Avid Technology > Case Studies > Seneca's Strategic Partnership with Avid to Train Future Media Professionals

Seneca's Strategic Partnership with Avid to Train Future Media Professionals

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Storage Services

Applicable Industries

Education
Equipment & Machinery

Applicable Functions

Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Remote Collaboration
Smart Campus

Services

Testing & Certification
Training

About The Customer

Seneca is a leading destination for students planning a career in the media industry. Located in Toronto, Canada, the institution combines a strong academic foundation with hands-on training on industry-leading media technology. At Seneca’s School of Media, students prepare for careers in a variety of media-related industries, including movie and television production and digital media. Seneca has been using Avid Media Composer nonlinear editing systems and Pro Tools digital audio workstations for the past decade. The institution is committed to implementing innovative technologies and services to offer real-world learning experiences to its students, with the aim of establishing Seneca as the most advanced institution in Canada, providing cutting-edge media technology.

The Challenge

Seneca, a leading institution for students planning a career in the media industry, faced the challenge of equipping its students with the necessary skills to succeed in the highly competitive media industry. The institution had been using Avid Media Composer nonlinear editing systems and Pro Tools digital audio workstations for a decade, but it wanted to provide students with broader access to Avid technology, beyond the classroom. Additionally, keeping technology up-to-date in the rapidly changing media industry was a constant challenge. Seneca's existing media production infrastructure was over five years old, and the legacy technology did not enable students to develop the requisite skills to compete in the industry. It was also expensive to maintain and support. Seneca faced the challenge of dealing with a series of silos, including classrooms, editing suites, television studios, and centralized storage, each with unique limitations and at different stages of maturity in its upgrade path.

The Solution

Seneca expanded its partnership with Avid to become an Avid Media Campus site, standardizing on Avid’s platform-based workflows across its programs. This ensured students had access to the same state-of-the-art creative tools they would use in their professional careers, while providing Seneca with a predictable budgeting process. Seneca partnered with Avid to define a five-year Avid Media Campus agreement that provided flexible volume licensing and a range of industry solutions tailored to the institution’s specific needs. Avid channel partner Deltech Communications supported the implementation of Avid’s industry-leading tools including audio and video editing, asset management, storage, graphics, music notation and publishing, and content ingest and playout. Seneca selected Avid’s Maestro Graphics family for on-screen graphics creation and management. To facilitate group collaboration, a core component of Seneca’s media training, Seneca implemented Avid NEXIS and MediaCentral | Production Management. This allowed Seneca to provide students with access to technology outside classrooms and laboratories, facilitating remote collaboration and increasing the quality of content creation.

Operational Impact

The partnership with Avid has allowed Seneca to stay on the leading edge of technology, providing students with access to state-of-the-art creative tools. The Avid Media Campus program has enabled Seneca to plan for the next five years, establishing an upgrade pathway with Avid’s commitment to hardware and software licensing models, support, and training. As part of the Avid Media Campus partnership, Seneca also became an official Avid Learning Partner (ALP), enabling the institution to provide Avid Certification programs for its staff and students. This has made Seneca the first institution in Canada to provide Avid Certification. With the Avid Media Campus agreement, Seneca also participates in Avid’s Connecting Education to Industry (CETI) program, linking Seneca students with local and international media companies who use Avid in their workflows. This has given Seneca a competitive advantage, increasing its currency in the industry, making its graduates more marketable, and offering more exciting opportunities for its graduates.