Accra, May 12, GNA - The National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) is to sign a collaborative academic partnership with the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Germany (KHM), NAFTI Rector, Professor Linus Abraham announced in Accra on Thursday. Prof Abraham, who was briefing the media on the affiliation, said the purpose of the partnership is to develop and provide supervisory role for NAFTI's professional Master's Programme in Media Arts.

The two institutions would also exchange students and faculty staff; undertake joint project research, share teaching and production materials; work towards curricula and faculty development and service with NAFTI receiving technical support. He said the agreement would be signed in Accra next week during an academic visit by staffs and students of the German University to Ghana from May 14 to 19. Prof Abraham noted: "This is a very important development for NAFTI as the programme advances as a tertiary institution. Ghana does not have any institutions offering professional postgraduate programmes in Media Production, and this is a logical step for NAFTI, Ghana and Africa."

He said with the global world experience, the rapid growth in Media Development and the attendant need for better trained media professionals with advanced educational and professional skills, the affiliation is even more profitable and would project NAFTI ahead. The Rector added: 93Until the Institute gains its charter, there is the need to get an affiliated institution that will supervise the Master's Programme.

We had to look outside for that affiliation, and the German University became an obvious choice, given their experience and NAFTI's past experience of cross cultural collaboration with German Institutions". Professor Kofi Anyidoho, NAFTI's Board Chairman, noted that the agreement would be an important continuation of the cultural cooperation that exists between Ghana and Germany as the setting up of NAFTI itself was a collaborative effort between Ghana and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of Germany. As part of the visit, the delegation from the Academy of Media Arts, which is made up of the Rector Professor Klaus Jung, the two Deputy-Rectors; Professors Peter F. Bringmann and Ute Hoemer, and Mr. Marcel Odenbach, will pay courtesy calls on the Minister of Information, the German Ambassador and the Director of the Goethe Institut. This would be followed with meetings and discussions with the management, faculty, staff and students of NAFTI. The visit will end with the signing of the agreement.

According to the Dean of Studies of NAFTI, Mrs Vicentia Akwetey, "The German University's project-based approach to training would build on solid theoretical foundations, and it fits the philosophy of education at NAFTI. Mrs Akwetey said NAFTI was intensifying its training based on developing critical thinking media practitioners who could hit the ground running when they enter the field=85. 93We are hoping to parley this relationship to perfecting the model we want to develop here at NAFTI." The Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, offers an educational concept that cross-links and integrates the fields of Film, Art and Theory in one single degree course titled, "Audiovisual Media".

This is unique in Germany and contrasts with the traditional academic class or master student principle of art academies and other art schools where study courses are divided into classes or subjects. KHM boasts of ongoing collaboration with national and international academies, cultural institutions, festivals, exhibition organisers, as well as the media and film industry all in an effort to promote and enhance professional teaching.

The art projects and films of its students have gained much critical acclaim at film festivals in Germany and all over the world with their Diploma Films having won the Student Academy Award Oscar two times. The team's visit follows a similar one to the University in Cologne, by the Rector of NAFTI in February 2010 during which discussions about the collaboration were moved forward and plans for the return visit concretized.