Universities are known to be very slow in accepting new technologies, but there are some that are prepared to incorporate the most contemporary of them- blockchain.
According to a survey conducted by Coinbase about higher education (students and faculty) attitudes toward crypto and blockchain, it was found out that 40% of the world’s leading universities have at least one course about blockchain or crypto, and 25% of all students said they would be interested in taking classes in either subject.
In today’s article we will be covering some of the top universities that have included in their curriculum courses in cryptocurrencies.
Cornell University
Cornell University was always dedicated to the most current modern technology, and in time it established itself as one of the most influential research universities in the world and a historic front-runner in business and computer science.
The university’s project known as Cornell Blockchain is supported by Cornell’s Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts (IC3). Cornell Blockchain intends to offer education, certification, and application of blockchain technology for students and business clients.
Duke University
Duke University has one of the highest levels of research spending in diverse fields and is one of the most productive faculties in the world.
Duke’s Blockchain Lab is a student-led research center specialized in educating students and faculty alike in the newest innovations in blockchain technology. The center features lectures, interest groups, and workshops which focus exclusively on the underlying tech of cryptocurrencies.
MIT- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT, the private research university located in Cambridge, MA, frequently hold the position of the best university in the world. Since it was founded in 1861 as one of the first modern research universities in the US, MIT acquired substantial merit for its development and involvement in technology, being a forerunner in artificial intelligence, open-source programming, and even contributing to the development of hacker culture.
MIT’s Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative intends on forwarding development in blockchain with research projects, papers, and support for blockchain groups, while also presenting the risks and potential associated with blockchain technology.
NYU- New York University
NYU is one of the most prominent private research universities in the world. NYU’s Stern School of Business integrated blockchain technology in its FinTech MBA program. This specialization is focused on exploring technology’s impact on finance, including analytics, artificial intelligence, and blockchain, rather than coding. The first course opened was “The Law and Business of Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies”, which focuses on explaining Bitcoin and other systems of alternative payments.
Princeton University
One of the oldest universities in the US, Princeton University, offers a course called “Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies.” This online course is made available via Coursera and it addresses important questions regarding Bitcoin.
Taught by professor Arvind Narayanan, the cryptocurrency course looks into the basic technical mechanisms of blockchain and cryptocurrency work, its security, misconceptions and its possible future use cases.
RMIT University
One of the oldest universities in Australia, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) is also the first on the continent to offer a course in blockchain technology. The 8-week, online short course was developed in cooperation with Accenture, a blockchain enterprise, and Stone and Chalk, a top fintech non-profit organization.
This short course teaches students about blockchain and professionals in how to apply blockchain technology to benefit their business.
Stanford University
Stanford University, another prolific university in America, has developed a special course which focuses on the blockchain. The course called Bitcoin Engineering studies how to create applications enabled by the use of Bitcoin. It features a comprehensive introduction to Bitcoin as well as the computing behind it.
University of California
Blockchain at Berkeley is a student-led organization which developed an open-source undergraduate cryptocurrency course for their students. Students, alumni, and community members converge to provide education, research, and consulting, cryptocurrency, and future uses cases of the blockchain.
The students also organize workshops, lectures, developer tutorials, host talks, seminars, and crypto meetups at Berkeley and across the East Bay to support the connectivity of the community.
University of Nicosia
The largest university in Cyprus, the University of Nicosia, offers the first Master of Science degree in Digital Currency which can be taken online. UNIC has made headlines in recent year for being the first university to accept Bitcoin as payment for tuition.
Unlike other schools that offer only courses or certificates within a conventional master’s, UNIC has a full, 3-semester long master’s degree program. The program immerses students in the current technology, its potential, and how they can integrate it in their own lives and work.
The degree’s first course- “Introduction to Digital Currencies”- can be accessed for free as an open enrolment MOOC course to anyone that wishes to learn the basic ideologies of cryptocurrency. It is taught by distinguished Bitcoin experts Andreas Antonopoulos and Antonis Polemitis and comprises of 12 live online sessions.
Universidad Europea Madrid
Universidad Europea Madrid has created a unique course on Bitcoin and blockchain tech which is available for free. This course, called the “Postgraduate Diploma in Bitcoin and Blockchain,” teaches its students how to develop applications that use Bitcoin.
It is recommended that you have a basic understanding of Python and Unix programming languages before taking the course. The course teaches you about various aspects of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, smart contracts, consensus protocols, and distributed ledger technologies. Seeing as the subject of cryptocurrencies is very vast, the case studies focus only on Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Conclusions
This has been our list of the top universities that offer crypto courses. So if you are eager to learn more about cryptocurrencies and blockchain in an academic setting, you now know that there are several universities that have available this option.
