Coleg Gwent offer eSports qualification to prospective students

From September, Blaenau Gwent Learning Zone in Ebbw Vale will offer a level three qualification in eSports, Games and Multimedia Business Events.

The course was set up by game art and design lecturer and media course leader Steve Hunt.

Mr Hunt said that the new course is aimed at capitalising on the growing eSports industry, and using it to develop practical skills which can be applied to a range of multimedia-based careers.

He said: “It is a creative media course with the eSports element added.

“The students will start by looking at themselves in a professional sense. This involves developing their social media, looking at creating videos and their teams and the games that they are playing.

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“They will manage themselves and their teams, which will include streaming every week on DLive, creating graphics and entering and organising tournaments.

“I have been in contact with local schools to see if they would be interested in forming their own teams for a Rocket League tournament, with the finals being held at the college organised by our students.

“The course will focus on developing STEM-based skills, as well as team coordination, confidence, as well as understanding the business models of the eSports sector.

“The main reason for starting the course was that the media course wasn’t really recruiting very well. We lost our level two course due to a lack of numbers. I wanted to make the course more appealing by making it more current.

“This time last year when we had four students. This year, with the new eSports element, 26 have applied for it already.”

In a report on the growth of eSports, Goldman Sachs estimated that by 2022, the global eSports audience will reach 276 million – a similar size to the NFL today.

And the British eSports Association cite a report from market research agency Ovum predicting that the value of the global eSports market will reach $1.9 billion (almost £1.5 billion) in 2022.

The economic opportunities arising from the growth of eSports were debated in the Welsh Assembly earlier this month, with AMs passing a motion to note the Welsh Government’s intention to take a cross government approach to grow the eSports industry in Wales.

Mr Hunt admitted that the idea of the course had left some parents sceptical.

“I have had a few students come up to me at open days and ask if it is just playing games,” he said. “I have had to stress to parents that there is a lot of skills that can be developed on the course and applied to a number of careers – as they can be quite sceptical at first.

“For example, the writing and managing of a blog and creating and editing video could be transferable into a career in journalism.”

For more information on the course, or to apply, visit coleggwent.ac.uk.