Discovering the University with a VR headset in virtual reality: the experiment with “Destination UCBM"

The gift for all the students of the province present during the hi-tech orientation event organized byUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma

Lecce, 2 February 2023 – Discovering the University through virtual reality: this is the main theme of the event organized byUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma at Officine Cantelmo in Lecce. The “Destinazione Ucbm” tour stopped in Puglia involving hundreds of students from the province of Lecce.

The university orientation in the original hi-tech version saw the active participation of the students of the last three years of the high schools of Lecce, Maglie and Martano. About 300 students from

institutes “Banzi Bazoli”, “Cosimo De Giorgi”, and “Giuseppe Palmieri” of Lecce, from the Capece High School of Maglie, and from the IISS Salvatore Trinchese of Martano they lived an immersive orientation experience to discover theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, useful to facilitate the choice to choose the degree course with which they will train in the coming years.

Comfortably seated inside the spaces of Officine Cantelmo, the protagonists of the event were able to follow a lesson directly from inside the university classroom, participating in a real meeting with teachers, and doing experiments in the laboratory together with a researcher without any need to move from their position. All this thanks to the projection of special 4K videos made with 360 degree cameras for a virtual experience within the university premises.

All participants received a virtual reality VR headset as a gift to immerse themselves in the project with 360 degree images, and were able to witness the Live Graphic Recording performance, thanks to a professional designer who narrated the various phases of the event in real time.

Through the “Destination Ucbm” tour theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma aims to make students aware of its educational offering, as well as its teaching facilities and extracurricular activities. At the same time, children can experience the highly experiential teaching methodology chosen by the university, based on research and centered on the integral education of the person. The activities carried out by the students from the schools of Lecce and the province present were illustrated and guided by the presence of the teacher Laura De Gara, vice-rector of teaching and deputy of the Rector, by the head of the university orientation office and by the professor Mauro Capocelli, university professor of chemical engineering. The testimonials on the academic experience by successful students and the evaluation quiz further enriched the experiences lived by the students during the appointment.

The Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, founded in 1993 and which this year celebrates its thirtieth anniversary, is located in the southern area of ​​Rome within the Decima Malafede regional nature reserve and uses recently built structures integrated with the Campus Bio-Medico University Polyclinic Foundation. It offers 14 degree courses ranging from medicine to health professions, engineering, food and nutrition sciences, as well as a wide range of Masters and Post-Graduate courses. Ucbm degree courses aim at a multidisciplinary, international education and look strongly at scientific research with a view to innovation and sustainability aimed at achieving results in favor of the well-being of the person.

According to data from the Almalaurea 2022 report, carried out in 2021 on 2020 graduates, among Ucbm second level graduates the employment rate one year after obtaining the qualification is equal to80,7 percent, of 5 points higher than the national average which is 75,7 percent. The employment rate of Ucbm graduates five years after graduation instead it is of 94,3% also in this case well above the national average which is89,9 percent.

According to the latest findings of theNational Agency for the Evaluation of Scientific Research (ANVUR) which analyzed over 182 thousand scientific publications with the contribution of more than 65 thousand Italian researchers, theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma is positioned ateleventh place overall among Italian universities, alongside the most important and oldest in the country, with positions of excellence in sectors such as Integrated Surgical Clinic (first place overall), Biological Sciences (second place) and the Physiology area (fourth place).