Nineteen Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) employees have graduated from the inaugural SCA Media Academy at Charles Sturt University (CSU).

A partnership between CSU’s Bathurst campus and SCA, the academy offers employees of the radio network an intensive communications course designed specifically for them.

The course covers a range of topics, including the evolution of the radio industry, the convergence of media, digital and social media trends, PR, marketing, sales principles, channel planning, legal and regulatory frameworks, and content management.

After 10 weeks of online course work and assessment, the students travelled from offices across the country to move on campus for the final five days of intensive learning, teaming to find a gap in the market where there is an opportunity for SCA to launch a completely new and different multi-platform media brand or program into Australia.

The four proposals focused on offering consumers better and easier access to SCA content and talent while expanding into new content, including regional sports and audio businesses beyond traditional radio.

SCA chief executive Grant Blackley said the students came up with some “really engaging” brands dealing with business opportunities and challenges that the company is grappling with right now.

“I’m very pleased with the success of our first SCA Media Academy,” he said. “We looked for [an] existing education and training course we could offer our staff to help them develop professionally, and we landed on developing a bespoke course designed with our media businesses in mind.”