Richard Wilson: Part Two

I don't think it necessarily indicates a long-term trend, I think it's hard to say at this stage because I think that the market is so unstable - things are changing dramatically. So I don't think those pointers necessarily mean that's the way it's going to be in the future.

Well, from a wider policy perspective, I don't think it necessarily matters whether a business outsources particular functions - I think it's a question of each individual games business having to make a commercial decision about whether they can deliver on different activities economically, efficiently, inside their own organisation or whether it's better to contract it out - I think it's something that should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

I don't think we're necessarily going to lose those skills that you mention. I think, again, that it's something that's continually changing, and I don't think it necessarily points to a long-term trend.

I think businesses have to make that decision about what they can do most efficiently, and the important thing is that the business remains profitable and they continue to make good quality games - and if you can outsource some functions that companies abroad are able to do very well, then I think it makes good commercial sense to do it.

So I don't think that indicates there are certain sections of the industry that we will lose in perpetuity, I just think that some of the things that have happened, have done so on a case-by-case basis, and it doesn't mean we're losing key functions.

I think it's around 30 per cent of people on accredited courses go straight into jobs, and if that's accurate it strikes me as being fairly low, but I think it would be interesting to do a comparison between people that take games-related degrees at university and, for example law courses, and see what proportion of people there are going on to a career in law.

Of course a degree is a degree, and you can use it in many different sectors, and one would hope that people who go into higher education don't simply learn skills that are vocational in nature - that they have to go into one particular industry. Hopefully they're equipped with skills that allow them to go into a variety of different industries.

So I think one can be a little more positive that is sometimes perhaps the case when we discuss this. I do think that with such a small proportion of university courses accredited by Skillset, I think it's four, is extremely low.

But on the positive side, if there are about 80 different courses offering some kind of a degree in videogames, I think in principle that's pretty good. I'm in favour of competition, and I think it's good that the consumers, the students, have a variety of choices to study.

But I would like to see more of them accredited by Skillset, so that both the people studying them and those that would employ them from university can have confidence that they are good degrees.

I think there are two issues there. One - the people that design the courses at university are beholden to make sure that the courses they offer do involve transferable skills. A lot of degrees obviously do involve transferable skills, and that's just as important for videogame-related courses as any other.

I think the second thing is that it shows how important it is to get good career advice for people studying for these courses.

But it's difficult, isn't it? When people go to university at the age of 18, even if they think they're on a course which is going to land them a job in the games industry, there are no guarantees. Some people go to university to study law and management, and they end up doing things that are completely different.

I don't think we should be surprised in some senses if some people who go to university to study videogames degree courses don't end up working in that industry. I think university has always been like that, and it probably always will be like that.

But what we've got to do, and this is important, is make sure that the courses that are on offer are of good quality, so even if you don't end up working in the industry, the course that you've studied should enable you to go on and work in another industry.

Yes, and I think it is difficult, and I think that shows that it's not just the responsibility of universities to train people so they're up and ready for work, they've got to get them in a position where they're trainable - so with a bit of additional training from employers they can cope in the marketplace.

I think it's true of a lot of different sectors of the economy - I think employers have a key part to play in informing universities about the core skills needed when they hire staff. And they obviously need to provide training that brings people up to scratch as quickly as possible.

I think more and more jobs will become open to graduates actually, I think it's quite a long-term trend. Despite tuition fees, people want to go to university to get a degree - not simply in our industry but throughout the British economy, because it's seen to be almost something like an educational rite of passage.

And I suppose if more and more people get degrees, and that's the qualification of choice on the part of the student, in some respects it probably would encourage games developers - and employers more generally - to fill positions with graduates.

I think it's almost a natural impact on the supply of labour.