AIT, Academy of Interactive Technology (formerly known as the ''Academy of Information Technology'') is a specialist higher education and vocational education institution based in
Sydney, Australia
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...
,
with a second campus opening in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia in 2015.
AIT was established in 1999, and specialises in three disciplines:
digital media
Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...
,
information technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...
, and business. AIT is a member of the NextEd group, alongside
Greenwich English College,
Go Study Australia, and the
International School of Colour and Design (ISCD).
AIT was the first in Australia to offer courses in
Motion capture
Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...
technology, and has the latest markerless Motion Capture system installed in its Sydney campus,
in 2013, AIT was still the first Mobile Applications Development course provided. AIT holds and participates in many events, including the AIT Oscar Night, the AIT Games Night, and the Vivid Light Festival.
AIT is recognised as a quality tertiary education provider by the Australian Government's Tertiary Education Quality & Standards Agency (TEQSA) and the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA).
Courses
2D & 3D Animation
*Bachelor of Interactive Media (Specialisation: Animation)
*Diploma of Digital Media Technologies (Specialisation: Animation)
Design
*Bachelor of Interactive Media (Specialisation: Design)
*Diploma of Digital Media Technologies (Specialisation: Design)
Film Making
* Bachelor of Interactive Media (Specialisation: Film Making)
*Diploma of Digital Media Technologies (Specialisation: Film Making)
Game Design
*Bachelor of Interactive Media (Specialisation: Game Development)
* Diploma of Digital Media Technologies (Specialisation: Game Development)
Digital Design
* Bachelor of Digital Design
*Diploma of Design
IT
*Bachelor of IT (Mobile Applications Development)
*Diploma of Software Development
Facilities
Motion capture
The motion capture (or organic motion) is a markerless motion capture system that was designed and manufactured by Organic Motion of New York. This type of technology was the first of its kind implemented in Australia.
The Motion Capture, aka MoCap, allows users to motion track and animate their 3D characters easily.
Green Screen Room
The Green Screen Room is a state of the art filming environment located on the Sydney campus. The space was launched on 28 May 2014 and allows students to extend their editing skills in
Adobe Premiere
Adobe Premiere Pro is a timeline-based and non-linear video editing software application (NLE) developed by Adobe Inc. and published as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud licensing program. First launched in 2003, Adobe Premiere Pro is a success ...
and
Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Inc., and used in the post-production process of film making, video games and television production. Among other things, After Eff ...
for
Green Screen
Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to r ...
compositing.
Controversies
Wage underpayment
In 2019 the Academy of Information Technology (AIT) admitted to its staff that they “may” have been paying casual educators below the Award rate. The
National Tertiary Education Union
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) is an Australian trade union for all higher education and university employees. It is an industry union, and the only union working exclusively in the Australian university sector.
Overview
NTEU ...
(NTEU) estimated around 40 casual employees are affected by underpayment, which in some cases has employees receiving less than 50% of the Award rate for lectures.
The underpayment case was settled for around $2million dollars for 83 current and former staff.
CEO Glenn Elith apologised for the underpayment: "AIT sincerely regrets the underpayments of its valued and hard-working staff. AIT is committed to ensuring all staff are fully compensated and properly paid in future. Upon becoming aware of this matter, AIT’s academic staff were immediately informed and the company worked quickly to determine the back-payments required. AIT has been grateful for the constructive approach taken by NTEU in this matter, and respects its strong advocacy for their members.”
Student council and social activities
Student Representative Council
The Student Representative Council (SRC) is a small group of students selected by the student body. Their job is to help improve the quality of life on the AIT campus, and do so by communicating with teachers and staff members on the student bodies behalf. The current president of the SRC is Mikhaila Katte.
Clubs
As of 2015 AIT currently has five clubs running: the 3D Club, Film Club, Drawing Club, Table Top Club and Fight Club.
These clubs are overseen and assisted by the SRC.
Events
AIT holds regular events throughout the year, held by a mixture of staff members, teachers and the SRC. Smaller events include barbecues, Christmas parties and Trivia Nights.
AIT Oscar Night
The AIT Oscar Night is an annual event held at AIT. This event allows student works to be recognised and rewarded by their teacher and peers in the fields of Animation and Film. The event is run by Film Coordinator, Patrick Huang.
AIT Games Night
The AIT Games Night is an annual event held at AIT. This event features student games alongside other activities like
cosplay
Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...
competitions. Prizes are awarded to the best student games. This event is run by both the teachers and SRC, allowing multiple activities to run in one night.
.ink Student Art Exhibition
The .ink Student Art Exhibition is an annual event held off campus that celebrates the traditional art, digital illustrations, digital design, concept art, photography and promotional products students have produced.
Vivid
In 2015 AIT participated in the
Vivid Light Festival. Their entry, titled "Lightwell", was a collaborative task between teachers and students. The structure itself was created by Helen Goritsas, Patrick Huang, Nik Sutila, Adam Katz, Sharon Sanders, Carlton Zhu, Kwan Chemsripong and Kriss Mahatumaratana. The interactive structure displayed a collection of student artworks onto a wall along Walsh Bay, Sydney.
See also
*
List of universities in Australia
There are 43 universities in Australia: 40 Australian universities (36 public and 4 private) and 3 international private universities. The Commonwealth Higher Education Support Act 2003 sets out three groups of Australian higher education provi ...
References
External links
*
RedHill Education: Our BusinessesThe Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA)Australian Government MyUniversityAustralian Government Study AssistOrganic Motion
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Information technology education
Universities in Sydney