E-sports attracted attention on the stage of Hangzhou Asian Games —— How to cultivate e-sports talents in colleges and universities?
On October 2nd, the Knife Tower Final of Hangzhou Asian Games ended in Hangzhou E-sports Center, and the China team let one chase two beat the Mongolian team to win the championship. At this point, the e-sports events of the Hangzhou Asian Games have all ended, and the China team won 4 gold medals and 1 bronze medal, making it the biggest winner of the e-sports events of the Hangzhou Asian Games.
In recent years, the scale of e-sports events has been expanding. On September 6th, the International Olympic Committee announced the establishment of an e-sports committee, which highlighted the IOC’s recognition of the development potential of e-sports.
With the continuous development of e-sports industry, the cultivation of e-sports talents has become a social concern. In 2016, the Ministry of Education announced 13 supplementary majors for higher vocational enrollment, including "e-sports and management". Since then, e-sports education has officially entered the classroom, and many colleges and universities have set up related majors.
However, in terms of teachers, courses and public opinion, the current e-sports education in colleges and universities is facing no small challenge. What are the characteristics of talent demand in e-sports industry? How to cultivate e-sports talents in colleges and universities? The reporter interviewed this.
There is a great demand for talents in e-sports industry.
China E-sports Industry Report 2022 shows that in 2022, the revenue of China’s e-sports industry was 144.503 billion yuan, and 108 domestic e-sports events were held throughout the year.
In contrast to the vigorous development of the industry, there is a big talent gap in the e-sports industry at present. According to the report released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security at the beginning of this year, less than 15% of the jobs in the e-sports industry are in a state of manpower saturation, while the gap in the middle and upper reaches of similar industries such as event production and broadcasting is 1.5 million.
"At present, the problem of talent shortage in e-sports industry is serious." According to Xu Jian, a professor at the School of Media and Communication, Shanghai Jiaotong University, at present, there is a shortage of reserve professional players in e-sports talents in China, and there is a shortage of professionals in operation and management. Xu Jian believes that this is related to the fact that the whole society has not really regarded e-sports as a professional sport. "Compared with other sports athletes, the problems of the entrance and exit of e-sports players have not been well solved. In addition, the public has different understanding of e-sports, which also affects the attractiveness of related occupations to people."
"People often equate e-sports with games, which is a misunderstanding. Some games can be used as carriers for e-sports, but not all games can develop into e-sports. " Yan Hongqiao, deputy dean of the School of Sports Media and Information Technology of Shandong Institute of Physical Education, said that as a sport, e-sports has many characteristics similar to other traditional sports, such as playing under certain rules and having a high degree of intellectual or physical antagonism.
In this Asian Games, the results of e-sports events will be recorded in the national medal list, which belongs to the "intellectual project" with chess events.
Yan Hongqiao said that virtual reality and simulated sports have increasingly developed into an important part of the sports field. "From the definition of e-sports by the International Olympic Committee, virtual sports are also within the concept of e-sports."
E-sports education in colleges and universities needs to break through the bottleneck
In 2019, Shandong Institute of Physical Education enrolled the first batch of undergraduate students majoring in e-sports, which is also the first university in China to offer undergraduate majors in e-sports. Today, four years later, the first batch of e-sports graduates officially entered the society.
Yan Hongqiao introduced that among the first batch of students majoring in e-sports in Shandong Institute of Physical Education, half of them entered the e-sports industry after graduation, except some students who went on to further their studies.
In China, the start of e-sports education in colleges and universities is inseparable from the rapid development of e-sports industry. In 2016, "e-sports and management" became one of the new majors, and subsequently, many colleges and universities opened e-sports majors one after another.
However, the development of e-sports major is not smooth. According to the reporter’s statistics, at present, among the schools offering e-sports and management majors, there are 5 schools at the undergraduate level and 165 schools at the specialist level, and some of them have stopped enrolling students.
"There is a phenomenon of rushing headlong into the e-sports major at the junior college level, and there is also a lack of employment orientation in the training process. The courses are miscellaneous but not refined, and the students’ practical ability is weak. At the same time, the shortcomings of teachers are prominent and the teaching staff is generally weak." Yan Hongqiao said that e-sports professional education in colleges and universities is still in its infancy in China.
Xu Jian believes that some e-sports majors are set up in cities where e-sports industry is not so developed, and there is no good interaction with the industry. There are generally problems such as single content and insufficient system in curriculum setting.
Training compound e-sports talents into a new direction
"At present, the training of e-sports talents carried out by clubs and other subjects is indeed more effective and more adaptable to the development of the industry." Despite this, Xu Jian still believes that it is of great value to develop e-sports talents in colleges and universities.
"As a new type of sports, e-sports has interdisciplinary characteristics since its birth. The e-sports industry has formed a highly relevant industrial chain and needs all kinds of compound talents. " In Xu Jian’s view, this is the great advantage of developing e-sports talents in colleges and universities. For example, he said that professional e-sports commentator positions need talents who know both communication and e-sports. "Therefore, the e-sports major must not be covered by a single discipline. Colleges and universities can organize teachers from different disciplines such as sports, news communication and computer to jointly create courses and cultivate comprehensive and applied talents that are more in line with the needs of the industry."
In Shandong Institute of Physical Education, the school complements each other’s shortcomings by introducing enterprise teachers and order-based training, forming a joint force for e-sports talent training.
Zhang Xueteng, a 2023 graduate of Shandong Institute of Physical Education majoring in e-sports, joined a well-known e-sports company this year. He said that through the cooperation between schools and enterprises, he has gained more practical opportunities and improved his employment competitiveness.
During the interview, the person in charge of an industry company said that through industry research, it is conservatively estimated that there are more than 100 types of jobs related to e-sports and there are abundant employment opportunities. "We will also pass ‘ Electricity-based plan ’ And other initiatives, more actively carry out in-depth cooperation with universities and educational institutions, and jointly cultivate more professional talents in the direction of e-sports operation and club operation management. " The person in charge said.