The question before the visit
Choosing a university is a large decision, shared with a family and made over months. A physical open day gives atmosphere and people, but it is one date in one place. A university virtual open day does not replace it. It reaches the applicant in another city, the parent who cannot take a day off and the student overseas, and it stays available when the day is over.
It is also useful after the event. Families come back to ask which building held the engineering labs, or whether the library has quiet floors. A tour they can reopen answers that without a phone call. We covered the three levels of campus tour in our guide to virtual campus tours and open days; this article goes deeper on the open day itself and on the building blocks.
We make no claim here about admission numbers. What we can say is how to build something that works on a phone, in two languages, and that your team can keep up to date.
Five building blocks of a virtual open day
You do not need all five on day one. Start with the first and add the others as the budget and the team allow.
| Block | What the visitor does | What the university provides |
|---|---|---|
| 360 campus tour with hotspots | Walks the gates, courtyards, lecture halls, library and grounds at their own pace, with a map | Access for capture, a list of key spaces, short captions in Arabic and English |
| Faculty spaces | Follows a pathway by faculty: labs, studios, workshops, meeting rooms | A lead from each faculty, the spaces to show and a short text for each |
| 3D lab models | Rotates, sections and examines a piece of equipment or an anatomy model | Which models matter, who approves them and what they should teach |
| Live or recorded sessions | Hears from staff and current students, and asks questions | A programme by faculty, hosts and a moderator |
| WhatsApp admissions contact | Messages the admissions team from any page | A number, office hours, a named team and a rule for who answers |
The 360 tour and faculty spaces
Start where applicants look first: the entrance, the main square, the library, the labs and the places a student would spend an ordinary day. Capture the spaces when they are in use or clearly ready for use, and plan around timetables so the shots are clean. Hotspots carry the information: a short caption in Arabic and English, a photo of the department, or a short video from a lecturer or a current student.
Give each faculty its own pathway. The dean or head of department gets a page they can briefly describe and update, and an applicant interested in architecture is not asked to scroll through nursing. Show access routes, lifts and entrances too, because families look for them. Our note on 360 captures with teaching hotspots describes how the same capture can later become course material.
3D lab models and the MIHWAR prototype
A photograph of a lab shows the room. A 3D model shows what is in it. For an open day, one or two well-chosen models can do more than a long brochure: an applicant can turn a piece of equipment, cut it open, switch on an X-ray view and read what it teaches. That is the idea behind MIHWAR (محور), a working prototype built by Nplay for Interactive Solutions, Amman, and prepared for a Jordanian university. Its aim is a 3D and XR teaching platform the university owns: eleven colleges, one core, with every model carrying a declared licence and a named owner.
You can open the MIHWAR prototype in a browser with nothing to install. A guided tutorial of 22 stops takes about six minutes and runs through three roles: student, instructor and university. In the viewer you can orbit a model, run its animation and read the learning outcomes. One example is a sectioned turbofan engine in which the fan, compressor and turbine turn on one shaft.
The limits are real and we state them. The 3D models in the prototype are indicative rather than teaching-grade. The 360 captures are painted rather than photographed. Four stages of the ingest pipeline are represented rather than executed. We do not claim a deployment, users or results. For an open day, the practical point is that the models you show should be approved by an academic in the owning college. Our articles on a university-owned 3D library and on one scene, four ways out explain why.
WhatsApp for admissions, with a person behind it
Applicants and parents in Jordan and Saudi Arabia already use WhatsApp, so meet them there. Put a WhatsApp link on each faculty page and at the end of the tour. Publish office hours, name the team that answers, and agree which questions go to which person: fees to finance, programmes to the faculty, visa questions to the international office.
Some universities add an AI agent for common questions such as application dates and document lists, with a hand-off to a person for anything it cannot answer. That is a separate project, described in our AI agents service. WhatsApp Business messaging rules and templates apply, and we set it up within them. Keep applicant data to what the team needs, and follow the university's own privacy policy.
From brief to the day itself
Brief
Name the audience (local applicants, regional, overseas), the faculties to include and the decision the tour should help with. Share a campus plan and a list of key spaces.
Capture and build
We capture the spaces on campus in Amman or Riyadh, or arrange capture elsewhere with a local integrator, then produce the tour, captions and any 3D models in Arabic and English.
Review
Faculty leads check their pathways and wording. An academic approves each 3D model. Admissions confirms the WhatsApp route and office hours.
Open day
Launch the tour on a link and a QR code. If you hold live sessions, schedule them by faculty with a host and a moderator, and keep the tour open afterwards.
Follow-up
Review the questions applicants asked, update the captions and keep the tour live between intakes.
When a digital twin campus makes sense
A 360 tour is the foundation. If your university wants an all-year online presence with classes, events and avatars, the next level is a digital twin campus. We built one for a Jordanian university; read the case study and the university use case, and compare options in our digital twin campus guide.
We work from Amman and Riyadh. For Jeddah, Dammam and other Saudi cities we serve from Riyadh: content is produced with you remotely, and on-site capture and commissioning are arranged with the client or a local integrator. WhatsApp or call +962 78 185 5552 (Amman) with your campus plan, and we will suggest a first layer to build.
University virtual open day: frequently asked questions
Does a virtual open day replace the physical one?
No. It extends it. Visitors still feel the atmosphere and meet people on the day, while the virtual version reaches those who cannot travel and remains available afterwards.
Do we need 3D models, or is a 360 tour enough?
A 360 tour with good captions is enough for most universities. Add 3D lab models where a model explains something a photograph cannot, such as equipment, anatomy or machinery, and where an academic can approve it.
Can the tour work in Arabic and English?
Yes. We plan both languages from the start, including right-to-left layout for Arabic, which is simpler than adding Arabic later. Agree who approves wording in each language.
Is MIHWAR ready to deploy for our university?
It is a working prototype, not a deployed product. It shows the approach and lets you try it in a browser. A real engagement starts with a brief, a scope for your colleges and an agreement on what is built first.