eSports education: How Staffordshire University created a degree course for the expanding industry
By Jim Bask
“Whatever equipment our students use and whatever facilities we put in place, we always make sure we’re meeting one expectation: that students will get the best possible experience in readiness for the jobs they want when they graduate.” So says Christopher Leese, technical specialist for the Media & Communications department at Staffordshire University.
Of course, that’s not an uncommon mission statement for anyone in higher education. But what’s not so common is that the jobs to which Leese is referring are in an industry that didn’t even exist just a few years ago — eSports.
And that meant when it came time for the University to build a new facility to prepare students for future careers in eSports, Leese and his colleagues had to put aside equipment that had worked in the past and look to a new generation of technology.
Staffordshire University, located in Stoke-on-Trent in England, has a notable history when it comes to teaching technology. The campus’s roots date back more than a hundred years, to the site of a school of science and technology that opened in 1914. Today it offers no fewer than four bachelors’ degree programmes in video games. It has previously been ranked best business school in the world for its use of Twitter. And it pioneered the world’s first Games PR and Community Management degree.
“With that background, it was just a natural levelling-up for Staffordshire University to become the first in the UK to offer a degree programme dedicated to the business of eSports management,” stated Leese.
He continued, “Our Year One compulsory modules encompass Competitive Gaming Culture, Resourcing Esports Events, Esports Ecosystems, Single Player Esports Event, Esports Events Experience and Esports Broadcasting. In fact, it’s the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, focusing strictly on the business of an emerging industry that in 2019 expects to see record revenues, thanks in large part to the influx of companies and investors getting into the market. Click here for the full article.