The University of Nanjing in China has reportedly launched one of the first majors in the country dedicated to studying metaverse knowledge. The university, located in eastern China, said this new momentum aims to provide new metaverse-related courses that will help more students meet the needs of metaverse companies. Around the world, more and more universities and educational institutions are incorporating the metaverse into their courses. This time around, the University of Nanjing, located in eastern China, will launch one of the country’s first metaverse majors in its latest push to the metaverse.
Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology is renaming one of its core departments, the Information Engineering Department, to the “Metaverse Engineering Department”, with the aim of integrating more metaverse-related courses into the university. According to sources, this may be the first department in China to include the word “metaverse”. Pan Zhigeng, dean of the renamed department, said this move will help integrate the institution with metaverse-related businesses, identify the needs of these groups, and train more talent to fill their lists.
Zhigeng also said students would be better qualified to serve in three fields: smart healthcare, smart education, and digital tourism. To advance the university in these areas, the department is establishing three different working groups: the metaverse research institute, the smart weather research institute, and the smart medical research institute. Other universities also use the metaverse as a tool to facilitate student relationships and integration. In July, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology announced the construction of an online metaverse campus called Metahkust, where students can follow classes together remotely as if they were in the same location. According to university staff, this would produce better results than using 2D video apps (like Zoom) for the same approach.
Also in July, the University of Tokyo announced it would offer metaverse engineering courses by the end of the year. Earlier this month, Meta also announced its participation in the creation of 10 online metaverse campuses, in partnership with a metaverse construction company called Victoryxr. This is part of the Immersive Learning project, a $ 150 million initiative that aims to introduce the metaverse to educational environments.
