TSU together with 22 universities will develop and study eSports

TOMSK, Oct 22 – RIA Tomsk. Tomsk State University (TSU) initiated the creation of the National Association of University ESports, 22 Russian universities have confirmed their participation in it; it will help form and test new educational programs, Vyacheslav Goiko, Director of the TSU Center for Applied Big Data Analysis told reporters on Friday. 

Earlier it was reported that TSU Rector Eduard Galazhinsky supported the idea of developing eSports at the university, TSU joined a consortium of 35 universities, which aims to study the impact of eSports on social, cognitive, personal skills of a person. In cooperation with other universities, TSU intends to develop computer games. Colizeum, a network of eSports arenas, has become an industrial partner of the consortium.

"We are launching the National Association of University ESports. 22 universities have confirmed (participation), and these are not only universities of the consortium, but also external ones. We will be able to engage in a large number of research projects, attract an audience to our competitions in order to popularize eSports, universities will be able to form the prize fund", – Goiko said at a press conference at the RIA Tomsk media center.

He also stressed that the association will make it possible to launch online educational programs with elements of eSports and quickly test hypotheses. Now TSU together with Colizeum is forming eSports classes where not only university students, but also other Tomsk residents will be able to study. One of the partners from whom TSU also intends to "learn eSports" is the Tomsk Regional Branch of the ESports Federation.

"Combining several universities into one cluster will make it easier for Tomsk athletes to train through direct challenges from other universities, it will also make it easier to exchange experience between athletes" , – Dmitry Shulgin, chairman of the Tomsk branch of the federation said at a press conference.

© РИА Томск. Павел Стефанский

Dmitry Shulgin, Chairman of the Tomsk Regional Branch of the ESports Federation