‘State-of-the-art’ facilities have been unveiled at Sheffield Hallam University, supporting the delivery of a new Sheffield Hallam Uni esports management degree.
Sheffield-based esports industry guests attended including Endpoint, who will be contributing to the delivery of the new esports management course, Lava Esports Centre, the National Videogame Museum, as well as professional players and students.
Guests got to see the new facilities in use including Hallam students and the Endpoint team competitively gaming, plus the studio and gallery with a green screen and mixing desk, all streaming live commentary to big screens and a Twitch channel.
The new Sheffield Hallam Uni esports management course ‘blends the established subject areas of event management, broadcasting and journalism with esports culture, content creation and business management’, read a press release.
The initial Sheffield Hallam Uni esports course was first announced back in 2019, while this one is focused more specifically on esports management.
Group leader Jane Tattersall told Esports News UK what’s new about the course, saying: “It is a new title for the course revalidated to commence September 2023. We started a cohort in September 2021, but paused it in 2022 whilst we invested in the new facilities.
“The original course was BA (Hons) Esports, the new course is BA (Hons) Esports Management to more accurately reflect the course purpose and design.”
Sheffield Hallam Uni Esports Lab to serve as digital hub for students, says course leader
Nana Nyarko, course leader for esports management, said: “We are very excited about the new SHU Esports Lab which will serve as a digital hub for our esports students. It will enhance a variety of learning opportunities for the students, helping them to develop key technology and creative digital skills that lead to a brighter future.
“The space is also for the students to gather separately as a community to encourage them to socialise and utilise the space as a flexible learning environment. It also serves as both a practice facility for SHU Esports society team with a viewing area where spectators can watch matches.”
Peter Thompson, COO of Endpoint, added: “For Endpoint, a Sheffield-based company, this is an opportunity to help out with course fulfilment and giving local esports enthusiasts a chance at work experience and gaining real industry experience while completing their studies, ready for the working world afterwards!”
Elise Pierson, current Sheffield Hallam Uni esports management student, said: “I think the biggest thing about Sheffield investing all this money into this studio is the fact that they’re really taking our course seriously. A lot of the time when you tell people you study esports management, you get a bit of a weird look, they think you just sit around playing games, which isn’t what we do at all.
“It’s just a bit of confirmation that we are being taken seriously as we should be. It’s also somewhere that we have as our own place for our course. Every other kind of course or department has their own area or place in the university and now we finally have ours.”
In other recent news, Sheffield United also have their own esports arena.
Related article: University of Sunderland to launch Esports Event Management degree, invests £1m in campus
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.
