Australia develops new certification program

The Australian section of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has brought together an industrywide steering committee to create a process that will address a shortage of trained media technologists in Australia. The steering committee is composed of representatives from leading Australian broadcasters and industry leaders that will champion an industry initiative under the name MITC (Media Industry Technologist Certification). The purpose of MITC is to develop a certification process that will address the skill requirements for media technologists.

This committee is tasked with the creation of a voluntary, industry-driven certification scheme, which will meet the following goals:

• Support and drive professional development for engineers, technicians and para-technical staff, collectively known as media technologists;
• Provide a portable professional recognition process that supports the trend to support greater employment mobility;
• Define a spectrum of required knowledge, skill and behavioral attributes for people employed in media technologist roles;
• Define training outcomes and expectations that lead to those roles;
• Create visibility for the size and scope of training needs, and give training providers a sized and targeted market.

The MITC initiative will be launched at this year's SMPTE07 Australia Conference and Exhibition in Sydney, July 17-20.
For more information, visit www.mitc.tv and www.smpte.com.au.