New Course to Create Industry-Ready Live Events Professionals

The University of South Wales partners with a Cardiff company to ensure students hit the ground running in their careers.

A new degree in Sound, Lighting, and Live Event Technology at the University of South Wales (USW) will put employability at the heart of its curriculum to ensure that students can hit the ground running in their careers.

USW partners with company to provide industry expertise

USW has partnered with Cardiff-based company Stage Sound Services (SSS) to deliver the course — a large-scale supplier of technology to West End productions, international and touring theatre, corporate, and live events. USW and SSS are embarking on a strategic partnership to enhance the course with industry expertise and prioritise student employability.

The course team have also worked with production companies, industry professionals, and broadcasters to develop an innovative degree that will set students up for a career in live events.

Course leader, Rob Locke, said: “At USW we have been delivering courses that are well-respected in the industry for many years, and this has been a great opportunity to take that experience and launch a course in a faculty that has many complementary awards such as music and drama. We’ve effectively taken everything that we know works well and developed it with industry to ensure the new course is fully relevant and up to date.”

“We’re very proud of our links with industry and really appreciate all the support we enjoy from production companies and manufacturers. The partnership with SSS is a great opportunity and we’re looking forward to further building our links with them.”

How SSS will support USW

The partnership will see SSS support USW with course delivery, in the form of equipment supply, guest sessions, and projects, as well as promotion within the industry. A number of USW graduates are currently employed by the company and many more have undertaken placements there.

Ashley Dyer, Head of Operations at SSS, added: “As a growing business, we’re very keen to support institutions by having input in the development of future graduates. The opportunity to partner with USW is a great privilege and we look forward to helping students progress into successful careers.”

USW students already reaping benefits of partnership

The first cohort of the new course have already enjoyed a visit to the SSS headquarters, a trip to live music venue Porters in Cardiff, and a backstage tour of BBC Cymru Wales.

USW is also jointly hosting Sŵn Industry Sessions, a programme of innovation, technology and practical support to help build and develop the music industry in Wales, with Clwb Ifor Bach, at Tramshed Tech on Saturday, October 21.

Supported by Cardiff Council and the Cardiff Music Board, these sessions will see a line-up of experts, artists, and creatives share their unique insights from the annual Sŵn music festival.