Working with Government on education
A shortage of qualified graduates and skilled workers are also hampering growth, according to industry experts. With specialist games degrees concentrating on enrolment numbers over quality of output, and a reported 15% fall in science graduates over the last decade, companies are struggling to recruit and grow as fast as their global rivals. Jamie MacDonald, Vice President at Sony Computer Entertainment World Wide Studios Europe, which broke new ground with family hits such as SingStar and Buzz, said: “In recent years, the industry could have grown so much faster if we had access to larger numbers of better trained recruits. It’s vital that we tackle the skills shortage to preserve our ability to make global hit games. We back the Government’s call for Centres of Excellence for video games and more Skillset accredited courses in universities which would help ensure that the British industry can continue to create a new generation of world-class games creators.”
The industry is keen to show how much it can give back in return for more substantial support from Government. David Braben, Chairman of Frontier Developments: “This growing global industry already gives so much back - not just in tax, but also in education. We can help motivate children and teenagers to learn subjects like maths, physics and computer science - subjects in which standards and numbers are falling dramatically. We want to work with universities in a structured way to improve the content and standard of courses so that graduates emerge ready for real world jobs, not just in our industry, but in other industries that also benefit the country. We compete with the banking sector for programmers and the film industry for artists and animators. But in our industry alone we need at least 1,700 more staff over the next five years to maintain our global position. We ought to be at the vanguard of this global phenomenon, not moving studios abroad where the industry is booming.”
The problem – Skills shortages
- Studios face a worsening recruitment crisis in the UK.
- There have been 15% fewer science graduates over the last decade1 , and falling numbers of computer science graduates2 - fewer than 20% of games graduates get industry jobs3 because courses are not fit for purpose.
- 2006 Skillset accreditation – only four out of 81 games courses are accredited by Skillset but their graduates are two and a half times as likely to get games jobs.
The solution – collaboration on education
- A Government-assisted programme which enables undergraduates studying maths, physics and computer science to get work experience in real games studios.
- An increase in the supply of computer science and mathematics graduates without sacrificing quality.
- More courses recruited to Skillset’s accreditation scheme.
- Centres of Excellence in video games, similar to the Film School, to improve standards in education, training and qualifications.
How industry will help – growth and engagement with education
- Job creation - The industry will need to recruit at least 1,700 more staff in the next five years.
- Liaison with education - We will continue to work with universities to improve courses and prepare students for real world jobs using internships.
- Promoting science - We can use the appeal of video gaming to help government promote computer science, physics and mathematics in schools and universities.
- Engagement on Games Schools - The industry will work with Government on its recommendation to establish Centres of Excellence for Computer Games.
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1 - CBI April 2008
2 - HESA recorded a 20% fall in computer science graduates between 2002-3 and 2006-7.
3 - 3 Source GIC
