Hundreds of universities look to introduce VR courses against a challenging backdrop.

Los Angeles (California) / Frankfurt am Main (Germany) August 8, 2016 – The results of a survey with the participation of 201 universities announced by VR First shows that a remarkable number of academic institutions around the world are interested in creating programs for VR development, but are currently underequipped to deliver on their ambitions.

The interest in VR is growing very fast. Since the launch of VR First earlier this year, over 400 universities have expressed an interest in VR and 201 of them have officially applied for a VR First lab.

The research also showed that 88% of the 201 universities surveyed are either planning or already offer a VR course, while on average there are less than two headsets available to each of these universities.

Ferhan Özkan, Senior Business Development Manager at Crytek, who shared the VR First survey results at a VRLA keynote session, said: “According to our predictions, the VR industry is likely to require many more skilled development graduates than it will be producing in the next years. At the same time our data clearly shows that universities are under-equipped to implement educational goals and satisfy the VR industry’s demand. With the VR First initiative we’re addressing this problem, and we invite leading lights in the industry to contribute to this collective approach towards the empowerment of students and developers.”

Since January this year, 14 universities from the USA, New Zealand, Canada, and Europe have joined the VR First program. The scheme aims to support grassroots VR development by establishing VR Labs on university campuses, each one offering students easy access to development solutions like Crytek’s CRYENGINE and state-of-the art VR hardware from technology partners.

Download the infographic with all survey findings here.

About VR First

VR First is an initiative designed to provide state-of-the-art facilities to anyone interested in exploring the power and potential of virtual reality development. The program encourages educational institutions around the world to establish dedicated VR labs on their campuses by partnering with VR hardware manufacturers and software companies. VR First participants have full access to Crytek’s CRYENGINE software alongside the latest technology required for VR development. The overarching goal of VR First is to nurture new talent in VR development and to establish a knowledge sharing platform.