Recently we were invited to pay a visit to Hugh Baird College and Liverpool John Moores University. We discussed how we could work together in order to benefit the students, as well as the gaming industry. Both visits were very useful and without a doubt we plan on taking this initiative further.
Hugh Baird College
For those who aren’t aware, Hugh Baird College is based in the Bootle area of Liverpool. The students were set a 2 week challenge to model and texture some 3D assets in line with one of our internal projects. They clearly worked hard and produced some great work.
We are looking at various challenges that we can set for the students to keep them busy over summer. Working on live projects and receiving feedback from our experts will improve their portfolios and hopefully set them up nicely for their first jobs in the industry.
Liverpool John Moores University
The LJMU visit was a mix of in person and online meetings with all the lecturers, course leaders and professors. Here we looked at a variety of opportunities for both businesses and to provide additional support to their students. Among these we discussed sandwich placements, funding, summer challenges and portfolio reviews.
We were impressed by the technical ability of the students, with their heavy focus on programming. Some of the student’s projects were very impressive indeed. Their work gave us great confidence that they would be a great asset to any game company looking for staff.
Currently, LJMU have funding to cover all recruitment costs and 50% of salary costs of up to 30 Internships and placement students for 12 months in SMEs within Liverpool City Region. If this is of any interest to companies in that area, just get in touch and we will make the introductions for you.
We are currently discussing how we can pool our resources with other progressive games companies to share art tests and challenges from a variety of sources to give the students the most comprehensive understanding of what cutting edge companies are looking for and to help them to gain those skills.
It’s early days, but after only 2 meetings and 1 live project we can see the benefits for everyone involved. Watch this space as we continue to work together to raise the standards and collaborations between companies and academia.
We would encourage all universities, colleges and course leaders that would be interested in this project or working with us to get in touch at [email protected].