Alternatives to university are becoming more and more popular, however, university graduates still make up a large percentage of hires in the games industry. Game companies often express interest in graduates who have taken part in games-specific degree programmes and can show a high level of specialisation in a particular role, be that in design, programming or art.
When looking to pick a games university, make sure to check the following
- Does the university have good connections with regional industry
- Do they have a specific studio partner that can provide work experience or briefs
- Do they have an upto date curriculum that lets students develop management and interpersonal skills as wel as technical ones
- You be doing lots of practical work based on real world briefs
- There will be opportunities for you to regularly meet games sector professionals
- Have many of their students gone on to work in the games or creative sectors
- Does it have a good reputation generally
Orgaisations like the the games tradebody, TIGA, offer a strict accreditation that can be useful in deciding where to go (https://tiga.org/education/tiga-university-accreditation) as well as the global school rankings from website, The Rookies (https://www.therookies.co/schools/rankings). Both these organisations take multiple data points in deciding how good a games course is and can make deciding on your options easier