Creative industry employers most value technical skills

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Survey results reveal Kiwi creative industry employers most value graduates with technical skills

6th October 2014

New Zealanders are world-renown for their resourcefulness and ingenuity and, according to a recently released Colmar Brunton employer claims survey, these are exactly the kinds of traits that Kiwi creative industry employers are looking for in prospective employees.

According to the Colmar Brunton report, which was released in July 2014, employers are placing substantial emphasis on employing graduates of creative industry degrees who are not only technically proficient but who are able to work collaborately in a team environment.

When asked about the top three skills that their respective companies look for when employing graduates, creative industry employers rated technical skills as the attribute that they most value. Employers rated Auckland-based tertiary institution Media Design School as the number one tertiary institute for supplying graduates with the technical skills necessary to be a valuable employee.

What’s more, Media Design School, which specialises in digital and visual creative technologies, ranked across the three top skill categories that companies operating within the creative industries said they were looking for when hiring graduates.

Media Design School also outperformed most other tertiary institutes across New Zealand in providing graduates that are better prepared to make valuable contributions in the workplace and all other institutes on offering real-world project experience.

Darryn Melrose, Chief Executive of Media Design School, says that he finds these results unsurprising given Media Design School’s continued emphasis on the teaching of industry standard skills and on providing a curriculum designed specifically for students by industry professionals.

“We align our qualifications to industry demand and provide an immersive hands-on learning environment that replicates a real-world creative industry workplace,” says Melrose.

“Our courses are taught by faculty that are experts in their respective industries. Our graduates leave Media Design School with a fundamental understanding of how the creative industry works and a readiness to take on whatever projects and challenges are given to them in the workplace.”

Media Design School’s emphasis on industry preparedness has meant that many graduates have gone on to secure jobs at leading design, game development, film, and animation studios across the globe.

ENDS

QUICK FACTS

When thinking specifically about the digital and creative roles within their company, 75% of employers ranked technical skills as one of the top three skills they look for when hiring recent graduates;

73% of employers look for the ability to collaborate in a team environment in recent graduates;

53% of employers rank graduates with a knowledge of software programs are one of their top three most desirable skills for a recent graduate they’d consider hiring;

49% of employers rank real-world project experience as one of their top three skill preferences.

ABOUT THIS RESEARCH

102 businesses within the creative industry that employ gradu¬ates were surveyed by Colmar Brunton in July 2014;

All respondents had to personally be responsible for, or have something to do with employing and/or managing graduates for their company;

Other tertiary insititutions included in the survey were AUT; Uni¬versity of Auckland; Unitec; Wellington Institute of Technology; University of Waikato and Yoobee School of Design.

ABOUT MEDIA DESIGN SCHOOL

Media Design School is New Zealand’s most-awarded private tertiary institution and distinguished by its close alignment to industry. The Auckland-based school offers specialist degrees for emerging creative industries including Bachelor of Art and Design (3D Animation and Visual Effects), Bachelor of Creative Technologies (Game Art), Bachelor of Software Engineering (Game Programming) and Bachelor of Media Design. A range of foundation diplomas and graduate qualifications are also available. Media Design School is part of Laureate International Universities, the world’s largest private university group with over 70 institutions in 29 countries, including dedicated design schools in San Diego, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA; Berlin and Hamburg, Germany; and Milan, Italy. For more information, visit www.mediadesignschool.com

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