University of Technology Sydney: Virtual Campus Tour

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has launched a new 360 video tour of its innovative Sydney CBD campus, via Paper Moose, aimed at attracting both international and Australian students. It’s been a rough couple of years for Australian universities, forcing them to think outside the box to attract both local and international students to their campus. The UTS campus has recently been transformed through a $1 billion+ City Campus Master Plan, which has delivered new landmark buildings, refurbished facilities and created a sustainable, state-of-the-art learning, teaching and research space. While universities often tailor their marketing to either domestic or international students, this platform was specifically designed to appeal to prospective students from anywhere looking to study at any level. Even the creative and non-binary tour guide avatar was specifically tailored to have the broadest cultural appeal and personify the UTS brand through their young and dynamic look-and-feel. Guided by the jade-haired and 3D-rendered Alex, the tour offers a slightly gamified experience through a choose-your-own-adventure narrative tailored to the user’s academic interests. Users are immersed in a completely 360-degree environment encompassing 17 scenes and nine faculties and schools, with interactive hotspots and free-roam mode included throughout. Behind the scenes, the platform itself is largely custom-coded to deliver superior performance, seamless streaming and smooth scene transitions with minimal loading screens — even on slower connections anywhere in the world.