In a global first, The City of Liverpool College has partnered with alternative education provider, VSI (Visionary Sports Investment), to deliver a ground-breaking course designed to harness the emerging talent within Esports, helping people build a career in the fast-growing industry.
Esports – or electronic sports – is the umbrella term for organised, competitive computer gaming, usually between professionals. It is one of the world’s fastest growing industries and a recent report has predicted that 2018 revenues for Esports will hit £683 million, a staggering 38% increase from 2017’s £495 million.
As part of the course, students will learn how to host small and large scale events for single player and multi-player Esports teams, create business plans to develop teams, create online communities and promote events through digital marketing. They will also get the opportunity to explore the culture of Esports, its audience and fan base and different game genres that make up the most popular ones in current times.
To celebrate the launch of the course, The City of Liverpool College is hosted a FIFA World Cup Tournament on Saturday 30th June at its Arts Centre to encourage applications, where prospective students had the opportunity to find out more about the course and compete in or watch a live FIFA tournament, as well as sign up for the course.
Elaine Bowker, principal of The City of Liverpool College, said:
“Esports is a huge industry in which professional players can forge incredibly successful careers. However, so often young people are leaving education without the right skills they need to turn their talent into a business.
“Having been the first college in the country to create a dedicated digital academy, offering young people coding, software development and a range of digital skills, we are proud to be delivering this innovative new course, which will equip students with the real-life practical skills they need to carve out a successful career in the Esports industry.”
Before collaborating with The City of Liverpool College, VSI has traditionally worked with high profile international footballers, cricketers, rugby league and rugby union professionals on post-graduate education programmes, and has developed the Esport education concept in response to industry demand.
Andy McIntyre, chairman of VSI, said:
“As the digital world continues to grow at a furious pace, organisations, strategies and the people involved have to adapt and change to harness opportunities arising. Through collaboratively developing this world-first course with The City of Liverpool College, we are at the forefront of creating the industry leaders of tomorrow and working to meet the skills requirements in this burgeoning industry.”
In addition to the FIFA tournament, the event featured speakers from VSI sharing their industry expertise as well as YouTube personality MrWilliamo.