The Esport industry experiences a continuous growth (culturally and economically)that provides a novel and popular area for academics to conduct research, educate students, and service industry (Funk et al., 2017). Esports is a growing industry that addresses current trends in the lifestyle of young people. However, there is a lack of professionals trained in the development, promotion and implementation of esports activities, as well as in the interaction with Esports players, teams and coaches. As a potential consequence of the complex nature of Esports, there are no bachelors or masters degree at a European level preparing professional for the esports industry. Considering the lack of available study programs and the growing esports industry that has been dominated from professionals not educated about Esports, its particularities and special conditions, there is a strong need for the development of an educational program to support professionals in this field. Therefore, this project aims to develop a holistic and multidisciplinary master degree curriculum, that will qualify students with the necessary skills to successfully enter the job market of the esports industry. To achieve this, the proposal aims to develop and propose a master degree programme with the participation of an international consortium of academic institutions with expertise on the diverse fields involved in education about Esports. These fields include education, management, artificial intelligence, informatics, integrity etc. The project envisages to provide the curriculum of a 1.5-year master course that will include a variety of lessons such as coaching esport players, health-related issues of interest to esports players, basics of esports platforms, management of esports events etc to cover the diverse needs of esports professionals.
The Esport industry experiences a continuous growth (culturally and economically)that provides a novel and popular area for academics to conduct research, educate students, and service industry (Funk et al., 2017). Esports is a growing industry that addresses current trends in the lifestyle of young people. However, there is a lack of professionals trained in the development, promotion and implementation of esports activities, as well as in the interaction with Esports players, teams and coaches. As a potential consequence of the complex nature of Esports, there are no bachelors or masters degree at a European level preparing professional for the esports industry. Considering the lack of available study programs and the growing esports industry that has been dominated from professionals not educated about Esports, its particularities and special conditions, there is a strong need for the development of an educational program to support professionals in this field. Therefore, this project aims to develop a holistic and multidisciplinary master degree curriculum, that will qualify students with the necessary skills to successfully enter the job market of the esports industry. To achieve this, the proposal aims to develop and propose a master degree programme with the participation of an international consortium of academic institutions with expertise on the diverse fields involved in education about Esports. These fields include education, management, artificial intelligence, informatics, integrity etc. The project envisages to provide the curriculum of a 1.5-year master course that will include a variety of lessons such as coaching esport players, health-related issues of interest to esports players, basics of esports platforms, management of esports events etc to cover the diverse needs of esports professionals.