Tsinghua University, Peking University and other 86 colleges and universities have laid out the Metaverse. Is it an outlet or a gimmick?

Source: Financial Associated Press

Author: Xu Cihao

Image source: Generated by Unbounded AI

Recently, the School of Information Technology Engineering of Tianjin Vocational and Technical Normal University and Changhong Jiahua jointly established the "School-Enterprise Joint Metaverse Technology Innovation Center". This is the latest university in China to deploy the Metaverse.

According to the incomplete statistics of the Metaverse Special Committee of the National University Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Innovation Alliance, as of July 2023, there are 86 colleges and universities across the country strategically deployed in the Metaverse field, including 73 undergraduate colleges and 13 vocational colleges .

Universities mainly set up metaverse majors, metaverse series courses, and build metaverse platforms (metaverse scientific research laboratories, metaverse training platforms, metaverse innovation display platforms, metaverse campus systems), etc. to lay out the metaverse field.

**1 Which colleges and universities are deployed in the Metaverse? **

On September 24 last year, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology announced the establishment of the first Metaverse department in a domestic university, and officially changed the name of the Department of Information Engineering of the School of Artificial Intelligence to the Department of Metaverse Engineering. This is also the first department in a domestic university named after the Metaverse.

Pan Zhigeng, dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence (School of Future Technology) at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, said in an interview with the media: “We have conducted in-depth exchanges with many universities and companies. How companies recruit relevant talents, their needs prompted us to change the name of the department. The main consideration at that time was to adapt to market demand and promote higher-quality employment for students.”

In fact, as early as April 16, 2022, Tsinghua University began to lay out the Metaverse, and the "Metaverse Culture Laboratory of the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University" was officially established. The laboratory is not only the first metaverse laboratory established by domestic universities, but also the first metaverse laboratory with cultural attributes in China.

Subsequently, on April 19, the Interdisciplinary Research Institute of Renmin University of China announced the establishment of the first metaverse research center among domestic universities. It is reported that in the future, the research center will not only promote and organize metaverse academic activities and industry summits at home and abroad, undertake projects entrusted by local governments and relevant departments, but also set up courses related to talent training for undergraduates, masters and doctoral students.

According to the official website of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the school has newly opened a Master of Science in Metaverse Science and Technology, and the admission time is September 2023. The Master of Science in Metaverse Technology (MSc MT) program will help students understand the nature of metaverse research and the metaverse industry, in particular its interdisciplinary nature. Get an in-depth look at the latest Metaverse technologies, including VR/AR, game development, machine learning, decentralized infrastructure, cryptographic properties, computer vision, and AIoT (Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things).

According to incomplete statistics from the Metaverse Special Committee of the National University Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Innovation Alliance, there are already 86 universities in China that have deployed Metaverse, and first-line famous universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Renmin University of China, Zhejiang University, Wuhan University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Chinese are all located in the Metaverse. List. Among them, the number of colleges and universities in Guangdong, Fujian, Beijing, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang ranks among the top five in the country, with 12, 7, 6, 6, and 5 respectively.

**2 Why do colleges and universities rush to lay out the metaverse? **

According to Zhaopin's "2022 Metaverse Industry Talent Development Report", from January to July 2022, the number of job openings related to the Metaverse industry on all platforms has increased significantly, with a year-on-year increase of 16.6%, of which 70% of the recruitment positions are from the Internet/IT/ Electronics/communications industry. From the perspective of competition, R&D posts in Metaverse have the lowest level of competition, and the supply of talents is relatively scarce, while the supply of talents for product and operation posts is relatively saturated. From the perspective of salary, the average recruitment salary for related positions on the whole platform reaches 18,000 yuan/month, and deep learning ranks first with an average salary of 39,971 yuan/month.

According to Zhao Wei, a senior researcher at Ouyi OKX Research Institute, emerging technology courses such as Metaverse can help students master new technologies and knowledge in a rapidly developing technological environment, enhance innovation and competitiveness, and obtain better job opportunities and opportunities. Career development prospects, while quickly filling the talent gap in the market to meet the development needs of enterprises.

"Emerging technology is an important force to promote social development. As a new Internet business form and digital society that blends reality and reality, Metaverse is an important emerging technology trend, and there is a very large talent gap. The establishment of Metaverse courses in colleges and universities across the country is to adapt to the situation at the same time. It is a win-win measure to meet market demand for talents and promote student employment," said Zhao Wei.

"Universities and colleges develop Metaverse colleges and departments not only to meet the society's demand for relevant talents, but also to promote technological innovation and industrial development." Expert at Whale Platform Think Tank, Vice President and Secretary-General of the China Democratic Association Metaverse Working Committee In Wu Gaobin’s view, the establishment of metaverse departments in colleges and universities can provide technical support and talent reserves for related industries, and promote the development and innovation of the metaverse field. At the same time, the development of metaverse departments in colleges and universities can also attract more scientific research talents and capital investment, forming a virtuous circle of scientific and technological innovation.

"The development of scientific and technological innovation requires talents first, and the development speed of traditional talents has gradually been difficult to match the iterative innovation of current technology." Chen Xiaohuake, executive director of the Metaverse Industrial Collaborative Innovation Center in the Science Park of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, told the reporter of Metaverse NEWS that the digital economy and The shortage of talents in the metaverse era has become the top priority of current development. Relevant colleges and universities should actively adapt to the new situation and new tasks, and strive to cultivate a large number of digital talents who can meet the requirements of economic development. Specifically, they can be divided into digital basic research and development talents, Digital cross-integration talents and digital governance talents provide talent guarantee for the development of metaverse and the construction of digital China.