BCFE collaborates with Zambian college
Diploma in Audio and Music Technology @ Evelyn Hone College, Lusaka, Zambia in collaboration with Ballyfermot College of Further Education
The development of Zambia’s first qualification in Audio and Music Technology – Supporting Vocational Education and the Creative Economy in Zambia is a partnership project between Ballyfermot College of Further Education and Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce (Lusaka, Zambia) in collaboration with the Irish Embassy in Zambia and TEVETA, the Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority of Zambia, to develop and introduce a three-year Diploma in Audio and Music Technology. The new Diploma programme was validated by TEVETA at level 6 on the Zambian Qualifications Framework in September 2020 and will provide industry-standard training and recognised qualifications in audio and music technology and production, for the first time, to students in Zambia.
The launch of new Diploma in Audio and Music Technology @ Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce is a major milestone in the Irish Government supported cooperation project between Evelyn Hone College and Ballyfermot College of Further Education. The introduction of the first programme in Audio and Music Technology in Zambia is a significant achievement and a cause for celebration as it is the first qualification in Zambia validated to be assessed through continuous assessment techniques.
The Diploma in Audio and Music Technology will be offered initially in Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce in Lusaka. The course will be taught in a purpose-designed recording studio and music technology computer lab within the Music Department in the School of Education and Social Sciences. Zambia’s leading technical college and third largest public training institution in Zambia, Evelyn Hone College, has a long history and tradition in music education: the college trains music teachers for junior second level and has long been the college of choice for students interested in performance and dance having a celebrated reputation for choral music and for traditional music and dance.
The project builds on Creative Digital Media Zambia (CDMZ), an earlier partnership project between EHC, TEVETA and BCFE, which was supported by the Irish Aid Programme of Strategic Cooperation (PSC), first established in 2008 and has included work between staff and students in art, music and journalism. Through CDMZ an innovative Diploma in Creative Digital Media, the first education and training programme in creative digital media in Zambia was developed and introduced in Evelyn Hone College. The Diploma in Audio and Music Technology, which is similarly a high skills creative industry course, will deepen and strengthen the tertiary vocational education system’s engagement with the creative digital arts. Partnership based on equality, commitment to shared goals, respect, reciprocity and innovation, is at the heart of the project: in practice, this means collaboration, good communication, knowledge-sharing, and effective efficient work to achieve targets.
The creation of the Diploma in Audio and Music Technology represents a major development in the partnership between the colleges and has included a deepening of work with TEVETA. At the heart of the programme is an understanding of the potential of audio and music technology graduates to contribute to poverty alleviation. There has been very strong support in Zambia for this initiative. The Irish Embassy in Zambia is funding the project and Mr. Pronch Murray (Head of Mission, Irish Embassy, Lusaka, Zambia) gave strong support to the initiative during his speech at the launch of the programme.
The new diploma was formally launched online by Evelyn Hone College on Friday 18th June 2021. Speakers at the launch included Liam Caffrey (project coordinator of Diploma in Audio and Music Technology Zambia and coordinator of the HND in Music Production @ BCFE), Silumesii Maboshe (Co-Founder and Director – Consult: BongoHive, Lusaka), Cecilia Munro (Principal of Ballyfermot College of Further Education), Helen Mahony (retired project coordinator), Jerome Morrissey (CEO of GeSCI – The Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative, Nairobi, Kenya), Maanka Chipindi (Director of the National Arts Council of Zambia), Pronch Murray (Head of
Mission, Irish Embassy, Zabmia), Clepohas Takaiza (Director-General, TEVETA), Alex Simumba (Director of VET – Ministry of Higher Education Zambia), with closing comments from Mr. Cephas Chabu (Principal of EHC).
The launch was a great success and we pass on our best wishes to the students who are currently signing up for this new and innovative Diploma course, due to start in July 2021.
