The Ohio State University has announced a comprehensive esports program offering undergraduate and graduate degrees.
The university is developing an interdisciplinary curriculum, which is first of its kind, including online certification programs for specialized credentials, an elective course in esports content production, and a gaming speaker series spanning five colleges with a focus on esports and games studies.
“With Ohio State being a leader in engineering, academics, research and medicine, it seems a natural fit to pull all of these together to support the esports program,” Deborah M. Grzybowski, co-director of the game studies and esports curriculum development, said on Thursday.
The university is building state-of-art infrastructure on campus to complement the curriculum and ensure diverse career opportunities for the students.
“The arena will not only be a place for our teams to practice and compete, but it will also encourage open gaming, and virtual reality experiences,” Brandon Smith, director of esports in the Office of Student Life, said.
“It will include over 80 seats, with computer console and virtual reality systems, as well as a broadcast booth for students interested in shoutcasting.”
The university is further seeking inputs from the industry leaders to have a most comprehensive program in place and is currently researching on esports athletes by conducting a variety of tests to understand what attributes and skills should an esports athlete have.
