Uxbridge College has become the first further education institute in the country to invest in Escape Studios' Maya courseware. The college, a Beacon establishment and one of the top ten performing colleges in London, is incorporating units of the Escape course into its own teaching, ensuring its students benefit from the expertise of Escape's world class tutors.
Whilst other further and higher education institutes have paid for their students to access Escape's online courses in their spare time, Uxbridge College is the first in the UK to structure the teaching of over a third of its weekly contact time around Escape's courseware. Awarded an "Outstanding" report by Ofsted, the college has a reputation for offering the best teaching methods and facilities possible to its students, and this new partnership supports Uxbridge College's position as a centre of excellence.
Zulfiqar Choudhry, course developer at Uxbridge College said "We're always looking to ensure our students are receiving the most innovative, high quality education and training. Partnering with Escape Studios allows us to tailor our courses to maximise the opportunities available to graduating students and means that our courses are always up to date. Uxbridge College is working to close the gap between vocational training and the academic education system, and our partnership with Escape Studios is a fundamental step towards achieving this."
Demonstrating Uxbridge College's approach to securing the best teaching methods, Mr. Choudhry has already completed an Escape course in Maya, and plans to enrol in the VFX course when it begins in November. "Computer graphics isn't like teaching English, or Maths, where the basic components are the same whether you're learning it now or ten years ago. What I learnt as a student and what I'm teaching now are worlds apart, and to maintain our high education standards we need to stay at the forefront of what the industry needs. We would be doing our students a disservice if we didn't strive to be as close to the cutting edge as possible."
Mark Cass, Commercial Director at Escape Studios said "One of the key issues with vocational education is relevance and usability. Uxbridge College is completely committed to providing its students with the right skill set to enter their chosen industry, not just an education. That's what makes this partnership so attractive to both Escape Studios and Uxbridge College, that our two philosophies are so closely aligned when it comes to the goal of these courses. The end result is not graduation, or the completion of a module, it's when students take their skills and use them to secure future employment."
As a Beacon college, Uxbridge College not only educates its own students, but also works with other colleges and organisations to share its expertise. Beacon status is awarded by the Government's Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS).
Students on the BTEC National Diploma in Games Development and Higher National Diploma (HND) in Interactive Media will all be taught modules incorporating the Maya core bundle, whilst the latter course will also have the VFX bundle taught in its second year.
