Europe: first 100% virtual campus opens
In France, NEOMA Business School offers a comprehensive portfolio of programmes across its three campuses, from Bachelor’s and Master’s in Management to Executive Education, for over 9,500 students. It has become the first school in Europe to open a digital campus, with the aim of recreating the interactions and atmosphere of a real campus from a remote location. It has been developed in partnership with VR/AR technology experts Laval Virtual.
The school’s students can access a virtual building to take their courses, meet with a workgroup, or attend conferences. The idea behind the new digital campus had been to set up a campus for international students who were unable to attend one of the physical campuses at the start of the academic year. The campus will be available for everyone’s use.
The students can choose and personalise their avatar, and they can study and progress at their own pace with access to the campus 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When connected, they can enter a virtual building to take their lessons, meet with a workgroup, or attend events. The Virtual Campus has its library and a wellness centre and The Talent & Career Centre.
Alain Goudey, director of NEOMA’s Digital Transformation, explained that the avatar replaces the live camera presence when using video-conferencing. The avatar performs different physical gestures and movements that are based on daily motions. One can open a door, raise a hand, sit down, cheer, or even play football. In this way, the experience feels more natural and enjoyable.
The digital campus can also serve as a collaborative workspace where students, teachers, and employees can connect and allow discussion within the campus’ community. This gives the students an opportunity to meet many different players in the technology industry, start-up entrepreneurs, as well as research experts from the Laval Virtual community.
The cooperation of the business school and Laval Virtual has also resulted in a unique blend of business and technology culture to encourage different combinations of skills required by companies.
NAOMA school will continue working closely with the technology experts to maximise opportunities between the two communities. The importance of physical campus and in-person learning is irreplaceable but as the current situation only allows distance learning through Zoom and video-conferences, the virtual campus can be a middle way combining benefits of digital and physical pedagogic approaches.
