Tiga argues for maths and comp sci subsidies at university

At the recent Develop conference in Brighton, your humble reporter was witness to a discussion chaired by David Braben, in which the issue of 'new talent' for the game industry arose.

Basically, Braben and others on the panel lamented the lack of adequate programming and games development courses offered by British universities.

One of those taking part in the discussion was Richard Wilson, the chief executive of Tiga, the trade association that represents games developers in the United Kingdom.

Today, Wilson has pushed the discussion forward, calling for mathematics and computer science students to receive subsidised tuition fees at university.

One of the things the panel at Develop agreed on was the way games companies would often look to recruit computer science students, instead of those who had gone through more popular games development courses.

This was because at least they could be guaranteed someone who could sit down and start coding in C++ straight away.

Richard Wilson said: "The UK games development sector relies on highly creative, technical people with skills and qualifications in areas such as design, programming, artificial intelligence, animation and mathematics.

"Approximately two-thirds of games development employees are qualified to first degree or the vocational equivalent. Some games developers employ an even higher proportion of graduates. For example, 81 per cent of Rebellion’s employees are qualified to degree level.

"However, the video games industry and others are desperate for good quality mathematics graduates and computer programmers. The government should introduce a pilot programme whereby the tuition fees for students studying mathematics and computer science at university are reduced.

"This would give a strong incentive to study these courses at university. The scheme should be piloted and a cost/benefit analysis undertaken before a decision is taken whether to make the scheme permanent or not. If successful, a similar pilot could be applied to other science and technology disciplines after thorough cost/benefit analyses."

Concluding his statement, Wilson said: "The UK video games industry employs a highly qualified and experienced workforce. It constitutes a key competitive advantage for the UK development sector.

"If we can encourage more of this year’s successful mathematics and computer science A-level students to study these subjects in higher education, the UK games industry should have access to a greater pool of high quality potential recruits, thereby strengthening the industry’s competitive position."