Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications has announced it will be partnering with Twitch to offer a collegiate course called “Esports & Media”.
The announcement states the course will explore the “rapidly growing world of esports, tracing the historical roots of competitive video games to the current multi-billion dollar industry.” Students enrolled in this course will examine the history, technologies and business models behind esports along with opportunities to work with organisations to provide content such as live broadcasting and reporting.
Olivia Stomski, Professor and Director of the Newhouse Sports Media Center commented: “With the growing interest in and popularity of competitive gaming—not just in terms of participation, but also broadcasting and marketing—we made it a priority to offer our students a holistic look at esports and media. We will have a dedicated Twitch channel for our class and Twitch will assist with arranging guest speakers and supplying guidance to our students as they navigate the ever-changing world of esports and media.”
Along with Stomski Assistant Professor of English, Chris Hanson will co-teach the course. Hanson currently teaches gaming-related courses such as Practices of Games and Game Studies for undergraduate and graduate programs.
“The world of esports is expanding at an astonishing rate, as are the number of careers associated with the industry,” said Hanson. “By collaborating with Twitch, students in our course will have the opportunity to gain invaluable insights and cutting-edge experience from leaders in the field.”
Mark Candella, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Twitch said the Esports & Media course will provide valuable insight to the entrepreneurial spirit in the gaming industry: “We envision this leading to students from every discipline finding the opportunity to contribute in their own unique ways to the competitive gaming scene as it continues to gain momentum.”
As esports has begun to expand to the collegiate community with scholarship programs, institutions are becoming more and more open to accepting coursework relating to gaming and esports. Kajaani University in Finland announced earlier this year it will offer a bachelor’s degree program in esports business, while both The University of Oxford and The University of Leicester have announced plans to offer esports courses as well.
Esports Insider says: Education is something that is severely lacking in esports and the best way to combat that is to educate early and accurately. It’s very exciting to see a prestigious university partner with an esports platform powerhouse like Twitch. This partnership will certainly groom the next generation of esports professionals.
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