The Scottish government has invested £3 million toward new game development study programs at The University of Abertay Dundee in Scotland. Following the investment, the University is set to become the UK's first ever center of excellence in video game education.
The majority of the government funding will be spent on the creation of two new games development-focused postgraduate courses, along with new classroom space to facilitate them. Each year-long program will accommodate up to 40 graduates, who will form development teams made up of student programmers, artists, developers and production managers.
The new government investment will supplement Abertay University's existing game development programs, many of which focus on the creation of serious games. Previous research and development at the University has produced police firearms training simulations, infection control models for health services, and energy forecasting and town planning programs.
Abertay's Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Bernard King feels that the investment will boost Scotland's presence in the interactive media industry. "The global, interactive, creative media sector has a potential market value to Scotland of up to $68 billion by 2012," King says. "If in Scotland we are to be successful in reaping that economic growth potential, then we need to be continually producing new interactive products and upgrading our workforce's skills."
King continues: "This significant capacity-building investment by the Scottish Government establishes Abertay as Scotland's University Centre of Excellence in Computer Games Education. It recognises that Scotland can be a global leader in this sector, and that Abertay can drive that ambition by providing graduates with the necessary world-class skills to succeed."
