Online learning platform Minerva’s Virtual Academy has announced it will become the first online school to launch an esports BTEC qualification.
The course, available for students aged between 16 and 18 years old, will run from September 2023.
Students will study a suite of topics, ranging from learning how the industry works, to marketing fundamentals, competitive play as well as event and team management skills. Specifically, the BTEC covers four units: Introduction to Esports; Esports Skills, Strategies and Analysis; Enterprise and Entrepreneurship in the Esports Industry; and Health, Wellbeing and Fitness for Esports Players.
The BTEC qualification for esports was launched in 2020 by the British Esports Association through a collaboration with British educational company Pearson. The BTEC level 3 course comprises of 20 units, including a number of relevant and necessary skills for any aspiring esports professional.
Minerva’s Virtual Academy was founded in October 2020 by Minerva Tutors, a UK-based homeschooling and private tuition agency. Both organisations are run by Hugh Viney, with their goal being to make private education as affordable as possible.
Lawrence Tubb, Headmaster at Minerva, commented: “Our course offers an incredible opportunity to start an amazing career in esports. It will help pupils enhance the skills they already have and develop new ones, to help carve out a place in the future of the industry.
“By studying this course, students will be in an excellent position to apply for roles in the esports industry when they graduate from Minerva’s Virtual Academy, but will also have gained an understanding of wider business and industry practices, and developed valuable transferable skills that will stand them in good stead for a wide variety of careers.”