For the next academic year, Facebook’s parent corporation Meta and a French digital training provider will open a “metaverse academy” in France, the two companies announced on Sunday.
The metaverse is an immersive digital universe that attempts to mimic real-life via augmented or virtual reality and elevate the web from 2D to 3D. It is seen as the internet’s next major technological leap.
According to Laurent Solly, Meta’s vice president for southern Europe, the school’s goal in its first year is to train roughly 100 students for free in two roles: professional immersive technology programmers and support and help technicians.
According to Frederic Bardeau, co-founder and CEO of Simplon, the French firm working with Meta, the training style will be in-person and centered around projects, with a focus on the 3D world and engagements in virtual realities.
The metaverse academy, which will be located in Paris and other cities such as Lyon, Marseille, and Nice, will train 20 students per city each year.
Diversity will be given special consideration. Solly stated that the goal was for women to make up 30% of the first cohort, whereas Bardeau stated that he would not look at candidates’ CVs and would support affirmative discrimination.
Meta announced in October 2021 that it would generate 10,000 jobs in Europe over the next five years to establish the metaverse, the company’s new strategic goal.
The goal is based on expectations that future employer-required work skills will be tightly linked to the metaverse.
According to Meta and Simplon, 80 percent of the jobs that will exist in 2030 have yet to be established, underscoring the importance of developing training programs now.
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