Why Is a Top Chinese University Renaming Its Department to “Metaverse Engineering”?

A "Double First Class" university has renamed its 25‑year‑old Information Engineering Department to the Metaverse Engineering Department, becoming the first university to do so.

The university is Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, originally Nanjing Meteorological College, which changed its name in 2004.

In August, the school established a Metaverse Research Institute and announced plans to cooperate with Hong Kong Polytechnic University to jointly train master, doctoral, and post‑doctoral students in the Metaverse field. It will also lead the establishment of the Jiangsu AI Society’s Metaverse Committee.

Netizens have joked about the name change, while others wonder what the new curriculum will cover, suggesting topics such as XR tracking and positioning systems, image recognition, and XR optical principles.

"Let Students Attend Classes in the Metaverse"

The Metaverse Engineering Department belongs to the Artificial Intelligence College (Future Technology College), founded in 2019. Initially it offered AI and Information Engineering majors; AI later became one of the first 35 nationally approved AI undergraduate programs, and Information Engineering was merged into the AI College.

The AI College has set up three research institutes: the Metaverse Institute, the Smart Meteorology Institute, and the Smart Medical Institute.

The Metaverse Institute, launched this August, is a joint project with Yalong Intelligent Equipment Group focusing on smart education. Its goal is to enable students to attend classes in the Metaverse, allowing immersive simulations of environments such as aircraft cockpits to improve training efficiency.

In industry‑academia integration, students can receive early professional training, participate in R&D, and quickly adapt to future work environments.

The institute also sees potential in smart medical applications, such as virtual rehabilitation and smart elderly care, where changing virtual scenes can enhance treatment effectiveness and enable families to gather virtually.

Nanjing city has introduced several Metaverse‑related policies, including a talent reserve pool, and about 130 Metaverse‑related enterprises are now operating in the city.

Recruiting Top AI Professors

Dean Pan Zhigeng, who joined the university in October 2021, holds a master’s degree from Nanjing University’s Computer Department and a Ph.D. from Zhejiang University’s Computer Department. He has published papers at ACM Multimedia, IEEE VR, PAMI, and CVPR, and has served as a doctoral supervisor at Zhejiang University’s CAD&CG State Key Lab.

He also holds positions such as chief scientist of a national key R&D program, vice‑director of a national virtual simulation center, and vice‑chair of the China Virtual Reality Technology and Innovation Platform.

Pan has actively promoted the Metaverse, giving talks at his former high school and advocating for Metaverse education.

Honorary dean Su Kaile, a Ph.D. from Nanjing University and post‑doctoral researcher at the National University of Defense Technology, has received awards including the best paper at AiML 2002 and the National Natural Science Foundation Distinguished Young Scholar.

The AI College now has over 40 full‑time faculty, including 9 professors and 8 associate professors, 98% with Ph.D. degrees, and 90% with overseas academic experience. Among them are a foreign member of the Royal Academy of Engineering, two national distinguished young scholars, an IEEE Fellow, and several other prestigious titles.

The college has also launched an AI Industry College, one of the first 50 national modern industry colleges, and has applied for 20 National Natural Science Foundation projects, ranking 13th nationwide.

Other Universities Join the Metaverse Wave

Renmin University’s Interdisciplinary Science Research Institute established China’s first university Metaverse research center, aiming to conduct academic activities, publish reports, offer graduate courses, and host summits.

The University of Science and Technology of China launched a "Metaverse Introduction" course, allowing students to experience immersive VR collaboration and creation.

Other institutions such as Nanning Vocational Technical College and Yibin Vocational Technical College have also set up Metaverse industry colleges.

What do you think of Nanjing University’s decision to rename its department to Metaverse Engineering?