BOTSWANA COLLEGE OF DISTANCE & OPEN LEARNING

Bridging the Education Gap

Bridging the Education Gap

MMP INCOME GENERATING PROPOSAL

STUDIO FACILITIES & PRINTING EQUIPMENT

MULTIMEDIA AND PRODUCTION SERVICES DEPARTMENT 2012

STUDIOS It is worth noting that college activities alone would not be enough to utilize the facilities in a cost effective manner, therefore the department believes that a cost recovery measure should be put in place to maximize usage of the facilities. To achieve this it is suggested in this proposal that the facilities could be:

1. Rented out for use by other organizations in the same line of business as BOCODOL as well as commercial production companies. Audio studio can be used to generate income by hiring it to other institutions and organisations and individuals for a fee. CD/DVD duplication facilities are also available. Editing facilities in the video studio can be upgraded and hired for usage to other institutions and organisations and charge Tertiary programmes DVDs/CDs can also be sold to BOCODOL learners and none BOCODOL learners.

2. Used for training in line with the college business, to provide skills to the out of school youth and individuals who may want to follow careers in the field of Radio and Television production. Introduce a short course on video and audio production and use smartboard technology to deliver the programmes to learners in Maun using part time tutors.

However, for the studio facilities to be fully operational and produce high quality video material to meet the expectations of customers, it is critical that the studios have the relevant personnel to assist with the production work. If BOCODOL is aiming at attaining this level of production, there is need for commitment from the college to provide the necessary minimum human resource to operationalise the facilities effectively. To achieve this requires a lot of financial commitment from the college as video and TV production is a highly capital and labour intensive work. Educational video production is even more sophisticated as compared to the normal video production and requires a lot of qualified, experienced and dedicated personnel. However since the institution cannot afford a large number of production crew, multi-skilled personnel is required to start with. For this reason it is recommended that the following minimum basic human resource be provided to effectively make the studios functional: 1. Audio Production a) Producer b) Presenter For audio production the Producer and Scriptwriter can be combined as one job A Presenter is also needed to undertake the responsibility of presenting programmes for recording. 2

c) Technician - Technician is required and this person will operate the studio equipment during recording and also do the editing. 2. Video Production a) Producer b) Editor c) Presenter For video production the Producer can also combine Directing and Scriptwriting as one job This person is needed to do Camera work and Edit productions A Presenter is also needed to undertake the responsibility of presenting programmes for recording.

d) Technician - A Technician is required and this person will operate the studio equipment during recording, do camera work and also do the editing. For now, there could be one Presenter and one Producer each to work across both audio and video productions as at the beginning the College will not be having a lot of productions. But as the college grows in future there will be need to have these offices separated. The technical person will also operate both studios and should be able to operate all equipment in both studios and be able to carry out first line maintenance. Where necessary the officer will be responsible for sourcing out required complex maintenance issues and oversee the work of the service providers. PRINTING The College printing resources have potential to be used for purposes of income generating activities. However it is worth noting that at the moment there is only one officer responsible for providing this service to the entire College. As it is, the printing services requirements alone are already over stretching the one officer in place, therefore it is necessary that human resources should be increased by employing a Printing Assistant to enable the department to maximize usage of the facilities and deliver efficient service to all customers as well as enable the department to engage in income generating activities. To achieve this, the department suggests in this proposal that the printing and binding facilities could be used to: Provide photocopying services to learners and the general public at a cost Provide photocopying services to other institutions and organisations and charge Provide document binding services to other institutions and organisations at a cost Shred, stack and sell used paper from the college for recycling.

You have some interesting ideas, but 1. This requires a business proposal. What is all that you are proposing going to cost us and how and when are we going to recover it? We definitely require a sound business proposal that would clearly show the return on investment, in order for a decision to be made on whether this is worth pursuing. In the meantime, what is that we could do to make money with what currently available? I believe that, even with what little that is available now, we could still make money if we are more enterprising.

2.