Could there potentially be a Department of Video Games in our government? The newly formed Higher Education Video Game Alliance (HEVGA) along with the Bureau of Labor Statistics is starting to keep track of people working in the games industry and researchers performing analyses of the state of play alongside other sectors such as health, education and technology.
The new alliance has drawn 26 institutional members, including Washington, D.C.’s American University, Arizona State University, Massachusetts’ Becker College and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New York, to promote the impact of video game programs in education. Members expect to share and publicize best practices, complete research, fundraise, network, and educate policymakers and the media.
According to the alliance, 381 colleges, universities and trade schools across the country include video game design as part of their curriculum. Of that number, 55 have associate’s degrees, 226 have bachelor’s degrees, 46 have master’s degrees, and four have doctoral programs.
“By coming together as an alliance, I believe that we will better showcase the critical role that video game programs play in educating and preparing students for the 21st century workforce,” said Andrew Phelps, a professor and founder of RIT’s School of Interactive Games and Media and director of RIT’s Center for Media, Arts, Games, Interaction and Creativity (MAGIC) center.
Constance Steinkuehler, a former senior policy analyst from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will run the organization. Steinkuehler is also an associate professor in digital media at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a co-director of the Games+Learning+Society center at the university’s Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.
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Graphic provided by HEVGA
