Princeton Review Ranks NJIT a Top 50 School to Study Game Design

New Jersey Institute of Technology has again earned a spot on The Princeton Review’s top 50 undergraduate schools for game design in the 2023 rankings.

The Princeton Review chose the schools based on its 2022 survey of administrators at 150 institutions across the U.S. and abroad offering game design courses, majors, or degree programs. The survey collected information in four areas: academics, faculty, technology, and career prospects. The company analyzed more than 40 survey data points to tally the rankings.

“NJIT offers a comprehensive game design curriculum, whether it’s creating characters or game art, or writing the code that makes the games work, we make it possible to fully embrace the entire game development framework,” said John Cays, associate dean for Academic Affairs in NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture and Design.

The game development program at NJIT launched in 2003 as part of the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, specifically for students interested in programming and developing gaming experiences. In 2008, HCAD launched its digital design program, offering budding developers and programmers a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Design, with a focus on game design, art and aesthetics. Over the past decade, NJIT has evolved into a community of designers and developers, artists and programmers, scientists and industry partners — all working together to shape the future of games and gaming technologies. Ying Wu College of Computing now offers a minor in game development, opening the discipline up to even more students across the university.

“This ranking represents the strength of the collaborative program developed by the Department of Informatics, the School of Art + Design, and the Communication and Media Program,” said Eric Nersesian, associate director of the Machine Intelligence and XR Research (MIXR) Lab in NJIT’s Ying Wu College of Computing.

The gaming community has blossomed at NJIT. The university has played host as a site for the Global Game Jam since 2010, launched the MIXR Lab for augmented- and virtual-reality development and has seen growth in applications, enrollment and graduation of students in the game development fields. 

In addition, NJIT’s competitive esports community, which presented at an innovation festival, supports eight Division I teams and five Division II teams. Check out their page in the Highlander Hub for more information.

“We enthusiastically recommend New Jersey Institute of Technology – and all of the outstanding schools on our list for 2023 - to students considering a career in the exciting field of game design,” said Rob Franek, editor-in-chief for The Princeton Review. “The schools have first-rate programs in game design. Their facilities are state-of-the-art, and their alumni include many of the industry’s most successful artists, designers, developers, and entrepreneurs.”