Lambton College is at the forefront of Canada's emerging esports industry.
The college announced Thursday it will be adding a new Esports Entrepreneurship & Administration program next fall, which will be the first of its kind at an Ontario college.
Vice President of Student Success and Campus Services Rob Kardas says it will include business, sport marketing, ethical leadership, health promotion and social media courses.
"It's great to be at the leading edge," says Kardas. "I'm sure we'll be replicated here fairly quickly, but being at the leading edge definitely gives us a competitive advantage in the short term."
He says it's going to compliment the programs in Lambton's school of business.
"Whether it's our business administration program or our sports and recreation management program," says Kardas. "It's going to borrow some courses from those areas but have some esports specific courses."
The new program announcement was made at the grand opening of the college's on-site Esports arena -- a campus gaming space with 20 computer stations and specialized gaming furniture.
"It will house our Lambton College Lions varsity team, it will have a recreational component where students can come and play in a recreational or intramural way and also at some point in the near future we'll be opening it to our community," says Kardas. "So, if kids want to have birthday parties here, the community will have access to it."
An impressive group of industry leaders were on hand for the opening, including representatives from Amazon.com subsidiary Twitch.