The Impact of Immersive Technologies and the Metaverse on Engineering Education: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The growing development of digital transformation in the educational context has driven the incorporation of immersive technologies and the Metaverse into engineering education, with the aim of enhancing technical and professional skills and competencies in virtual reality and augmented reality environments. This study offers a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) guided by the PRISMA 2020 method, with the aim of examining the impact of these technologies on the teaching-learning process in higher education. Fifty-four studies published between 2020 and 2025 in the Scopus academic database were reviewed. The results reflect the positive impact of immersive technologies in engineering, as they enable the visualization of complex processes, the simulation of industrial environments, the practice of critical tasks without risk of accidents, and the personalization of learning. However, the incorporation of technological equipment, digital representations of real systems, hardware, and enhanced network infrastructure is necessary to achieve this. This review highlights the importance of adopting these technologies to improve learning in engineering, along with a more accurate measurement of the effectiveness of the Metaverse in higher education. However, it also highlights the presence of implementation barriers due to high costs and literature gaps in the actual measurement of the impact of these technologies on educational development. In view of this, strategic areas for future research in this field are suggested.