After the Covid-19 pandemic, people, on a global level, witnessed the significant development that took place in all industries, the educational sector specifically. A shift towards virtual classes and online learning took place, forcing students, parents, and teachers to adopt this relatively emerging technology!
Today, educational entities are taking their strategies to a new virtual level! Yes, we’re talking about the metaverse here, which also seemed to have witnessed immense development after the pandemic. Or should we say because of it?
One of these educational entities is the Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology in China! The latter has renamed the Information Engineering Department, which has been around for 25 years, as the Metaverse Engineering Department. According to a report in the local media, the university claims to be the first in China to provide a metaverse major.
The curriculum’s specifications haven’t been revealed, yet!
According to Hong Kong media outlet HK01, Pan Zhigeng, dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence, which houses the metaverse department, stated that in the future, the two institutions will collaborate to prepare master's, doctoral, and postdoctoral students who are specifically interested in the metaverse. However, no further details have been provided as to what the curriculum will include.
That’s not it. The university and Yalong Intelligent Equipment Group struck a deal in August to establish a Metaverse Research Institute. Here, it’s important to mention that Yalong is a company that offers business solutions for robots and digital transformation. Can you imagine what the university is cooking?
China is quickly adopting the metaverse!
If you do follow tech news, then you definitely know that China is considered an innovator when it comes to new technologies. You should also know that China banned crypto transactions in 2020/2021. However, that’s not the case with virtual technologies!
In 2022, metaverse research institutions began to spring up in China. A research center for metaverse and virtual reality communication with several Chinese universities was launched in August by Tencent, Huawei, and Epic Games. In addition, Renmin University of China established the Metaverse Research Center in April.
Moreover, to enhance the economy and investment, the local authorities in Shanghai and Beijing have integrated the metaverse into their development plans