MGIMO introduces VR and AI into language learning

2025: Introducing VR into foreign language learning

MGIMO introduced VR-technology into the study of foreign languages ​ ​ to increase student engagement, improve speech skills, improve academic performance, and scale teaching expertise. The university announced this on March 19, 2025.

This is a joint project of the VR Supersonic team (Skolkovo resident), which has developed a VR platform with support for artificial intelligence for language practice, and the MGIMO-Odintsovo linguistic laboratory.

For March 2025, VR is used to teach English, scenarios for German are being developed, and in the near future it is planned to introduce technology into teaching other languages, including Oriental.

The project started in 2022 with a pilot implementation within 2.5 months and included two experimental and one control groups. In total, 250 students from four faculties of MGIMO-Odintsovo took part in the pilot.

With the help of VR glasses, students interacted with a virtual native speaker, pronouncing answer options and working out linguistic constructs.

The pilot project included several stages: the development of interactive training scenarios, their testing, implementation in the training process in different formats and assessment of results, including in comparison with traditional training methods.

One of the difficulties of the project is the lack of analogues of VR methods and studies of the effectiveness of VR for language learning. Therefore, MGIMO teachers independently developed scenarios on the VR Supersonic platform, adapting them to the educational process.

Шаблон:Quote 'author=said Elena Kozlovskaya, director of the Odintsovo branch of MGIMO.

Шаблон:Quote 'author=noted Evgeny Kuznetsov, CEO VR Supersonic.

According to the results of the pilot program, the group with VR tools:

• The share of failing students fell by more than 40%: before the introduction of VR, the number of "twos" was 21% of all grades, as of March 2025 it decreased to 12%.
• The average rating score for a foreign language rose by 10 points to 75 points in 2024, up from 65 points in 2022.
• The number of retakes has decreased.
• Attendance levels rose without coercion.
• Students have become more involved in the educational process.

The platform scales within the university, more than 500 students are engaged in VR, German language groups are connected.

In the future, VR Supersonic and MGIMO plan to scale the project - to connect new languages, including oriental languages, expand the number of faculties and training areas participating in the program, as well as introduce VR technologies in training negotiations and other disciplines.