Currently celebrating its 10th Anniversary Year, Video Symphony, a TV & Film College and Career Center with the tagline "The Institute of Entertainment Post Production," has been awarded National Accreditation by Washington, D.C.'s ACCET (The Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training.) The announcement was made today by Mike Flanagan, Founder and President of Video Symphony.
Video Symphony's National Accreditation is the culmination of an 18-month process. Video Symphony's COO Andy Webb, and VP/Controller Paula Thomas spearheaded the process, working closely with ACCET to provide the extensive data necessary. VS had to show compliance with over 30 standards of performance tests, in the broad categories of instructors, curricula, satisfactory academic progress and completion of students, student placement, facility and equipment, management, and financial stability.
Mr. Flanagan said, "We are delighted to have achieved this milestone. This Accreditation provides us with a 'stamp of approval' by ACCET, signifying that we comply with the institutional standards of performance that are considered essential to a high-quality student education. The biggest challenge we needed to overcome was the structure of our courses and programs. We were founded as a corporate training, industry-certified, short-term training center, with courses that were two-three days long. Originally, students came in, took the classes, and were done. There were no ongoing standards of performance such as admissions requirements, testing, grading, completion time, and placement rate due to the nature of that short-term training."
He adds, "However, since accrediting organizations like ACCET are primarily reviewing career and technical colleges that instruct students for months and years, we needed to change our internal procedures, since short-term classes do not lend themselves to the performance monitoring needed for accreditation. It took us many months and a lot of customized database modifications to conform the short-term classes with a long-term comprehensive program of instruction."
According to ACCET, the four major components of the accreditation process are 1) the development and implementation of institutional and program goals and objectives that focus upon a continuing education mission; 2) a comprehensive, analytic self-evaluation review and report by the institutions; 3) an on-site professional peer review to evaluate the adequacy and accuracy of the self-evaluation, and 4) an independent review and decision by the Accrediting Commission as an assessment of the institution's commitment and compliance with ACCET standards, policies, and procedures.
In related news, Video Symphony has announced that a number of recent graduates who attended various video editing, audio editing, and 3D/FX classes, have begun working in top Entertainment and Broadcast Industry production positions. These people include:
Video Editing Students:
Jay Mappala, Assistant Editor, NBC
Michael Noble, Assistant Editor, MTV
Dan Morita, Assistant Editor, CNN
Chris Ryder, Assistant Editor, FOX
Linda Rzeznik Attias, Assistant Editor, UPN
Matt Sniegoski, Assistant Editor, Animal Planet
Audio Editing Student:
Steve Schartz, Audio Editor, FOX TV
3D/Visual Effects Students:
Briana Hamilton, 3D/FX Digital Artist, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and The Return of the King -- Now working at Dreamworks Studios
John Cooper, Technical Director, Commercials Division, Rhythm & Hues
About ACCET
Based in Washington, D.C., ACCET was founded in 1974, for the purpose of improving continuing education and training, and has been officially recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, since 1978, as a "reliable authority" as to the quality of education and training provided by the institutions we accredit. In 1998, ACCET became the only recognized accrediting agency to be certified as an ISO 9001-Quality Management System, under the international standards established by the International Organization for Standardization, and continues to hold that unique status.
Accreditation serves the interests of companies, agencies, and the public through the establishment of standards, policies and procedures in conjunction with an objective third-party professional evaluation designed to identify and inspire sound education and training practices. When such a process is matched by an institution's commitment to high standards and accountability, a partnership for quality becomes reality.
About Video Symphony
Video Symphony is respected as one of America's leading Educational Centers for Film, TV, and DVD. Located in the Media District of Burbank, California, near major studios and production facilities, Video Symphony is an authorized training center for Avid, Apple, DigiDesign, Sonic Solutions, Adobe, Alias, and NewTek. The center provides comprehensive, professional-level instruction in editing and effects for feature films, TV, video and DVD.
Video Symphony's CareerLaunch Programs prepare students for employment success in entertainment post production. CareerLaunch students choose to "major" in one of four courses of study: Video Editing, Audio Editing, 3D Animation/Visual Effects, and DVD Production.
Hundreds of Video Symphony students and program graduates have worked in paid positions at entertainment, post-production and broadcasting companies, including ABC, CBS, DirecTV, Digital Domain, Disney Animation, E! Entertainment Television, FOX, Motion Picture Editors' Guild, MTV, NBC, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Sony Pictures Imageworks, UPN, VH1, Warner Bros., and Universal Pictures Animation.
Video Symphony is located at 731 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA, 91505. The phone is 818/557-7200, and the web address is:
www.videosymphony.com
