Integration of the Metaverse world into universities: A Delphi study

Although the concept of Metaverse dates back to 1992, its awareness has increased recently, especially with Facebook changing its name to Meta and making definitions and studies about the Metaverse world. Within the framework of today's economic conditions, businesses carry out their activities in virtual areas as well as physical areas. As a result of digitalization, many sectors have started to adapt to this change in their fields. One of them is the education sector. In this study, the integration of the Metaverse world with universities has been closely examined. What kind of changes and developments in the world, the process before and after it were evaluated together, and what awaited universities in this process was evaluated. As a result of these evaluations and impressions, some suggestions were made about the developments in Turkey and the deficiencies about the participation of universities in Turkey in the Metaverse world after that, the situation assessment and the future. Delphi technique was used as the research model in the study. Delphi analysis, which was carried out in the first round with 77 academicians who are experts in their fields, was detailed with the SWOT analysis, and key codes were obtained from the findings obtained in the first round. In the second round, these key codes were re-directed to the academicians with a five-point Likert scale measurement tool. As a result, the concept of Metaverse, which has quite different threat and opportunity potential, will create different experiences for universities and a new operating opportunity in education.