Teaching in the digital universe through the use of avatars with students who have a virtual university campus will become a reality next September in Barcelona, where Metaverse University will open. In parallel to this virtual environment, a 600-square-meter physical headquarters will be launched, for which a location is being sought. The study center will offer different courses on topics such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies, tokenization as a payment system, NFTs, the metaverse, and legal tech (authenticity, assets, personal data in the virtual world... which require professionals prepared to regulate a new regulatory framework).
The project's promoter is entrepreneur Àlex Moga through his company Horizon Metaverse, which has the technological support of Nubi.City, a virtualized and 3D remote work software platform, to create the metaverse. Nubi.City, based in Miami, is a business initiative led by fellow Canarian entrepreneur Gustavo Medina, dedicated to creating virtual realities for companies that wish to work remotely, such as Cargobot or Retemex.
He also works with the Sant Cugat company, Enchainté, which has developed its own blockchain. This company will provide the necessary blockchain software to certify the validation of degrees and content acquired at Metaverse University, through this technology. This will facilitate the worldwide validity of the skills acquired by the student.
Initially, the training will be taught in Spanish ---"to progressively incorporate English," assures Moga---, so that in 2023 the university is expected to open to other cities in Spain, starting with Madrid, Malaga, Valencia, and Bilbao. Subsequently, "the business can be scaled in Latin America," explains Àlex Moga.
Moga does not rule out alliances with other partners. "We can reach agreements with other platforms to develop content in animation, virtuality, 3D format because this would increase the immersive capacity of the university". Metaverse University will have virtual meeting rooms, conventions, and congresses on content related to the subject of the courses offered. In addition, Metaverse University will accompany its students with a mentoring service.
Horizon Metaverse has detected that 6% of university-aged young people do not want to study at conventional universities because they do not guarantee them a job, and therefore, there is demand to promote a project with the characteristics of Metaverse University. However, the target audience range for the university's virtual reality will be from 18 to 54 years old; for all those people who "have the need to adapt to digital transformation."
Initially, Metaverse University expects to enroll 458 students monthly, as the academic proposal will be based on micro-trainings starting from one week in duration up to a four-month master's degree. The university center will charge around 300 euros for a micro-course in Spain and about 150 euros in Latin America, so Horizon Metaverse's business plan expects to generate four million euros in revenue and obtain profits close to one million euros in the first year.
The academic proposal contemplates the enrollment of about 460 people each monthThe course offering is being finalized "fleeing from the typical current academic system because technology advances so rapidly that what is needed are micro-training credentials that are updated semi-annually, because what is learned today may have changed in six months." There will be training in everything where the blockchainis applicable: programming, creation of NFTs ---certificates of authenticity that can also have value in real life---, decentralized finance and industry-related subjects such as, for example, traceability related to products that need to validate their origin.
Horizon Metaverse expects to close its second round of financing next July, with the raising of an investment of 465,000 euros, which will complement the first round in which it managed to generate 100,000 euros. "We want to bring in investors who provide us with added value and who can join this collaborative economy project."
Behind the initiative are about sixty people from various disciplines willing to contribute their knowledge to the training of students. The academic committee of the Metaverse University is chaired by Fernando Pedro Méndez González, and formed, among others, by José Domingo Valls, Fermín Morales, Professor Luis Manuel Alonso, Paloma Taltavell, Professor Benito Arruñada, Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras, Professor José Prat and Óscar Morales. The academic leaders will be in charge of "creating courses on technological advances that will bridge the gap between the real world that, transported through blockchain technology, will lead us to the reality of the future, that of new technologies," concludes Moga.