Esports (with a placement year)
Entry requirements
A level
Other A Level combinations are possible to achieve 112 points
Pass Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 80 UCAS points.
OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Achieve a minimum of 112 tariff points achieved from either five Highers or a combination of two Highers offered with two Advanced Highers. Where only Highers have been taken a minimum of (CCCCC) is required.
T Level
Pass (C and above)
Eligible T Level applications will be asked to achieve a minimum overall grade of P (A*-C) or Higher Pass as a condition of offer.
UCAS Tariff
We welcome a wide range of qualifications and qualification combinations. We assess each application individually, taking in to account any experience and skills you may have in your chosen field. Don't worry if you can't see your specific qualification listed, just contact our team of experts on 01782 294400 or email us at [email protected] for further advice
About this course
Our BA (Hons) Esports degree is unique as it combines the production side – digital media and broadcasting – with practical experience of business, marketing event management and the theory-based community and cultural studies aspects of the industry.
It means you’ll have lots of transferable skills and knowledge, relevant to other careers as well as the esports world. You can choose to specialise in an area you’re interested in as you progress on the course through optional modules and flexible assessments.
You’ll be studying at an award-winning games university and will learn how to host small and large-scale tournaments, events and productions for esports and how to adapt for clients external to our sector.
The course will teach you how to work across different platforms using industry-standard broadcast technology. You will also get to grips with how to market your events, use data analytics and thrive in roles such as community management, league ops, event management, production/broadcast or marketing.
Develop a critical insight into issues facing the multi-million pound global esports industry, including corporate social responsibility, regulation, emerging technologies and the need for innovation to drive growth.
Our students get lots of opportunities to organise events, from varsity tournaments to charity fundraisers. They’ve also worked with the Alpine F1 team on their 'Community Cup' Series culminating in the final week being hosted at Alpine's Enstone factory! Every year, we also stage ‘Campus clash’ a friendly competition between year groups.
Although gaming skills are not taught on the BA, you’ll get to pursue your passion for playing games through extra-curricular activities. Some of our Esports teams have even been crowned champions. Opportunities include:
- Taking part in UK and international varsity leagues like NUEL and NSE
- Joining competitive societies featuring games such as League of Legends, Call of Duty, Valorant, Overwatch and Super Smash Bros
- Visiting esports events in the UK to network and get inspiration for your own events
We’ve worked with industry professionals to ensure the course meets their needs and produces graduates with the exact skills they are looking for in applicants. Alongside completing live industry briefs and running your own projects, you’ll look at how to freelance and market your skills to employers. There’s also an option of a placement year, or study exchange with our partner institute in Finland.
On successful completion of study, we will issue the following award: BA (Hons) Esports
Modules
You can either go straight onto your main degree programme or start with a foundation year. In the first year of the main course, you will get hands-on with all the kit in our Esports Hub. Including cameras, studio lighting, vision mixers, audio solutions and professional streaming kit to run your own broadcasts. Alongside this you'll learn about what makes esports unique and why the community is so passionate, as well as how to market yourself and your output to those who matter.
The second year will involve optional modules to help you move towards what you want to specialise in. And you’ll also plan a major project for an industry client, embedding yourself in pre-production, execution and post-production elements of a live event.
The third year will explore the future of esports and critical issues that are holding us back. It’s also when you’ll devote time to your final-year project, which could be a dissertation, production or creative output.
We have a strong focus on student research, with projects exploring everything from the impact of publicly listed esports teams through to exploring barriers to entry for minority groups within esports, with the opportunity to present these to industry at GradEx.
You’ll be taught by research-active staff. Who bring a wide variety of industry and academic experience, including in esports coaching, broadcasting, marketing, events and business skills.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Staffordshire University (Stoke Campus)
Digital, Technologies and Arts
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Computer games and animation
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Computer games and animation
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
This is a relatively new subject area for this kind of data, so we don’t currently have very much information to display or analyse yet. Gaming is a growing industry, and if it continues to grow we should see the rather high unemployment rate coming down over the next few years. Much the most common jobs for graduates who do get work after six months are in programming roles - but as things stand, be aware that jobs in the field are very competitive and personal contacts - either through family, friends or via specialist employment agencies - are a crucial way into the industry so be prepared to talk as well as code!
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Computer games and animation
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£22k
£28k
£33k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
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Graduate field commentary:
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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