Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of students studying for a degree in video games.

The UK’s video games sector plays a vital role in the country’s thriving creative industries. The last budget included a commitment to extend our support for the UK Games Fund until 2020, a proven approach to mentoring and developing the games developers of the future.

In addition, the Department for Education is undertaking a range of initiatives to promote digital and computing skills, relevant to the computer games industry, more generally throughout the education system.

We are investing £84 million of new funding over the next five years to deliver a comprehensive programme to improve the teaching of the computing curriculum and increase participation in Computer Science GCSE.

We are also seeking to strengthen the role that Higher Education providers can play in providing digital and computing skills, including:

• Supporting the establishment of a new Institute of Coding to serve as a national focus for improving digital skills provision at levels six and seven with a £20 million fund to improve higher-level digital skills. With joint collaborations between universities and businesses, and to focus on computer science and digital skills in related disciplines. It will ensure the courses better meet employers’ needs.
• Funding to support universities to develop conversion courses in engineering and computer science, which allow graduates from other subjects to undertake further study and pursue careers in engineering and computer science.

All of the above will help ensure that students who wish to pursue a degree in video game subjects have the necessary skills to do so and will help to continue the upward trend in numbers of students studying degrees in this area.