The education ministry intends to digitize university education amid the novel coronavirus pandemic by expanding online classes through the use of virtual reality and augmented reality, sources said.
The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry plans to hold events to promote this initiative from this autumn and consider possible measures, including systemic reform, if there are regulations that could hamper the initiative, according to the sources.
It aims to fully implement the initiative from the next academic year.
The ministry plans to announce these plans soon and set up a ministerial project team comprising experts from universities and private companies. It will publicly seek ideas from digital technology engineers and others as early as August, and members of the project team will offer technical advice on the selected ideas.
The aim to create classes that use cutting-edge technology, combining research conducted by universities and start-ups. By utilizing VR and AR, the ministry envisages classes that will enable students to remotely engage in practical training and experiment-like activities.
VR technology creates a computer-generated world that feels real, and AR overlays images and information on real-world environments. The envisaged classes also include having artificial intelligence answer questions online.
Start-ups have increasingly launched education services using advanced technology, called "EdTech," across the globe.
At Minerva Schools at KGI, which is run by the San Francisco-based Minerva Project, Inc., and does not have physical campuses, all classes are taught through online discussions. Its residence halls are located in seven cities around the world, and students move around these halls over four years.
Due to the spread of the coronavirus, many universities in Japan postponed the start of classes from April to May or later. According to a ministry survey, all national universities, 95% of public universities and 88.3% of private universities offered online classes as of June 1.
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