The London Film School accredited as 'centre of excellence' by Skillset

The London Film School will be part of the UK’s Screen Academy Network.
The LFS has been identified by Skillset as one of a small number of institutions which are 'centres of excellence' and offer the highest quality training and skills for the film industry. As well as endorsement, the initiative comes with a funding package which will enable the LFS to offer a substantial number of new bursaries to UK students, launch new courses and instigate a pan-European exchange programme.
The Skillset partnership will enable the London Film School to offer 20 MA Filmmaking bursaries for UK students. It addresses LFS’s key goal of ensuring good access for the current generation of talented UK graduate students so that they can participate and benefit from the school's special culture and its very full learning programme, as Mike Leigh, Horace Ove, Roger Pratt, Bill Douglas and many other UK filmmakers did before them. The MA Filmmaking degree is based on the conviction that students benefit from a professional working base in all technical departments and craft skills and so it trains 'filmmakers' whose knowledge will cover a range of film jobs.
In addition the LFS will be setting up a Craft Extension programme from January 2006, addressing the need for graduating students to manage their way between film school and the professional world. Courses will be offered in Cinematography, Editing, Sound and Production Design. Students will extend their professional experience and deepen their understanding of specialist practices, through a year long programme of tutorials, master classes and a work placement.
In autumn 2005 the London Film School will be launching the UK European Film Education Exchange in association with Skillset. LFS will establish and administer a “hub” to link the Skillset Screen Academy Network and the Film Business Academy to the emerging Europe-wide network. The EFEE will encourage and facilitate the movement of graduate students and professionals seeking to broaden their skills around a network of key schools within the European Union.
Ben Gibson, director of the London Film School said: “Screen Academy recognition and Skillset’s funding come together at a crucial time for the London Film School. LFS has been reorganised in the last five years and now wants to build consistently on its achievements over 50 years as an international graduate school, keeping educational methods that really work and updating our high level technical training to keep pace with the industry. The experience of learning a craft, for the student, doesn't divide education off from training, and neither do we. Skillset has shown pragmatism and flexibility around this combination, responding to the quality and commitment of a diverse group of learning environments. The SSA Network is good news for LFS and for the UK industry.”
(GB)