University to spend nearly £3m on esports offer

Staffordshire University is spending almost £3m on its esports degree course, with investments including a gaming arena.

It said the planned £2.9m expansion caters for the growing number of students on the Esports course.

Located on the Stoke-on-Trent campus, the new industry-standard facilities will feature equipment by Panasonic and EVS. The project will be designed, built and installed by broadcast solutions specialist Digital Garage.

Staffordshire University was the first University in the UK to launch a dedicated Esports degree five years ago.

Esports course director Dr Ying-Ying Law said: “The Esports industry continues to evolve at a rapid pace and it is important that we reflect this in our updated course curriculum and that our teaching covers the skills, knowledge and behaviours that will help sector progression.

“We have carefully considered what our graduates need to succeed in the future and through our revised course curriculum, our students get to examine both the theoretical and practical approaches to production, media, events, communities and management.

“Consequently, they will gain in-depth subject knowledge and transferable skills that will benefit them in the modern, digital media landscape, and be given exciting opportunities to apply it to projects in their chosen specialism.”