Staffordshire University to offer UK's first eSports degree

Staffordshire University's Stokes-on-Trent campus (pictured) is now accepting applications for a three-year eSports degree program, one that kicks off next September and "focuses on the business of eSports." 

This is a big deal because it's the first time any university in the United Kingdom has pitched a degree program as being explicitly about the business of playing games professionally.

However, it's not a totally new idea -- educational institutions around the world (from the U.S. to the Phillippines to Denmark) have been gradually warming up to the idea of offering courses focused on the eSports industry. 

"Universities are seeing significantly greater number of attendees at Open Days in these subject areas because games are big business and parents and teachers no longer try to steer prospective students away from degree courses," Staffordshire's Dr Bobbie Fletcher stated in a press release announcing the new degree program. "Parents are the generation that have grown up playing computer games and there’s now acknowledgement that it is a viable career route."

Staffordshire's eSports degree seems like a union of game design and event planning, asking students to study eSports culture, organize and produce eSports events, and study business plans for eSports teams and businesses. Enrolled students will also have opportunities to earn scholarships by playing games competitively, something many universities already provide.