The Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy is a graduate school of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida, USA. The director of the school is Ben Noel, former vice president and chief operating officer of EA's Orlando-based Tiburon studio. FIEA is a graduate video game development school offering an accredited master's degree in interactive entertainment. Areas of study include game design, art, programming and production. The Academy is located at the Orlando Centroplex, which houses the Amway Arena and the Bob Carr Performing... Arts Centre. FIEA was established in 2004 by UCF's School of Film and Digital Media and Electronic Arts, and accepted its first class of students in Fall of 2005. The site of FIEA was formerly the downtown Expo Centre until late 2004 when the city of Orlando leased the building to the University. FIEA follows a nonstandard educational philosophy which centers on the simulation of a professional video game development environment. The configuration of the building and course work is designed to reinforce this approach.
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