Online educational institutes have been around for awhile now, so receiving a degree or diploma of some kind online isn’t exactly as cutting edge as it used to be. However, a Japanese online educator, N High School, held its first entrance ceremony – completely in virtual reality.

In total, 73 students aged between 15 and 86 were chosen to meet up in Tokyo’s Roppongi district on April 6th, for the inaugural entrance ceremony for the school. N High School currently has 1,482 students attending via online courses.

The venue was surrounded by four giant walls made up of digital displays, in what could easily be confused as a PR stunt by joint sponsors Kadokawa Corp. and video-sharing website owner Dwango Co., who both set up the online institute.

To be clear, the students strapping head-mounted virtual reality displays on in Roppongi were actually watching a broadcast from the main N High School campus, which is in Uruma, in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture.

One of the students attending the virtual reality ceremony, Yuki Aizawa, 16, a high school drop-out, said: “Learning online could give me more free time. I think I will be able to keep up with this kind of schooling system.”

N High School is open to accepting students who have trouble learning in traditional brick and mortar schools. They’re focused on helping students excel in digital technologies, like information technology.

Source: Asahi