Online Film School Plan Is Tentatively OKd by UC Regents

The UC Board of Regents on Wednesday gave tentative approval for UCLA to enter into its first major for-profit venture--an online film school.

The university would join in a partnership with universities in England and Australia and with an unknown roster of high-tech companies. The new entity, called Global Film School Inc., hopes to begin offering online classes within a year to students from around the world.

“We’ve had about 90,000 requests from people who are potential students,” said Robert Rosen, dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television.

“We think there is great opportunity--not just to make a lot of money--but to provide film classes to people who cannot get them because of geography or finances or because they cannot get in” to a film school, he said.

The regents approved the venture on the same day that the American Federation of Teachers issued a report critical of upstart online colleges, saying that “educational quality, not financial gain” should guide how colleges and universities use distance education.

The online Global Film School has been remarkably free of faculty criticism usually hurled at for-profit ventures. The proposal was approved by the UC faculty’s governing body, called the Academic Council, by a 10-1 vote. Four members abstained.

Many faculty were loath to criticize a proposal championed by their colleagues.

The Global Film School will not grant coveted UCLA degrees in filmmaking. But it will offer online classes taught by movie industry professionals as well as tenured professors at UCLA, the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, and the National Film and Television School of Great Britain.

These three public institutions set up the venture to entice computer hardware, software and other companies to front the $25 million to create what their faculties hope will become the world’s premier online film school.

Rosen said school officials have had discussions with companies, but declined to specify names. He said bringing in money from private investors was preferable to using tax dollars for a school that will extend far beyond California.

Michael Cowan, the Academic Council’s chairman, said some professors raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest in a for-profit venture. They were concerned about how the enterprise might steer the university from its mission of high-quality research, education and public service.

The faculty governing board approved it, he said, only after imposing a number of safeguards. These included assurance that no professor or administrator would have a financial interest in the venture and professors would retain exclusive control over the curriculum.

“We think it’s an interesting experiment, but an experiment that needs to be closely monitored,” he said.

He said the program will come under extensive review in four years. At any time, UCLA can opt out of the partnership.

The new Internet-based school, https://www.globalfilmschool.com, has yet to work out the costs of classes. But Rosen says courses will be priced competitively.

The school’s plans include instruction in all aspects of movie making--from directing and cinematography to music composition. Some courses will be designed for teenage filmmakers, and others for working professionals exploring the latest technologies.

“They would be like continuing education courses for people in the industry,” Rosen said. “Others will be more broadly based for the public. Most of all, they will help people learn how to tell a story on film.”

The regents are expected to give final approval to the venture today.