'Deep' concerns as six students join esports course

Winston Dorsett, Unison's regional organiser, said the union's members were worried so few students had joined the course

A union said it was "concerned" after six students joined a university's new esports course.

The University of Suffolk (UOS) has spent £1.6m renovating a vacant building for the undergraduate degree course in competitive video gaming.

Winston Dorsett, from Unison, said it was "deeply concerned" about the amount spent when "over the last year they [UOS] have made redundancies on staff".

But Charlie Smith, esports course leader, said it was "a long-term investment" which UOS was "committed to".

UOS said it was investing in courses in growing industries and the esports degree had capacity for up to 26 students as it grows.

In April, the university said more than 40 gaming-specification PCs would be installed in the newly renovated building.

The esports course at the university welcomed its first cohort in September

Mr Dorsett, Unison's regional organiser, said there had been about six redundancies at UOS this year.

"We are really concerned that the university have spent this level of money this year and we believe this is poor financial management and could be avoided."

He said members were not against the investment, but were concerned about how many students had joined, adding the money "could have been invested in existing courses".

Charlie Smith, esports course leader, said it was a "long-term investment" for the university

Mr Smith said: "The primary thing is we want them [the new students] to get a job in the esports industry."

He added: "Industries around the world are interested in all of the skills we talk about, and students are picking up these transferable skills just through their passion for gaming and content creation."

He said the small cohort could be because prospective students had offers from other universities, adding: "We did not have the facilities as it is all work in progress."

Edward Hale was one of six students who joined the course

Edward Hale, one of the students on the course, said he had been an events manager and a producer for about seven years, but now wanted to join the esports industry.

He said: "Esports has grown and grown and has become such a big booming industry that I was like 'I want to sidestep into that'.

"It is such a brilliant space and such a great facility to use that I could not say 'no'," he said.