Meta to open 10 virtual campuses as part of metaverse push

As part of its $150 million Immersive Learning Project, social media company Meta (formerly Facebook) said that it is launching 10 virtual campuses across the US in partnership with Victoryxr, an Iowa-based firm that is designing the metaverse campuses, Meta said, it seeks to take education to virtual reality (VR) environments, as the classes would be conducted through a VR headset. 

For example, an institution without a physical campus, the University of Maryland Global Campus, VictoryXR has created a virtual campus with buildings, a grassy lawn, and a duck pond.  

“The students can put on the headset and enter an administration building, where they can chat with the financial aid avatar. Five metaverse courses are being offered this fall at the university, including courses in biology and astronomy,” Daniel Mintz, chairman of the department of information technology at UMGC said. 

Other institutions that are part of this project, include, the University of Kansas School of Nursing, New Mexico State University, South Dakota State University, Florida A&M University, West Virginia University, Southwestern Oregon Community College, California State University, Dominguez Hills, and Alabama A&M University. 

Meta said in a statement, it is donating its Meta Quest headsets to these organisations for students to be able to be included in the courses. 

One of the objectives of Meta’s Immersive Learning project is to increase the access of students to these technologies by partnering with organisations and universities. The company’s pivot to metaverse and VR caused the company to lose money, as its metaverse division, the Reality Labs unit, reported losses of $2.8 billion in Q2 2022. The company also had its first bond issuance in August, selling $10 billion in debt to invest in metaverse products and other initiatives. 

Last year, in October, Meta announced that it has created a $150 million fund to build a robust ecosystem for learning in the metaverse, it plans to do more than just create immersive educational experiences. 

The social media giant also said that this is still just a pilot. All the universities involved said they would loan the VR headset to students. Students would not be required to pay extra for the use of the headsets. They would also spend a limited time in “metaversity”, conducting experiments or taking an excursion. In the case of a nursing school, it would allow students to interact with patients from diverse backgrounds instead of using one mannequin. 

Meta is not the only entity that is bullish about metaversity and VR classrooms. In August this year, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) announced its plan of establishing the world’s first physical-digital twin campuses in metaverse, as the University seeks to enhance “immersive” learning experiences for its two campuses in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. 

In July 2022, the University of Tokyo also said that it will start offering introductory engineering lessons in the metaverse later this year. 

In India too, the education segment is upbeat on metaverse learning. In June, IIT-Jodhpur launched a part-time online M.Tech programme for working professionals in augmented reality (AR) and VR for the semester commencing 2022-23. And more recently, IT major Tech Mahindra said that it is collaborating with Mahindra University to set up a Makers Lab to promote research and development in quantum computing, XAI (explainable AI) and metaverse.  

The global metaverse market was valued at $41.9 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $1,237.0 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 40.4% from 2021 to 2030, as per a May 2022 report from Allied Market Research.