Perfect World Education Inks Agreement with Abertay University, Ushers In Golden Era for China-UK Creative Industry

The high-level forum, co-organized by the Department for International Trade and China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), is in the run-up to the China-UK High-level People-to-People Dialogue on Dec. 6 and has witnessed a string of signing ceremonies in the cultural and creative industry.

Observers say the forum opens comprehensive cooperation and heralds a "golden era" for the creative industry between China and the UK.

The cooperation between Perfect World Education, a subsidiary of China's leading entertainment and creative enterprise Perfect World Investment & Holding Group, and Abertay University, a world-renowned high institution in computer games, opens a new model to cultivate talents in the gaming sector, provides a platform for cooperation in the gaming industry and cultural exchanges, and plays an exemplary role in future cooperation between the two countries. It is the first project in the signing ceremony co-chaired by Karen Bradley, the British Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and Tong Gang, deputy head of SARFT.

"We're very pleased to reach consensus with Abertay University and sign a memorandum of understanding in cultivating online gaming talents, facilitating exchanges among students and faculty members of the two sides and establishing mechanism of bilateral exchanges and visits," said Wang Yuyun, President of Perfect World Education.

"With ever closer cooperation, the two countries may be able to advance educational and cultural exchanges among the talents, and usher in a new era of common development and interaction."

Professor Nigel Seaton, Abertay University Principal, said: "I am delighted that Abertay University and Perfect World Education have agreed on a strategic partnership to develop and nurture new talent to meet the demands of the international computer games industry.

"China has a rapidly-expanding games development sector, and is now the second largest market for UK game exports.

"As Europe's leading university for computer games education, we are ideally placed to foster university-business links in this area, and we are confident it will prove to be a great success for both the UK and Chinese creative industries."

Experts say the UK and China are ideal cooperation partners in the creative industry given that the former boasts sophisticated system and industry rules while the latter enjoys huge potential due to its rapid growth. The two can be very much complementary on this front.

The UK ranks tops among all other European countries in video gaming and its developers are well-renowned all over the world with its innovation capacity. "Tomb Raider", "Grand Theft Auto", "Rune Scape" and "Little Big Planet" were all developed by British video game companies.

Britain is also strong in cultivating online gaming talents. Take Abertay University as an example; it has a world-leading place in majors like computer arts and computer games and is the only authorized institution of higher learning to open computer game technology and computer arts courses. With its heavy investment in IT facilities, it is also home to the International Centre for Computer Games and Virtual Entertainment and the world's most famous gaming university.

Though China is already the world's largest gaming market with huge potential, it is short in talents in the industry. According to authoritative estimates, the country's gaming industry has over 300,000 vacancies every year due to the lack of talents.

And the short of talents poses a huge obstacle for the country's gaming industry which registers an annual value of almost 200 billion yuan, something that is on course to reach 500 billion yuan in the next 3 to 5 years.

The partnership between Perfect World Education and Abertay University is undoubtedly a model of win-win cooperation.

China can take advantage of overseas education resources and the university's strength in creative development so as to cultivate more game developers with global vision. And the UK can seize the opportunity to expand cooperation with China's gaming industry and further explore the country's gaming market.

Perfect World Education and Abertay University already achieved tangible progress before the forum. The two sides have recently launched the Master of Professional Practice in Games Development Orientation Programme (MPPOP).

As the first cooperation project, it aims to teach students the techniques and skills of professional game development, help them get used to the growing innovation demands of video game content and technology, and provide a pathway for entry into the Masters of Professional Practice in Games Development (MProf) programme in the university.