Virtual Tour Highlights New Cairo Campus

By: Mariam Farag

@mariamfarag_

AUC has introduced a virtual online tour of the New Cairo campus developed by the Office of Marketing Communication and Public Affairs. 

Hanan Omary, executive director of communications, explained that this tour was originally put in action last year and was meant to help international students tour the campus before arriving in Cairo.

“This project entailed a lot of work including collecting and curating content for each spot,” Omary said.

Omary said they worked with the company YouVisit to create the tour and scheduled their campus visit in October 2019 for a full week of video shooting and photography with their special 360 cameras. 

While the launch of this virtual tour took place in the midst of the lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it was not the motive behind its creation. 

On this tour, anyone can go online and check out all campus buildings and facilities, through a video with the viewer in control. 

This virtual campus tour works by choosing a part of campus from a pop-up menu at the left of the screen. 

A click on the screen takes the viewer to the virtual scene featuring student ambassadors who also appear as guidez to walk the viewers through the tour. The student ambassadors had to memorize and rehearse their scripts for their assigned spots. 

“The ones who volunteered for this were extremely professional, collaborative and supportive even when asking them to come to campus at 5 AM to catch the early sun before everyone arrives on campus,” Omary said.

Omary explained that after all the video footage and photographs were montaged, edited and stitched together, the content and visuals were reviewed and adjustments were made before it went live.

Virtual tours are essential tools for student recruitment, within Egypt and internationally for those unable to see AUC first-hand.

Omary explained that anyone interested in joining AUC will benefit from this experience, including faculty. 

She added that student recruitment isn’t the only benefit from this virtual tour. Another benefit is to showcase AUC campuses and its different features.

 “For example, you will find that one of the spots identified is AUC Tahrir Square. By featuring it as a spot, we are able to speak about and promote AUC as a culture hub, which is one of AUC’s strategic pillars,” Omary said. 

Part of the tour is that viewers can also see facilities and spaces around AUC, not just the campus itself. One of the spots included in the tour is the Point 90 Mall, which is located directly in front of the new campus. 

 “We were also able to create short videos of a Nile felucca ride and a faculty-guided tour at El Moez Street which promotes Cairo in general as a touristic spot, and emphasizes Egypt’s prominent history,” Omary said. 

Another use for this virtual tour is to encourage other international academic institutions to host international conferences at AUC.

Abrar Mohamed, one of the student ambassadors involved in the tour, explained that the reason it came to be is because other universities did it as well. 

“When they came up with the idea they wanted students to be the ones to represent it, and since the student ambassadors are the ones who represent AUC, we are the ones in charge of the tours,” Mohamed said.

Mohamed said that the tours also showcase  to the campus through the eyes of the students. 

“This makes it more relatable, and easier for people to grasp and understand,” Mohamed added.

“AUC is a digital community, we are always updated about current news and events through emails, we learn about any new achievements through email as well, so the tour is just another digital method to keep people informed about AUC’s community,” Mohamed said.