Bristol City Robins Foundation, the official charity of Bristol City Football Club, has announced a partnership with Digitech Studio School Bristol and the BELONG Gaming Arena in Broadmead.
As a result of the deal, a two-year BTEC Level 3 qualification esports education programme has been launched.
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The new course will provide students, aged from 16 to 18, with a chance to study esports at Digitech Studio School Bristol. In addition, the Bristol-based BELONG Gaming Arena will supply students with technology to support the gaming elements of the course.
Polly Wardle, Head of Education at the Bristol City Robins Foundation, commented: “This is a great opportunity for young people to be a part of a growing industry and be at the forefront of opportunity. We are extremely pleased to be working with Digitech Studio school and BELONG Gaming Arena to offer such a ground-breaking course within the City.
“Through the variety of units, it’s an incredible opportunity to have the best of three key industries – sport, business and media. Through the degree programmes we also offer, this provides students with a pathway into our Sports Business and Entrepreneurship degree. Our focus with the esports course is to ensure students’ progress into meaningful education or employment upon completion of their BTEC.”
The units of study within the programme include setting up esports events, designing and creating a brand or merchandise, coaching and nutrition, and developing entrepreneurship.
As part of the course, students will also be given the chance to represent the Robins Foundation on a weekly basis in a number of esports competitions throughout the year in the British Esports Championship.
According to the release, the programme aims to ‘provide students with a keen interest in esports the opportunity to experience and take part in understanding the vast opportunities within the esports industry’. Moreover, the course will look to help video game fans turn their skills into esports, sports and business career opportunities.
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Students studying the course will be reportedly able to study towards a number of careers, including live streaming, events management, coaching, social media management or game design.
Wardle added: “The course provides the opportunity for students who may be interested in esports, business and sport to engage in a different kind of course, enhancing their business knowledge through sport. This is also a complementary course which will sit alongside our existing practical sport courses based at Ashton Gate, City Academy and Merchants Academy,”
Esports Insider says: It’s always good to see new esports education programmes emerging. Alongside multiple university-degree esports courses, people are now being offered a variety of different qualifications which hopefully benefits the sector in the long term. The fact that the esports BTEC is supported by Bristol City, albeit the club’s charity, is also very intriguing.