UPenn’s Wharton School rolls out online certificate course on business in the Metaverse

The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business announced Tuesday that its Aresty Institute of Executive Education will launch a certificate program titled “Business in the Metaverse Economy.” The six-week course will be taught online with a heavy dose of immersion.

Wharton, one of the world’s leading business schools, teamed up with consulting firm Prysm Group to design the course, which will include more than 50 lectures by faculty and industry representatives, as well as six case studies. Guest speakers will come from Adobe, Animoca Brands, R/GA, RLY Network, Second Life, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among other organizations.

The program’s academic director, Prof. Kevin Werbach, said in a statement:

“The metaverse is a significant and broad phenomenon that is still poorly understood. We hope to equip business leaders, consultants, and entrepreneurs with an understanding of the impending opportunities the metaverse brings.”

The first cohort of students will begin Sept. 12 and will be expected to spend 8-10 hours a week on their studies, at a cost of $4,500. The school will accept payment in crypto, as it did last year for its online course“Economics of Blockchain and Digital Assets,” which also ran for six weeks and cost $3,800. Wharton also operates the Stevens Center Blockchain Laboratory and offers a free introductory course on crypto and blockchain on the website Coursera.

The University of Pennsylvania accepts donations in crypto as well, with a $10,000 minimum. Wharton received a $5 million donation in crypto in 2021, which it immediately converted into fiat. The Bitcoin (BTC) gift would be worth somewhat less than $2.5 million today.

According to Wharton, the metaverse will be a $13 trillion market with 5 billion users by 2030. Wharton claimed to be the first Ivy League school to offer a course on the Metaverse.