News Story

How KMi made remote learning feel like campus life and took graduation global

Monday 9 Mar 2026

This article is part of a special series celebrating KMi’s 30 years. Over the past three decades, KMi has been at the forefront of pioneering research and innovation in knowledge technologies, shaping the way information is created, shared, and understood. In this series, we revisit some of the most impactful projects that have influenced academia, industry, and society, highlighting their significance and legacy.

When online learning once meant isolation, KMi imagined something different: a university without walls, where students could collaborate in real time and celebrate milestones without boarding a plane. Two pioneering projects, Lyceum and the Virtual Degree Ceremony (VDC), didn’t just solve problems for the Open University; they anticipated the digital-first world we live in today.

Lyceum: a campus-quality classroom over dial-up
In 1999, when most internet connections squealed at 56k speeds, KMi launched Lyceum, a platform that let OU Language and MBA students debate and co-create live, with voice and visuals. It was years ahead of its time: attendance jumped from 38% to 71%, and 92% of students rated it “as good as or better than” face-to-face tutorials. For one student in rural Iceland, hearing classmates laugh at his joke was “the day I stopped being a postcode and became a person.”

Virtual Degree Ceremony: Zoom graduation, 20 years early
In March 2000, the OU awarded its first degree of the millennium online. Graduates joined from five continents; Sir Tim Berners-Lee accepted an honorary doctorate from Boston. The VDC featured real-time chat, animated certificates and voicemail speeches, with family and friends on-line as the audience, creating a sense of pride that 97% said matched a physical ceremony. When COVID-19 forced universities online two decades later, the OU simply revived ideas first tested in Milton Keynes.

Every time you click “Join Meeting,” you are using DNA first sequenced at KMi. These projects proved technology can carry not just information, but emotion, connection, pride, belonging. Today, their spirit lives on in KMi’s work on VR graduations, blockchain credentials and AI-driven collaboration. Because remote presence isn’t just about screens; it’s about people.