FutureLearn and the National Film and Television School join forces to offer free online courses
Social learning platform FutureLearn and the National Film and Television School (NFTS) are partnering to create free online courses for the Creative industries. The NFTS – whose alumni have credits on the seven time Oscar-winner Gravity, Emmy-winning Netflix series House of Cards, BAFTA-winning Broadchurch, and box office hits Skyfall and the Harry Potter films – will join the growing number of world-renowned institutions offering career-enhancing courses on FutureLearn.com.
The new courses from the NFTS will provide vital, practical knowledge across a range of specialisms in film and television for people looking to enter and develop existing careers in those sectors. Courses will launch on FutureLearn.com from next year and are available free of charge to anyone around the world interested in taking them.
The new partnership was unveiled at the Technology Innovators Forum in China, which brings together leading creative and innovative industries from around the world. The collaboration reinforces FutureLearn’s distinctive approach to delivering online learning, which draws on the expertise of great storytelling institutions to create compelling courses for learners around the world.
As the latest addition to the FutureLearn partnership, the NFTS joins 27UK and international universities and three cultural bodies – The British Council, British Library and British Museum – delivering free online learning on the platform. As well as developing its own courses, the NFTS will bring its expertise in storytelling to rest of the FutureLearn partnership, to further strengthen the course production process.
FutureLearn CEO Simon Nelson said: “I’m delighted to welcome the National Film and Television School, a global centre of creative excellence. There is a natural synergy between our two organisations, sharing, as we do, a desire to tell compelling stories through visual and digital mediums. At FutureLearn we’re also looking to grow the portfolio of free online courses aimed at the Creative industry, as a way of making the sector more accessible to learners around the world.”
NFTS Director Nik Powell said: “The FutureLearn partnership is an exciting new online venture for the NFTS. As the UK’s film and television school, this partnership is one of the ways we are fulfilling our commitment to educational excellence in the creative industries.”
The NFTS was established over 40 years ago as the nation’s leading school for film and television and Creative Skillset Film Academy whose courses are supported by the industry and validated by the Royal College of Art. In recent years it has expanded the range of MA, Diploma, Certificate and Short Courses it provides, added Games Design and Development as well as innovative courses such as Entrepreneurial Producing for the Creative Industries (EPCRI).
FutureLearn is wholly owned by The Open University, a 44-year veteran in distance and online learning. The site went live in September 2013 as the first UK-led provider of free online courses from leading universities, following the rapid development of massive open online courses (MOOCs) in the global higher education sector.
