Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala-based Toonz Academy, one of the country's leading animation training institutions, has got affiliation from the prestigious European Carolus Magnus University (ECM) of Belgium for its animation courses. ECM is founded and sponsored by the European Economic Chamber of Trade, Commerce and Industry (EECTCI) and has its courses accredited in the US and Europe.

"Henceforth all students passing out from the Toonz Academy centres in India would get either a diploma or a degree certificate from ECM University", Anita Singh, president EECTCI (India), told reporters here on Friday.

P. Jayakumar, CEO of Toonz Animation, said the international recognition of their courses would be a boon for all students.

"As of now there is a shortage of nearly 35,000 animators in the country and according to Nasscom, the industry is growing at 30 percent every year. Close to 98 percent of students passing out from our centres get jobs immediately. Now this international affiliation would help those who wish to go abroad for higher studies," said Jayakumar.

Toonz Academy is headquartered at Technopark here and runs a year-long animation course with a fee of Rs.125,000. Toonz has centres in Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur and Hyderabad. IANS