THE University of Winchester has retained a prestigious accreditation for its music and sound production course following a report from two industry heavyweights.

The university’s BA (Hons) music and sound production programme has received renewed approval from the Joint Audio Media Education Support (JAMES), the leading professional body in this field.

JAMES represents a group of industry organisations which work to promote excellence in education. Its assessors are all industry professionals.

Fewer than 30 UK universities have JAMES accreditation, and it gives students access to specialist support and advice including summer schools.

The accreditation panel for Winchester's programme comprised two assessors with a star-studded list of production credits. Gary Bromham is a composer, artist, music producer and mix engineer and Phil Bodger is a producer and mixer. Between them they have worked with, among others, Bjork, George Michael, Sheryl Crow, Brian Ferry, Brian Eno, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Robbie Williams and Elvis Costello.

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They commended the Winchester course in their report, saying it gave students “a well-rounded grounding in audio production, covering a variety of applications and clearly succeeds in that endeavour. With the skills that they acquire, students should be well placed to find and embark on careers in a range of professional environments.”

Their report also stated: “The course is very much focused on supporting creativity and comes from an arts-based perspective, along with a foundation in critical evaluation and analysis. Marking and feedback is both timely and appropriate. The students were very complimentary about the clear directive on ways to improve on their submissions.”

Music and sound production programme leader at the university, Niall Thomas, welcomed the report: “The accreditation shows that we are achieving our aim of focussing equally on creativity and employability. We want our students to use the skills they learn here to further their careers in production and/or performance.” 

Students on Winchester's BA (Hons) music and sound production programme have the use of a state-of-the-art recording studio built by Veale Associates. Recent graduates have gone on to work for music producer Mike Stock, of Stock Aitken and Waterman fame, live production for Midge Ure, and electronic music giants Roland.