Xamk Participates in an International Games Industry Skills Development Programme 

The games industry is international, and work is often done in multicultural teams. Professionals in the games industry have expressed that there is undoubtedly a need for the newcomers to have better teamwork skills as well as a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities typical of the industry. South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, TUTORS Oy, Cambridge Academy of Digital Games and Innovation (CADGI) and Cypherdelic joined forces to develop a new way to study these skills. Now we are looking for companies in the games industry as partners. 

– There was a clear need in the training field for improving the teamwork skills of gaming students. We wanted to offer an opportunity to develop these skills at the early stage of their careers, states the programme’s academic director, Dr. Jan Storgårds from CADGI. 

The result of the development work was GameTeam.Dev remote intensive acceleration programme, which was carried out for the first time in August. There were dozens of students who were guided by the creative teamwork tasks to learn about each other’s strengths and know-how, as well as about team management. 

The teams had to come up with ideas and lead a game development project that simulated the operating environment of a gaming startup in a practical way. The teams regularly received feedback on their projects from other participants and the programme’s tutors. 

The students described the programme as a unique opportunity to learn teamwork skills and game development. In addition to this, a good team spirit helped to manage the pressure and thus enabled the project to run smoothly despite the tight schedule. Several students said that they formed friendships during the programme and that they continue to stay in touch on both a professional and personal level after the programme. 

– The programme was carried out 100% remotely and this made it possible for students from several different countries from Europe, Asia, Africa and South America to participate, says the programme’s project leader Filip Bovin from Tutors. 

Open Call for Gaming Companies to Join the Development Work 

The cooperation will continue in the future, and we are looking for partners from games industry companies who want to be involved in developing a programme to meet the needs of the games industry. With the help of cooperative partnerships, we want to support the employment of hard-working and skilled young people in the games industry and possibly even open doors to games industry companies in Finland. 

The Finnish games industry and educational expertise are world-class, and now when these characteristics have been combined, we can achieve a very compelling position as educators in the games industry. 

– We intend to make this concept a continuous activity that improves students’ working life skills and employment. One of the goals is also to get the participants to come to Finland either to work or to study for a degree. It is possible to scale the programme to be available to tens of thousands of students, says Pekka Pulkkinen from South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences.

Additional information: 

Pekka Pulkkinen 
Project manager, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences 
+358406300341 
pekka.pulkkinen@xamk.fi