SAE Institute

SAE Institute

Type	Private
Established	1976
CEO	Scott Jones (SAE Global)
Campus	Multiple campuses (54)
Colors	Black and Silver

The SAE Institute (SAE, formerly also known as the School of Audio Engineering and the SAE Technology College) is a private college founded in 1976 by sound engineer, record producer and businessman Tom Misner. The first school was opened 1977 in Sydney.

SAE Institute offers courses in audio engineering, 3D animation, multimedia, graphic design, game design, digital filmmaking, and music production. It currently has campuses and facilities, including licensed franchise operations, in 54 cities in 30 countries.

History

SAE was established by Tom Misner in 1976 in Sydney, converting a small advertising studio into a classroom. Over the next six years, campuses in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth were established. In the mid-1980s, SAE began opening colleges outside of Australia, including locations in London, Munich, Frankfurt, Vienna, Berlin, Auckland, and Glasgow. In the 1990s, SAE opened a European head office in Amsterdam, and locations were opened in Paris, Hamburg, Zürich, Hobart, Cologne, Stockholm, and Milan. SAE also began expanding into Asia in the 1990s, opening locations in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. In the late 1990s, SAE formed the SAE Entertainment Company and launched full university degree programs with the co-operation of Southern Cross University and Middlesex University. In 1999, SAE began opening facilities in the United States, and over the following decade opened locations in Nashville, Miami, San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Chicago. In 2000, SAE began licensing franchise schools in India, opening four that year. In 2000s, locations were opened in Liverpool, Madrid, Brussels, Bangkok, Leipzig, Barcelona, Dubai, Amman, Cape Town, Istanbul, and Serbia. Licence agreements were signed for new schools in Qatar, Bogotá Colombia , Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. In the 2000s SAE also acquired QANTM, an Australian production, media and training company, and relocated its head office to Littlemore Park, Oxford and its headquarters to Byron Bay, Australia.

In 2010, the SAE Institute was sold to Navitas, a publicly traded educational services company. Over the next few years, new locations were opened in Romania, Jakarta, and Moskhato. Navitas began taking over the licensed branches in the US in 2011, and laid off over 40 US employees in 2014.^[1]

SAE Online

SAE Online, formerly SAE Graduate college, is an unaccredited, distance learning, proprietary, for-profit European school that offers post graduate courses from master's degrees to PhDs in Creative Media Industries, as well as several other professional skills courses (short courses). The university has no campus or professors.

Energy Groove Radio

Energy Groove Radio is one of the world's digital commercial radio networks. It is a network of eight Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR)/Top 40 Stations playing a mix of live and pre-recorded programming.

Energy Groove Radio showcases local and international shows, produced by a mix of DJs, presenters, and SAE students.

Freddy El Turk launched Energy Groove Radio in 2009, broadcasting from Sydney, Australia. Since partnering with SAE in 2011, Energy Groove Radio has grown from a single digital radio service, based in Australia at the SAE Sydney campus, to a network of seven stations located across the UK, France, Italy, Germany, US and Spain.

In 2012 Energy Groove and Emirates Airlines entered a collaboration which now sees Emirates Airlines play Energy Groove Radio across its entire fleet.

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Partnerships with other institutions

SAE offers degrees through its partnerships with Middlesex University and Southern Cross University. Since 2013, SAE Germany offers a Master of Arts in Professional Media Creation through a partnership with the Institut für Computermusik und Elektronische Medien (Institute for Computer Music and Electronic Media) of Folkwang University of the Arts.

SAE Institute is accredited by Middlesex University in London. Students enrolled in a validated programme will receive a Middlesex award on successful completion of their studies. All BA and BSc programmes are validated by Middlesex University.^[3]

SAE Institute has undergone a review for educational oversight by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA).^[4]

SAE Institute became an associate member of GuildHE in July 2013,^[5] one of the two recognised representative bodies for higher education in the UK.

Sponsorship

SAE sponsors the national unsigned music competition Top of the Ox, recently won by singer-songwriter Ian Edwards, in association with Oxford based record label Crash Records and other organisations.^[6]

Notable alumni

• Kriesi
• Mark Paterson – Oscar and BAFTA winner for the 2012 film Les Misérables
• David Donaldson – 2005 Grammy Award winner for the film Ray
• Rob Swire of Pendulum and Knife Party
• Nigel Godrich
• Phurba Sherpa
• Habib Wahid
• Pi'erre Bourne

Notable work

• Adele, a 2016 short film written and directed by Mirene Igwabi and produced by Grace Julia at SAE Brisbane.
• Fixed, a 2014 short comedy film directed by Codey Wilson and Burleigh Smith at SAE Perth, Western Australia.^[7][8]
• Vincent, a 2012 short documentary directed by Anna Kouts and Ryan O'Connell at SAE Perth, Western Australia.

References

Further reading

• Alexander, Robert Charles (2003). The Misner Factor: The Official History of SAE Institute. SAE Publications. ISBN 0-9545163-0-3. Archived from the original on 4 February 2005.