The Australian school for visual effects, programming, and animation called CG Spectrum is offering $500,000 worth of scholarships for promising students for its 2016-2017 season.
CG Spectrum offer these scholarships in partnerships with game and film studios in Australia, just like developer League of Geeks ("Armello") and visual effects studio Luma Pictures, visual contributor to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here, those who would want to apply can choose from six accredited diplomas online. These courses include animation, visual effects, programming, 3D modelling, and composition, to name a few. Once the best students graduate, they are move to internships with pay with industry establishments.
According to Gamespot, Jeff Pepper, CG Spectrum's co-founder and head, mentioned that paid internships are all key to the whole initiative.
"There is a lot of abuse going on in the internship space at the moment," explained Pepper. "And we're proud to partner with studios that actively go against that."
The "Armello" developer League of Geeks actually offers three six-month paid placements for the top achievers of the 2016-2017 season.
League of Geeks director and co-founder Blake Mizzi has this to say: ""Independent studios are doing some of the most creative work in games at the moment. We want the next generation of game developers to be excited about making games in Australia, and to make sure we're growing our best talent with opportunities here."
It is also reported that half of the CG Spectrum scholarships will be given to women and the other underprivileged demographics.
"We don't see this as token diversity. We want to see those places filled, and we're willing to tweak the programme to suit the needs of the communities that want to apply," mentioned the CG Spectrum co-founder. "Being online also means there's a huge opportunity for rural candidates who may not always have the means to move to cities."
As of right now, the first set of scholarships is offered, with the closing date being Dec. 14. There will be tests for the students to partake. Any of the qualified merits would allow them to apply successfully.