28 September 2021
The University of South Australia has partnered with video gaming giant Epic Games in a program to ensure graduates are up to date with current gaming industry skills and practices.
UniSA is the first Australian university to gain academic partnership status for the internationally renowned Unreal Academic Partnership Program.
Epic makes the world’s most popular and widely used game engine, Unreal, as well as one of the world’s most popular games, Fortnite. Industries such as gaming, film and tv, and architecture use Unreal engine and therefore, Unreal trained professionals increasingly are in demand.
UniSA was accepted for the program by Epic after examination of its Bachelor of Creative Industries and Bachelor of IT (Games and Entertainment Design) courses that teach unreal content, as well as the skills and knowledge of teaching staff, student resources, and samples of student work.
Information Technology Professorial Lead Associate Professor Stewart Von Itzstein says the partnership will help prepare students for their future careers in the game industry.
“At UniSA we are strong believers in creating job ready graduates who have the most up-to-date skills. Our IT program combines the best elements of general IT and game development to create graduates who can work effectively in the game industry,” Assoc Prof Von Itzstein says.
“Our students are well versed in a number of industry platforms such as Unreal Engine. It feels natural that UniSA and Epic Games form a partnership to bring one of the world’s top game engine companies together with our graduates to get them ready to bring the next generation of games to the market. “
Game Design/Digital Media Lecturer Susannah Emery says the partnership demonstrates that UniSA’s Unreal focused courses are recognised by industry leaders as being some of the best in the world.
“UniSA’s selection is a testament to our courses, our teaching staff and the high-quality work of our students,” Ms Emery says.
“It means that the courses we teach using Unreal Engine are led by experienced teaching staff and we have facilities and resources to support our students’ future success in this growing and in-demand area. This means UniSA students will be graduating with relevant skills that are in high demand across a variety of industries.”
The Games Design & Production Major in the Bachelor of Creative Industries is built around an Unreal Engine pipeline and is designed to create the next generation of South Australian indie developers through supporting students to explore games design theory, and conceptualise, design and produce their own game projects in small indie groups.
As well as courses that explore Unreal engine technical skills, environmental storytelling and applying game design theory, this degree includes a focus on surviving in the creative industries, and includes classes around freelancing, business development and entrepreneurship classes.
The Bachelor of IT (Games and Entertainment Design) includes a variety of game development skills including full pipeline development from asset to engine using unreal game engine and prepares students for a career in game development as well as software development.
With the ongoing growth in games and entertainment, employers need specially trained IT professionals who can build highly visual systems. As well as the Unreal courses students are introduced to other game engines and are taught the fundamentals of game design theory. In their final year students finish their program with a major project.
Under the partnership, UniSA teachers will be able to connect with other teachers using Unreal internationally. They also will have access to exclusive training and educational events to ensure continuous improvement of courses.
More information about the partnership is available at the following link:
