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UK university esports body NSE (National Student Esports) has made a string of announcements recently, including new partnerships and tournament news.
Student CS2 team heads to Poland for IEM Katowice 2025 visit
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Lancaster University’s Counter-Strike team, ‘Half Natty Head Tappers’, will be heading to Poland for Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2025 in February.
They won NSE’s Winter 2024 British University Esports Championship (BUEC) CS2 tournament, ahead of Swansea and Bath universities. Lancaster beat Swansea in the CS2 finals despite not having their pro player Gizmy on their roster for the final.
Their visit comes after UWE Sea Stags from the University of the West of England earnt a similar student esports trip to IEM Cologne in 2023, with Acer giving them goody bags and backstage behind-the-scenes tours.
Elsewhere in the Winter 2024 BUEC season, UWE won the Rainbow Six Siege tournament for the third season in a row.
ICL defeated University of Bath in League of Legends to pick up back-to-back wins.
And Roehampton beat Lincoln to make it their third season in a row winning the Rocket League tournament.
Warwick were also back-to-back winners in Overwatch in the Winter season, and remain top of the overall university esports standings so far.
The BUEC saw more than 2,200 teams and 113 universities competing across 15,000 matches in the past academic year.
There’s more in NSE’s Winter 2024 roundup here.
NSE pick up partnerships with Pot Noodle and Pringles
NSE and Pot Noodle have today announced a new partnership for 2025, with the instant noodle brand joining as an official partner of the British University Esports Championship (BUEC).
The pair will be supporting student esports and gaming societies on campus with Pot Noodle-powered social events if they are chosen for Society of the Month.
Pot Noodle will also support NSE’s All Stars tournaments, where the top players in the university scene represent their region across the UK, with prizes and merch.
Students will also have the opportunity to apply to be a Pot Noodle student brand ambassador, showcasing Pot Noodle flavours, as well as getting their hands on other branded merchandise.
Alex Coulson, Managing Director at NSE, said: “The Pot Noodle team has shown a real desire to authentically support our student community so we are very happy to welcome them to our family of partners. This collaboration highlights the strength and vibrancy of the NSE community, and we’re proud to work together to grow grassroots esports in the UK. Pot Noodle’s fun and relatable brand makes it the perfect partner to create unforgettable moments for the students.”
NSE has also announced that Pringles has renewed its partnership with NSE for a third year.
Building on previous collaborations around ‘Creating Unexpected Fun’ in 2024 and the ‘Stay in the Game’ campaign in 2023, this extended alliance will see Pringles and NSE collaborate on campus gaming activations. These will enable university student esports and gaming societies to run their own events, including bespoke tournaments, formats including speedruns, social media competitions and more.
In addition, there will also be more dedicated Pringles community gaming events, alongside weekly Discord competitions for a chance for university students to get their hands on the snack.
‘Monster Unleashed’ Warzone University Invitational announced
The Monster Unleashed – Warzone University Invitational will see universities battle it out in Call of Duty Warzone with a prize pool on the line and lots of Monster Energy to be won.
29 invited Universities will compete online in teams of three over five rounds, all within one night.
It starts on February 7th 2025, with first place taking home £300 and three monster drops.
Teams can earn additional monster drops for claiming the monster bounty by eliminating the official Monster Energy team consisting of three Monster ambassadors.
2025 Spring BUEC approaches with a Marvel Rivals tournament added
NSE’s 2025 spring season of the British University Esports Championship launches on February 2nd.
Students will compete in several titles including Valorant, Teamfight Tactics, Rocket League, League of Legends, Overwatch 2, Counter-Strike 2 and Apex Legends.
And for the first time, Marvel Rivals will be involved in the BUEC and other UK esports tournaments for 2025.
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.
