36 Pictured left to right: BSc(Hons) Computer Games Development students Stuart Graves, Daniel Collinson and Craig Alker.
Industry partnerships equal opportunities for all It has become even more essential that students and recent graduates have access, not only to high-quality employability and careers guidance, but opportunities for invaluable work-experience. UCLan has been at the forefront <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>fering workexperience opportunities for its students and graduates for many years, ensuring that the placement, internship or project benefits both the organisation and the student, and where possible results in employment. By teaming up with a number <strong>of</strong> industry players UCLan has been able to provide opportunities for students, academics and businesses to work together and help drive innovation within industry sectors forward. A successful collaboration with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) is just one example <strong>of</strong> where three UCLan Games Development graduates were presented with a unique opportunity to work with the stereoscopic 3D group at SCEE. UCLan is one <strong>of</strong> the few UK universities to incorporate 3D technology into its games development programmes and the partnership with the industry experts at Playstation® 3D gave Dan Hill, Tom Russell and Stuart Brown, real experience <strong>of</strong> stereoscopic 3D rendering in a commercial setting; a technique they had all used in their final year projects. All <strong>of</strong> the graduates’ work used stereoscopic techniques to enhance the realism <strong>of</strong> graphics within a game. One project focused on 3D environments with complex lighting effects, another used component based entities, allowing the ‘world’ inside a game to be as realistic as possible such as a fire spreading in a similar way to real life. The important subject <strong>of</strong> optimisation was also tackled: researching ways to make 3D stereoscopic games run faster. Simon Benson, Senior Development Manager at SCEE, commented: “The UCLan staff are keen to move with new innovations and have taken on board a vision <strong>of</strong> 3D gaming. They are providing their students with industry informed skills that are very much needed in the future <strong>of</strong> gaming.” Stuart Brown, who graduated with a first-class degree in Games Development added; “Being able to work with a company like Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and draw upon their expertise has been really beneficial to me. I’ve had a real insight to what it’s like working in the games development industry.” The partnership with global IT company Cisco, which has invested in the provision <strong>of</strong> specialist equipment and expertise to enhance the industrial networking environment, has also opened up opportunities for student internships. Specialist industry internships are highly competitive, yet extremely advantageous. Second year student Philip Whiteside fought <strong>of</strong>f tough competition from around the UK to secure a place on one <strong>of</strong> Cisco’s prestigious 12-month internship programmes. The UCLan student is set to gain crucial experience with Enhanced Customer Aligned Testing Services (ECATS) in Reading. It will provide him with the opportunity to partner with customer-specific testing experts within Cisco Services, and gain hands-on access to the latest technologies. Philip will also work within the team to solve complex network issues that impact Cisco’s top five percent <strong>of</strong> customers. As there is only one ECATS laboratory within Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the internship represents an excellent opportunity to work in a customer-focused and progressive company. Services are broken down into capabilities enabling Philip to work with customers from all over the world. Sedef Buyukataman, Global Intern Program Manager at Cisco, commented: “We’re very pleased Philip will be joining us. In the UK we bring in between two to five interns each year, many <strong>of</strong> whom are <strong>of</strong>fered full-time positions upon successful completion <strong>of</strong> their internship in ECATS, Advanced Services or Technical Sales.” It isn’t just the large global organisations that UCLan works with; internships within smaller organisations can be just as beneficial, again to both the business and the student. Liz Russell, company founder and MD <strong>of</strong> the multi award-winning Preston-based company Envirosystems added: “I’ve been very impressed by the skills our graduates have brought to the team. They have fresh ideas and haven’t been afraid to suggest business improvements.” 37
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