A UK college has become the first higher education institute to provide a course specifically aimed at helping students get into a reality television show. Bishop Auckland College, which is situated in County Durham, has launched a 17-week programme which will coach students through the necessary skills required to get through the first round of auditions for popular talent show ‘X Factor.’
The focus of the course will be on ‘singing, performing and auditioning’ but as Mike Jinks, head of art, music and performing arts at Bishop Auckland says, the biggest thing students will be taught in the course is confidence.
‘I wanted to run a course which prepared people for X Factor auditions and similar competitions across the country,’ Jinks said in a press release. ‘It’s not about just wandering in, singing a song and you’re famous. Most applicants have been doing the rounds for years working really hard – it’s very rare that you get a Susan Boyle character.The course is also about giving people real, transferable skills. The biggest thing they will get out of it is confidence, whether this is for a future singing audition or a job interview.’
Titled ‘The X Factor Preparation Course’, the course begins on 21 January and will end just before X Factor begins its next round of auditions. It will be led by actress and performer Susan Harris, who has had over 25 years of experience in the entertainment business. Most interestingly, the course does not require students to audition for places – in fact, it contains no formal entry requirements.
40 places are up for grabs, and students will receive an NCFE Level 1 Certificate in Music upon successful completion of the course.
‘There are plenty of colleges running the NCFE qualification but as far as I’m aware none of them have designed the course around the X Factor. It’s something I came up with last year but it was finding the right time to run it as it had to be timed to finish when the X Factor auditions start,’ Jinks said. ‘But it also ends just in time for the next music and arts festival in early June, and students who have qualified from the course will be invited to perform there in front of thousands which will be great experience for them.’
But not everyone is excited about the new course. UK Ministers have already begun to crack down on courses they believe are too easy, while concerns about the government funding of the program have also been raised. Although enrolled students will have to pay £95 to complete the course, the rest of the cost will be paid for by the government.
‘This Mickey Mouse course is no substitute for genuine training and qualifications,’ Robert Oxley of the Taxpayers Alliance told The Daily Mail. ‘The education budget is meant to be spent on preparing people for work or courses of real academic value, not prepping them to entertain the X Factor judges.’
The X Factor was originally developed in the UK by Simon Cowell, and is best known for producing successful acts such as One Direction and Little Mix.
Bishop Auckland College actually has some strong ties to the popular show, as previous X Factor winners Joe McElderry and James Arthur both performed at the college’s music and arts festival.
