Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is expanding to London in 2023 with a new campus focused on the entertainment industries, including esports.
The campus will be based around an expansion of NTU’s Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies, located in Whitechapel, London’s centre for the creative industries.
Students will be able to study courses in performance, production and business for the music industries, event management, and emerging technologies such as esports, virtual production and content creation. Courses will be open to UK and international students, with undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications available.
Work on the 35,000 sq ft campus is now underway, with the first intake of students scheduled for September 2023.
Update (January 2023): NTU has announced Darius Khwaja as its campus director for Confetti London.
Confetti has delivered creative industry education since 1994, whilst creating a suite of commercial businesses including Metronome, a music and events venue, and Confetti X, a complex dedicated to esports production which recently hosted the Commonwealth Esports Championships qualifiers. NTU’s London campus will replicate that model, creating a multipurpose live events venue for students to learn and work in.
The news also comes after UK university esports body NUEL partnered with Confetti ahead of £5m esports complex.
Students from campuses in Nottingham and London will collaborate on projects, access work experience across the UK, and spend parts of their study across both campuses.
“I see the campuses in Nottingham and London working in tandem, creating exciting links and opportunities across the entertainment industries for all our students in both cities.”
Craig Chettle MBE, Confetti
Training provider Access Creative College’s London centre will also be relocated onto the same campus, allowing students to continue their studies in London through NTU.
Professor Edward Peck, CBE, NTU vice chancellor, commented: “Confetti London supports NTU’s vision of generating new innovations in teaching and new partnerships for practice that build on our sector leading, industry-based approach. It will offer easy access for students in London and the South East to the opportunities to transform their futures that have been available to those in the East Midlands for 25 years.
“We look forward to working with local communities and businesses in preparing for our new students in 2023.”
Craig Chettle MBE, founder and chief executive of Confetti, commented: “Since its creation, Confetti’s vision has been to shape the future creative industries by cultivating dynamic, entrepreneurial and imaginative graduates. Thanks to the support from NTU, creating a campus in London demonstrates our ambitions and ongoing commitment to that vision.
“I see the campuses in Nottingham and London working in tandem, creating exciting links and opportunities across the entertainment industries for all our students in both cities. Nottingham will always be our first home, but I’m excited to see the new opportunities that a London base will provide for the University, Nottinghamshire and the East Midlands.”
Related article: Esports talent from around the world are travelling to watch paint dry in a UK studio
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
