Angus parents and students’ viewpoints and knowledge will influence a new esports course – the first of its kind in Scotland.
Dundee and Angus College is asking for opinions through a survey sent to secondary school pupils and their parents or carers via Angus Council.
The results will be used to shape new HNC and HND courses at the college in partnership with Esports Scotland, offering training in the wide range of jobs available in esports event production.
Project manager Laura Louch, of Dundee and Angus College, said: “People think esports is just about the professional gaming.
“We want to raise awareness around and how the industry works and all the other jobs there are in it – contractors, managers, designers, those involved with spectator control, creating merchandise, technology, media production, and more.
“From the survey we will get an idea of how often students play games, how they feel about professional gaming, their awareness of different jobs related to it, their parents’ awareness and if they would be open to their children studying a course in it.
“We will use all of this information to design what is needed in the course and then host events so that people are aware.”
The accredited courses, which begin in August 2023, will offer training in all of these roles and provide a pathway to specialise at Abertay University and complete a degree.
At first the courses will be run from the college’s Gardyne Campus, and thereafter will be led from the new esports arena at Dundee’s Waterfront when it opens in 2025.
The £60m arena is planned to host computer game tournaments in front of live audiences of up to 4,000 people, as well as virtual screenings.
The venue’s operator Northern Lights Arena Europe is working in partnership with Dundee and Angus College and Abertay University to integrate education and state-of-the-art classrooms into the facility.
What do students think?
Current students at the college are buzzing with excitement at the new opportunities these courses and the venue will bring.
Codie Bradley and Daniel Francis both study the certificate level course in computer technology, with gaming and esports.
Codie, 16, from Stobswell, said: “I don’t watch esports all the time but I catch it sometimes. I like the competitiveness of it and seeing the things they (the gamers) can do.
“Some of my friends watch it but we don’t watch it together. It would be really exciting to see it live, that’s something I would do with friends – a totally different experience.
“I think it would bring lots of people to Dundee to watch esports, it would be good for the city.”
Codie added that he was interested in the new courses and the opportunity to learn more about how esports events were organised and managed.
It sounds like a great idea.”
Daniel Francis
Daniel, 19, from Mid Craigie, said: “It sounds like a great idea. I like to watch esports and so do my friends, it’s definitely an industry we aspire to and something that we see as accessible.
“For me, gaming is for pleasure. I see myself more in a tech related computer job or something in that field, but gaming can be very sociable and these new facilities look really cool to visit.”
The college is currently hosting a series of online webinars for parents and students to learn more about upcoming epsorts opportunities in Dundee.
These include a local esports tournament for pupils and students in Dundee and Angus, which will be launched after summer holidays – with a cash prize.
