TIGA, the network for games developers and digital publishers and the trade association representing the games industry, announced today that the BA (Hons) Games Art and Design course at Norwich University of the Arts has successfully achieved TIGA University Accreditation. Securing TIGA Accreditation clearly signals that this course has been found to be industry relevant and high quality.
Over 50% of students on the course find jobs in the games and related industries. Students and graduates of the course have gained employment in a wide range of studios including Crytek, Rebellion, Frontier Developments, Lionhead, RARE, Playground Games, Guerilla/Sony Cambridge, Ubisoft, Rockstar Games, Creative Assembly, Framestore and Double Negative.
Graduates have also worked as freelancers and in start-ups publishing a range of recent indie titles, including: Swallowtail’s Tick Tock Toys, Coatsink’s SHU, Odd Bug Studio’s The Lost Bear, Future Fossil Fuel Studio’s High Steaks! & The Climb, Adam Kiraly’s Caelum: Into the Sky.
The following areas of exceptional good practice were identified by the accreditation team:
- The high proportion of students finding work at AAA game developers.
- Excellent outreach for recruitment that results in excellent gender balance on the course (currently 40/60 female/male).
- The students have a very strong sense of being part of a community that thrives on game development. They go beyond just meeting minimum requirements and push themselves to excel beyond just the set work they are given as part of the course. This community spirit is ably nurtured by the course team who received a 96% score in the National Students Survey (NSS) for their availability.
- Students have choices of pathways through the courses enabling them to specialise in creating concept art, producing game assets or developing indie games. All three pathways are firmly rooted in industrial game development practices.
- The course facilitates the development of a T shaped skills profile in the students as they gain a broad understanding of game development while refining expert skills in a single area.
The course’s engagement with industry is excellent with a wide range of industry speakers (20-25 per year), industry briefs for student projects and opportunities for students to attend industry shows. The opportunity for final year students to display their work on the course stand at the industry’s Develop conference is outstandingly good practice that results in job opportunities for many students.
Norwich University of the Arts has been recognised as having the highest standards both through being awarded Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Gold rating and being in the top 10 for teaching in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide annual league table of the UK’s higher education institutions. Further, the excellence of its game development course was recognised when the university gained the prestigious TIGA Best Educational Institution 2017 Award at the TIGA Awards ceremony in November 2017.
By granting this accreditation TIGA is confident that the course delivers industry focussed skills of a depth and breadth that is appropriate to meeting the needs of the games industry. Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA said:
““TIGA Accreditation system accredits undergraduate and postgraduate university and college courses, highlighting excellence and disseminating best practice. The TIGA Accreditation system enables students and developers to find great courses that are educating great graduates.
“The TIGA Accreditation Panel was impressed with Norwich University of the Arts. We saw enthusiastic students, inspiring lecturers and great facilities. The course has a 60:40 male/female ratio and has an impressive track record of getting students into work in the games industry. No wonder the University won ‘Best Educational Institution’ at this year’s TIGA Games Industry Awards. Norwich University of the Art’s BA (Hons) Games Art and Design course is helping to supply the games industry with well-educated graduates.”
TIGA Educational Advisor Dr Mark Eyles, from the University of Portsmouth, said:
“The BA (Hons) Games Art and Design at Norwich University of the Arts offers a rich learning environment for students, supported by a dedicated, enthusiastic team of lecturers. Students on this course get hands-on industry experiences which prepares them for working in the games industry and industries that value game development skills.”
Karl Hilton (Studio Director, Sumo Digital), commented:
“The course offers an excellent mix of subjects working in realistic scenarios to provide graduates with a comprehensive and well-rounded programme that will prepare them well for a career in the video games industry. The roster of lecturers, both permanent and visiting, offers a broad depth of experience and knowledge and clearly adds significant value to the students learning experience. Overall, this was an impressive course and I look forward to seeing it develop further in the future.”
Dr Jake Habgood, Senior Lecturer in Game Development at Sheffield Hallam University & TIGA Educational Advisor, said:
“NUA’s game design course has a strong sense of community, which is supported by an impressive level of commitment from staff, and high levels of student ownership over their own learning.”
Mark Wickham, Course Leader BA (Hons) Games Art & Design, MA Games Subject Leader, NUA, said:
“We believe a key ingredient of the success of NUA’s Games Art & Design course is the diverse mix of interests, backgrounds and aspirations among our community of staff and students. That positive culture enriches the content and thinking about games by our students. TIGA accreditation is a welcome acknowledge of the strong industry partnerships we’ve built and the success of our graduates embarking on their games industry careers.”
About TIGA
TIGA is the network for games developers and digital publishers and the trade association representing the video games industry. Since 2010, TIGA has won 24 business awards and commendations. TIGA focuses on three sets of activities:
- Political representation
- Media representation
- Business services
This enhances the competitiveness of our members by providing benefits that make a material difference to their businesses, including a reduction in costs and improved commercial opportunities. It also means our members’ voices are heard in the corridors of power and positively represented in national, broadcast and UK video game trade media.
Get in touch:
Tel: 0845 468 2330
Email: info@tiga.org
Web: www.tiga.org
Twitter: www.twitter.com/tigamovement
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TIGAMovement
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/tiga
For further information, you can also contact: Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO by email: richard.wilson@tiga.org