avid Media Campus partnership, Seneca also will become an official Avid Learning Partner (ALP), enabling the institution to provide Avid Certification programs for its staff and students. Avid will supply Seneca with official course materials that prepare students for proficiency in media creation, production and distribution. The ALP program also enables Seneca to administer Avid Certification exams.
“We want to be the first in Canada to provide Avid Certification,” states Hassan Assiri, Director of Infrastructure Services. “Previously, anyone in Canada seeking Avid Certification, including our staff, had to travel to the U.S. for training. Now, Seneca will train and certify industry professionals, instructors and students on the latest version of Avid tools.”
Connecting education to industry
With the Avid Media Campus agreement Seneca also will participate in Avid’s Connecting Education to Industry (CETI) program, linking Seneca students with local and international media companies who use Avid in their workflows. “Avid is one of the major tools that everybody in the industry uses—these are the companies that actually hire students—it gives us insight to see what their needs are,” notes Assiri.
“We hope for an increase in enrollment as applicants choose our program because of its currency in the industry,” concludes Agnew. “We also believe our graduates will be more marketable, thus improving the graduate satisfaction rate and offering more exciting opportunities for our graduates. Avid is giving us a competitive advantage.”