Meta Launches 'Metaverse Academy' In France With An Aim To Increase Employment In Europe

Facebook's parent company Meta and a French digital training firm Simplton announced Sunday the launch of a "metaverse academy" in France for the new academic year.

The academy aims to train about 100 students in two roles, specializing in immersive technology developers and support and assistance technicians, Meta’s vice president for southern Europe Laurent Solly told AFP.

The lessons will take place in-person and revolve around projects with a focus on the 3D world and interactions in the virtual universes, said Frederic Bardeau, co-founder and boss of Simplon, the French firm working with Meta.

The metaverse academy will be located in the capital Paris and other cities including Lyon, Marseille and Nice, and will train 20 students per city each year.

Diversity will be the key focus of the curriculum. Solly said the target was for 30 percent of the first cohort to be women, while Bardeau said he would not look at applicants’ CVs and endorse positive discrimination.

Last year, Meta said it intended to create 10,000 jobs in Europe in five years’ time to build the metaverse, the U.S. technology giant’s new strategic priority. The aim is to be tied to the predictions that future job skills demanded by employers will be related to the metaverse.

Meta and Simplon said 80 percent of the careers that will exist in 2030 have not yet been invented, highlighting the need to develop training schemes now.