The University of Hong Kong aka the ‘Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’ has announced its intention to build the world’s first physical digital twin school buildings in the virtual realm.
Within the Metaverse, individuals can come together, work and play in three-dimensional virtual environments using digital representations of themselves, or more commonly known as avatars, allowing them to interact with others who are not physically present.
The university wants to develop a virtual reality classroom called ‘MetaHKUST’. This allows university students to take classes from different locations as if they were in the same room. According to a professor of the learning institution, the mixed reality classroom will be opened from the new HKUST Guangzhou campus on September 1.
Reportedly, due to various circumstances, many people will not be able to attend the inauguration this year. For this reason, the university went looking for a new possibility and it has been found: the Metaverse. The inauguration will therefore be hosted on the Metaverse.
Although a lot of work is being done to complete the ecosystem, a lot of work still needs to be done. However, once this is done, the university’s students can create material for the virtual world, such as their own avatars, NFTs, tokens or virtual works, some of which can be used or viewed in the physical buildings using augmented reality (AR ) technology.
Avatars within the Metaverse are not limited to gaming use only. The avatars can also be used for other sectors such as entertainment, sports, online shopping, fashion, social media and in this case the university.
The University of Hong Kong is one of the first to develop interdisciplinary education, e-learning and new methodologies and programs. The university said it has always been a leader in creative education.