The Ministry of Education has introduced an electronic competitive sports and management major - alongside 13 other new majors for vocational schools in China. The e-sports major, which falls under the category of sports and education, is expected to be launched in vocational colleges across China from 2017.
The new degree will equip students with demand-oriented skills in gaming and make them more suitable in the job market.
Reports say that in 2015, the market scale of e-sports reached 26.9 billion yuan (US$4 billion) and is set to achieve further breakthroughs.
The high rewards of e-sports contests, government support, media publicity, investor enthusiasm, celebrity endorsements and numerous school contests and clubs have all contributed to the burgeoning e-sports market.
According to Gbtimes, China’s General Sports Administration ratified electronic sports as the 99th officially recognized physical item in 2003 and redefined it as the 78th physical item in 2008.
The development of an e-sports major faces a number of serious challenges, such as a lack of teachers and professional text books, guidance on the development of the major, and career prospects of students.
Below is a video of e-sports in China in 2007, In 2007 former Teammanager and Caster quiZZ travelled through China and shot 17 hours of unpublished video footage about the growing eSports scene. In the first pilot episode he visits the Gaming Center of the team wNv.
