One of our former Games Development students is celebrating winning a national award.
Larissa Radka, who completed her Level 3 course with us in 2025, has been named the 2025 TIGA BTEC Learner of the Year.
The annual TIGA Awards showcase excellence in games development, service providers and education. Nominees are judged based on an existing portfolio of work.
We spoke to Larissa about what it means to be an up-and-coming game developer.
Larissa’s fascination with games began at primary school, where her interest in game development quickly led her to decide that she wanted to work in the industry.
“Growing up during the 2010s felt like the golden age of gaming, with incredible technical breakthroughs. Batman: Arkham City completely blew me away. It was the first game that made me think, ‘I want to be part of something that makes people say wow’.”
Larissa’s love for games continued, but it wasn’t until she started her Level 3 course in Game Development at the college that she was able to dive deeper.
In her first year, she learned key skills including animation, narrative, sound design and importantly, 3D modelling — now her method of choice.
“The course made me realise just how much goes into making a game and how many different talents are needed. It also taught me how important self-motivation is in creative work.”
During a team project in her second year, an unexpected event saw Larissa step up to become her team’s programmer.
Despite her lack of experience in this role, they finished their game and were even selected for the Sheffield Game Republic Student Showcase, where they presented it to industry professionals.
Throughout, Larissa enjoyed the close encouragement of her peers and tutors, including her best friend, Patricija. She credits Level 3 Games Course leader Peter Mitchell, meanwhile, for ‘inspiring me a lot, often in funny, unexpected ways and really pushing me to grow’.
Peter said: “Larissa has been a standout student from day one, excelling in both technical skills and teamwork. Her projects even caught the eye of a game developer. Her success is a reflection of her hard work.”
So, as an award-winner, what advice would Larissa give to those who are just starting out in games development?
“Stay curious and open-minded. Don’t be afraid of challenges; they often lead to your biggest growth. Most importantly, enjoy the process and keep creating, even when it gets tough.”
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Our Digital and IT students can now take part in regular ‘hackathons’ – thanks to a new digital lab sponsored by aql.
The aql Innovation Academy was opened at our Printworks campus by the CEO of the Leeds-based telecommunications firm, Professor Adam Beaumont. He also used the occasion to announce plans for a further £100,000 investment to create a 5G innovation lab network at the college over the coming year.
The company has been working with us over the past two years to run hackathons, which allow Digital and IT students to tackle problems on isolated networks that mirror real-world systems.
The new room, which has been kitted out with computers, servers and sensors, has been set up to make this process smooth and – using AI – partially automated.
Declaring the facility officially open, Prof Beaumont (who is a former college governor) said: “I’m buzzing with pride!
“This all came about from a conversation I had 15 years ago about how we could work closer with the college and grow the talent in the city to work with our business.
“This is the crystallisation of that idea.”
Printworks Campus Principal Lee Pryor said: “This fantastic room is a great resource for our students.
“I’ve seen a lot of labs like this and this one is the best so far, it’s great aql is sponsoring it.”
The college’s partnership with aql has been overseen by our Deputy Head of Apprenticeships and Commercial, Cheryl Macfarlane.
Executive Principal Bill Jones, who also attended the opening, said he was delighted to see this result in ‘a cutting-edge digital space for students to learn and create’.
He added: “Our partnerships remain central to everything we do, and our consolidated relationship with aql is something we’d like to replicate across our colleges and group.”
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One of our Digital and IT students has secured a software engineering apprenticeship after excelling on his T Level work placement.
Vedant Shukla was one of the first students from the college to do the industry-based part of his course at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Vedant loved his time at DWP Digital’s Leeds base and immediately knew he could make a positive impact.
He said: “My work placement with DWP was the best I could have gotten: everyone I met there was so supportive of me as a college student.
“I also got to work in a real-life Agile environment (which focuses on a flexible workplace and mindset, collaboration and adaptability to change) from the moment I joined.
“It was such a wonderful experience as, within a month, I was able to lead a project from the beginning to the end.
“I worked as a business analyst for a lot of my placement as well. This meant interacting with stakeholders, suggesting ways they could improve the project, creating documents, catching up on emails, hosting meetings and so on.”
Determined to bag an apprenticeship with DWP, Vedant made sure he went the extra mile to impress his employers – and it worked!
He said: “Ever since I joined my placement, they knew I wanted to secure an apprenticeship by the end of it.
“A lot of opportunities will not be handed to you in life, you have to work for it and constantly emphasise the fact that you have a goal, which is what I did.
“I also stayed to do overtime because I loved working with them. I think that’s what showed them that I really wanted to stay and get an apprenticeship.”
It was the practical nature of T Levels – students spend 80% of their time in the classroom and 20% on an industry placement – that attracted Vedant to his course.
Now, two years later with a software engineering apprenticeship underway, he’s convinced he made the right choice.
He said: “I never wanted to join university after college, and I knew that the T Level industry placement would give me that breakthrough to get onto an apprenticeship or work right off the bat.
“I have really enjoyed every part of the course since the beginning and appreciate all the support that college provided when we had to manage coursework and placements at the same time in year two. Overall, my experience has been very interesting, knowledge-filled, professional and exciting.
“I would definitely recommend a T Level course to others, as it is filled with opportunities that are not simply university-based; you can get into work life right away.”
You can hear more about how much Vedant enjoyed his course, and placement, on this DWP Digital video: https://bit.ly/3WkOdPi .
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Some of our Digital and IT students have taken part in everything from robotics coding to podcasting during an unforgettable trip to New Zealand.
Three lucky Level 3 learners – Chris Botty, Coburn Staniland and Tashinga Rushwaya – enjoyed the activities-packed two week stay in Auckland, funded by the Turing Scheme, earlier this year.
Teaming up with Manurewa High School, the trio participated in P-TECH (Pathways in Technology) classes, where they learned more about laser cutting and 3D printing.
They also visited two of the country’s prominent podcasting studios, Podlab and Campfire Studios, to look around their facilities, find out more about the process and talk to the production teams.
Chris enjoyed laser cutting his own name during his sessions at the high school, and also relished his time at Campfire Studios. He said: “At Campfire we were greeted by the people who do the podcast and went to one of the podcast rooms to interview each other.
“I asked different questions, like: what do you want to do in the future? It was an interesting experience and it helped improve my confidence and communication skills.”
Tashinga said: “We learned the fundamentals of podcasting, including techniques to keep a conversation engaging.
“This session was more independent, allowing us to explore topics of our choice; I chose to speak about German cars and their limited presence in New Zealand.”
The students further increased their knowledge of podcasting during their visit to Podlab, where they inspected its state-of-the-art studios and talked to the professionals who help creators make their shows.
Programming and robots were the order of the day, meanwhile, when they attended the P-TECH launch at Ara Auckland Airport Jobs and Skills Hub.
Tashinga said: “During the event we explored robotics programming; learning how to code robots so they can follow specific commands and execute tasks at the right time.”
The students also had time to look around New Zealand’s dramatic landscapes and discover more about its history and traditions.
Coburn, reflecting on how the trip had given them all a fresh perspective, said: “During my placement in New Zealand I was able to explore different opportunities for my future and see how the opportunities over there vary from the ones in the UK.
“I was also able to explore the beautiful country and its amazing culture. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.”
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