TIGA, the trade association for the UK video games industry has commented on the A-Level results released today.
Despite the increase in people taking mathematics, physics and art and design courses the company stated it was worried about the decline in entrants for A-Level Computing.
Another worrying figure for TIGA was the lack of females who participated in both Maths and Computing with only 361 ladies taking computing compared to the 3,704 men.
Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA stated, “The under-representation of females in disciplines such as computing also limits the potential supply of skilled computer scientists available for work in the games industry. Males are more than ten times more likely than females to take A-Level computing. In the long term, this gender imbalance contributes to the skills shortage problem.”
A full outline of the different A-Levels that TIGA believe are vital for the future of the games industry can be found below:
An increase of 4,026 entries for mathematics (and an decrease of 0.4 per cent at grade A or above, with 17.2% gaining the new A* grade);
An increase of 1,209 entries for further mathematics (and an improvement of 0.7 per cent at grade A or above with 29.9% gaining the new A* grade);
An increase of 1,540 entries for physics (with an improvement of 0.9 per cent at grade A or above with 10.3% gaining the new A* grade);
An increase of 215 entries for art and design (with an improvement of 0.1 per cent at grade A or above with 13.3% gaining the new A* grade); and
A fall in entries for computing of 645 (with an increase of 0.6 per cent at grade A or above with 3.5% gaining the new A* grade).
Dr Wilson added, “Computer games developers need gifted people with a mastery of subjects such as physics, art, mathematics and computing. It is encouraging to see increases in A-Level entries for some of these subjects, but the continuing decline in entries for computing is disappointing.”
“The games development sector is suffering a skills shortage. The Government needs to encourage greater numbers to study these subjects through measures such as lower tuition fees for computer science and mathematics degree courses.”
Most students around the UK have picked up their A-Level results today and now face a rush to join the clearing spaces for Universities across the country.
