If you don’t teach “Bitcoin”, can you still call it a “university”?

Image source: Dazhi

Bitcoin is making itself felt in the education system. Bitcoin courses will educate and attract future entrepreneurs. With a dedicated digital currency course, Bitcoin is conquering another industry. This also marks that Bitcoin has begun to truly integrate into our daily lives. Imagine when you go to school, the teacher gives you an assignment: write an article about the development of cryptocurrency. How exciting would that be?

University of Nicosia

On November 25, 2013, the University of Nicosia, the largest private university in Cyprus (Republic), announced that it would become the first private university in the world to accept Bitcoin as payment for tuition fees, and would also offer a master's degree in digital currency.

On March 15, 2014, a free digital currency course , “Introduction to Digital Currency” , was launched, taught by Bitcoin experts from the fields of computer science and finance and professors from the University of Nicosia. Taught in English, the course will not only be offered to students on campus, but will also be taught online.

The university has designed the course for financiers, business people, entrepreneurs and public administrators who want to learn more about the basics of digital currencies, how digital currencies interact with existing monetary systems, and the opportunities for innovation in digital monetary systems. After the free introductory course, the entire graduate program will cost $16,250.

In addition to its own efforts to develop Bitcoin’s prestige, the University of Nicosia has proposed that the Cypriot government begin developing the island nation into an international hub for Bitcoin trading, processing and banking.

University of Cumbria

In January 2014, the University of Cumbria in Lancaster, northern England, announced that it would accept the virtual currency Bitcoin as tuition fees, becoming the first public university in the world to accept Bitcoin as payment for tuition fees.

On February 16, 2015, the university announced the launch of a free online master's course that will focus on the future currency Bitcoin, with more than a hundred students enrolled.

The month-long “Money and Society” MOOC (massive open online course) will be aimed at “monetary innovators and activists from any political persuasion” and will delve into “the nature of money, how it has been interpreted and why it has been misunderstood over the past three thousand years.”

Course co-designer Professor Jem Bendell said:

“Once we understand that money is a process, not a thing, we can explore and design innovations that use money as a productive community service tool.”

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Unlike Bitcoin courses offered by other universities, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s approach to Bitcoin research is more "direct and crude."

At the end of April 2014, MIT launched a Bitcoin airdrop plan worth $500,000 . At the end of October, each undergraduate student at MIT received $100 worth of Bitcoin for free. According to the organizer, these funds were distributed to more than 4,500 undergraduate students at MIT to promote Bitcoin academic and entrepreneurial atmosphere on campus.

MIT students who receive bitcoins can use these free bitcoins on campus. The school's bookstore accepts bitcoins to pay for textbooks, school supplies, and MIT-branded merchandise.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university in the United States. A student at MIT once used the OKCoin website as a course exercise and earned high returns.

New York University

In September 2014, Geoffrey Miller, a professor of law at New York University School of Law, and David Yermack, a professor of finance at the Stern School of Business, jointly launched a graduate course, “Law and Business Related to Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies,” with the goal of evaluating the value of Bitcoin and its impact on the economy.

The course will cover topics such as money laundering with Bitcoin and tracking Bitcoin transactions, as well as the debate over whether Bitcoin should be classified as a currency.

The first of the 14 classes covered the basics of money. The 35 students in the classroom were all expressing their opinions, and Stephen Foley, a reporter for the Financial Times, was also attending the class, and the atmosphere was enthusiastic.

Duke University

Duke University finance professor Campbell Harvey's digital currency course was launched after NYU.

Titled “Innovation, Disruption, and Crypto-Adventures,” the course focuses on the business potential of blockchain technology and is offered to students in Duke’s School of Computer Science and School of Law and Business.

However, Harvey said that due to a lack of understanding, the potential of blockchain technology has not received the attention it deserves, and this is something that academia should speed up and provide more information.

New York University and Duke University are two of the top universities in the United States, ranking in the top ten in their relevant fields.

Imperial College London

On October 15, 2014, Imperial College London, one of the mainstream engineering universities in Europe, and EF (Entrepreneur Organization) jointly announced a cooperation plan, agreeing to provide credits for Bitcoin-related courses and set up a fund to reward students who have made outstanding achievements in Bitcoin-related projects.

The best projects will receive a scholarship of £3,000, and students can also use the fund to pay for project equipment up to £500, in addition to other support and course guidance.

These initiatives will greatly inspire and encourage students' innovative thinking and practice in Bitcoin.

Draper University

Draper University is a Silicon Valley-based school that provides education and training services for entrepreneurs. The school began offering free Bitcoin online courses to students on October 22, 2014, and is also the first educational institution to accept Bitcoin as payment for tuition .

The school is located in San Mateo, California, and was founded by the famous venture capitalist Tim Draper. Tim himself has also invested in Bitcoin-related industries including OKCoin (www.okcoin.cn), the world's largest Bitcoin exchange.

The course will make the most of ZapChain, a Bitcoin professional network, to teach students. Adhering to the concept of "Bitcoin is all around us" , it hopes to encourage students to innovate and use digital currency.

The course is divided into seven parts, covering the flow of the production chain, creating a Bitcoin node, etc. There are 42 class hours, 7 premium classes and 3 quizzes.

Stanford University

The new course offered by Stanford University is titled Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Friends and will be launched on September 21, 2015. In addition to Stanford students, professionals can earn a graduate certificate in cybersecurity after completing the course.

Computer science professor Dan Boneh, an expert in applied cryptography, will teach the course. In a statement, he said:

“The technology that underpins Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is an indispensable tool for protecting information.”

While joining the workshop is free, the rest of the course costs $3,960 (Stanford members get a $600 discount), and to earn the certificate, you need to complete four modules in total, which will cost you between $13,440 and $18,480.

Stanford University, which was founded in 1885 and is consistently ranked in the top five universities in the United States, only accepted 5.7% of applicants. Although it is not the first time, it is the most prestigious school in the United States to accept Bitcoin tuition.

Special supplement:

Tsinghua University

Tsinghua University will offer a credit course for freshmen in September this year: "Cognitive Foundations Beyond Disciplines."

The course will comprehensively explain the principles of blockchain, and the quantum mechanics and blockchain parts will be taught by Tsinghua Ph.D. Han Feng. He said:

"The design goal of Tsinghua University's credit course 'Cognitive Foundations Beyond Disciplines' is to help students establish a distributed holistic worldview. The syllabus will cover quantum non-local ontology and path integral methods, mathematical category theory, computer system theory and distributed legal architecture. Blockchain will be systematically explained as the most cutting-edge innovative application of the distributed holistic worldview. The lecture team includes a combination of well-known scholars from Tsinghua University and Peking University, including Professor Cai Weide, a Yangtze River Scholar."

That’s right, you are not a student and you will not directly benefit from this event, but you have to know that it will bring a lot of fresh blood to the Bitcoin community.

Bitcoin, as a new form of wealth, is still misunderstood by many people. If more and more universities maintain an objective attitude and join in Bitcoin research, I believe that Bitcoin and its applications will enter the lives of more people faster in the future!