Dublin’s Trinity College has launched Ireland’s first Masters degree in video game design. The one-year full-time Masters in Interactive Entertainment Technology starts in October and the college hopes it will make Ireland a key centre for the €16Bn Euro global gaming industry.
The new course will offer 25 students hand-on sessions with the latest games technologies and classes by world experts in computer graphics and animation, computer vision, networking and distributed computing.
The course has been designed in collaboration with some of the world’s top game companies such as Microsoft, Demonware and Radical Entertainment. It is headed up by a leading industry figure and has an advisory board drawn from across the gaming and technology industries.
Course Director is Dr. Steven Collins, co-founder and CTO of games company Havok. “Interactive entertainment is one of the fastest growing and most exciting areas in global industry right now.” said Collins. “This presents a fantastic opportunity, not just for students and individuals, but for the country. If we can continue to grow the skills and knowledge available in Ireland in key areas, building on our research strengths, we have the ability to make Ireland a specialised hub for this business,” said Collins.
Students will have access to state-of-the-art learning environments such as the Microsoft sponsored XNA Gamelab, the first of its kind in Ireland, which will offer them training in designing with the latest Xbox 360 and XNA game development technologies.
. “The quality of this course, coupled with the support of industry leaders and access to the very latest thinking, techniques and technology means we’re attracting local and international students. With less than a month before the first applications deadline on July 31st, time to apply is running out, Collins said.
With the global video game software industry worth more than $20 billion a year and growing at 25% per annum, Ireland’s media and gaming industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in IT and has been identified in recent government reports to be potentially of significant strategic value to Ireland’s future economy.
Orla Sheridan of Microsoft said: “Ireland has been incredibly successful in positioning itself as a successful international technology location. Interactive entertainment is one of the fastest growing and most exciting areas of business today and we believe that Trinity’s new course presents a fantastic opportunity to broaden the pool of expertise in Ireland. There is a huge demand for skills in this technology both from established global players and also from smaller companies based here and abroad. The growth of online technology means that the skills students will learn on the course will be relevant and in demand,” she said.
Applicants must have a minimum 2.1 in Computer Science or a related degree. Students will be encouraged to build a portfolio of work and to enter international competitions such as Microsoft’s Imagine Cup. For details, e-mail: msciet-info@cs.tcd.ie
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