Coming into office on September 30, 2024 in the Tamarun space, The Rubika Réunion school campus was officially inaugurated on January 29. Many personalities, Starting with the president of the Reunion region, Huguette Bello, the regional prefect, Patrice Latron, and Senator Évelyne Corbière, marked by their presence the importance of this training, which welcomes its first 32 students, for the development of the Reunionese sector of video games and animation.
Coming into office on September 30, 2024 in the Tamarun space, The Rubika Réunion school campus was officially inaugurated on January 29. Many personalities, Starting with the president of the Reunion region, Huguette Bello, the regional prefect, Patrice Latron, and Senator Évelyne Corbière, marked by their presence the importance of this training, which welcomes its first 32 students, for the development of the Reunionese sector of video games and animation.
To look at the first 32 young people in his twenties working in front of their screens on the benches of the Rubika Réunion school, It is difficult not to project yourself into the future. When the school has integrated its final premises in downtown Saint-Paul, within two or three years, It will welcome some 200 students. This investment in training is strategic for the development of the Reunionese animation and video game industry. Rubika Réunion is a higher education school that trains in Bac+5 in video games and 2D and 3D animation cinema. Winner of the call for projects the great image factory, Launched as part of the national program France 2030, The school opened on the Tamarun campus in La Saline Les Bains at the start of the 2024 school year. At the origin of this project, The pillars of the digital digital industry Reunionese, The animation studio Gao Shan Pictures and the video game studios Pitaya and Blue Ramen, Alongside the Rubika Valenciennes school. "Our goal on the territory is to convert our students' passion for video games and animation cinema to the future. Rubika Réunion stands out as a benchmark for excellence in these sectors, on a scale of the Indian Ocean and beyond ", underlines Arnaud Boulard, Founder of the Gao Shan Pictures studio*.
220 students in 2028
Rubika Réunion starts with young people from Reunion, metropolitan and abroad. The goal is to generate and cultivate a local talent pool. Recruiting at Bac level, The school offers five -year certifications, with four courses (animation 2D, animation 3D, Game Art video game, Game programming video game & tech design). Added to it, And this is an asset for the success of young people, a preparatory class. In order to meet the urgency of the identified needs, Rubika Réunion will also allow parallel admissions of students who already have a license or a bachelor to integrate the upper cycle curriculum. This strategy will potentially have a first promotion of graduates from 2026-2027, Forty in 2030, Then one sixty per year. Rubika will eventually meet promotions of around twenty students, On each of the four axes. Within two to three years, The Rubika Réunion school must take place on the Saint-Paul seafront, In the old Eugène-Dayot school, which will be rehabilitated by the city of Saint-Paul. It will integrate into the urban redevelopment of the seafront and the city center. They are around forty of computer classrooms, white rooms, collaborative and restoration spaces, which will have a space of nearly 2000 m2 on the edge of the Bay of Saint-Paul. The planned staff are 220 students at the start of the school year in 2028.
Avant-garde trades
With this high -level training project that materializes, The place of the video game industries, animation cinema and special effects appears more clearly in the future of Reunion. The island has already carved out a reputation in the animation sector thanks to the Reunion region, which contributes to the financing of animated films, largely made by Gao Shan Pictures and awarded in festivals. The Reunionese potential for video games is also established : The local video game market already partly belongs to creators of Péi games, who, however, need to progress to gain skills and go further. The creation of the Rubika Réunion school is therefore not only a chance for young people who want a career in these two promising sectors, But it has strategic value for studios that will be able to develop thanks to it, And because these professions are intimately linked to technological developments that place them at the forefront of all digital revolutions. The proximity between studios and training is a strength of the school. The latter employs 27 speakers, all professionals. Special attention is paid to the production situation. In years 1 and 2, Business and studios visits will be organized and business internships will be set up each year from the year 3. The challenge is also now to become aware of the young people of Reunion that a new training path is open to them locally.
Rubic, A global reference school
Association non lucrative, Rubika was born from the grouping of three pioneering schools in digital creation : The Higher Design Institute (1988), Supinfocom (1988) and supinfogame (2001). It forms creatives in the 2D/3D animation sectors, video games and industrial design. In 2024, Rubika was located in the world's top 5 of the best video game schools and the world's top 7 of the best animation schools. Its first four campuses, in Valenciennes, Montbéliard, Montréal (Canada), Pune (Inde), form more than 1,300 students each year. Employment rates after diploma are greater than 90 %. Rubika has a network of 4,700 alumni present in more than 50 countries.
Two features : the region and the state
Thanks to the France 2030 Investment Fund for culture, The State funded 50 % of the Rubika Réunion school project. The Réunion region, as for her, supports the entire sector. An image industry sector contract, fixing the framework of his intervention, will be signed soon. The Reunion region also acted in March 2024 the creation of a house in cinema and video games, which will contribute to the support and structuring of the image industries sector. We must also cite the territory of the West and the commune of Saint-Paul among the support of the school. Region, To and common are also engaged in the project of a territorial pole of cultural and creative industries, which will understand the live performance and other forms of creation, like comics. This project is registered, As part of a Call for projects from France 2030. The ICC pole should take place next to the Rubika school on the Saint-Paul seafront.
