Complete a Major in Decentralised Technology at NYU
Fancy learning more about blockchain technology? Then head to New York University (NYU) where you can now complete a major in decentralised technology.
NYU claims to be the first university in America to offer students the chance to study a major in this decentralised technology which is hitting the headlines and taking the world by storm. Students will be based in the NYU Stern School of Business which is ranked in the top 20 business schools in the US is blazing a trail by offering a range of undergraduate courses providing a chance to gain an in-depth knowledge of cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Its full-time Fintech MBA programme looks at blockchain technology’s effect on finance and covers analytics, artificial intelligence (AI).
NYU Professor Andrew Hinkes explained:
“We hope to establish a groundwork so that the students can understand what’s really happening under the hood so that they can understand both the legal and the business implications and prepare them to go out and tackle this new market.”
The course was introduced following a demand from students becoming increasingly fascinated in blockchain and wishing to include it on their CV. To meet this demand, NYU has doubled the amount of places on its course due to a high level of interest. And it is hoped that these graduates will go on to become big influencers in the world of investment banking and international finance.
Secure crypto platform Coinbase recently conducted a study on the availability of learning opportunities surrounding cryptocurrency in which it found that within the top 50 universities in the world, 42 per cent of those are offering courses on crypto and blockchain. It reviewed 172 classes and discovered that business, finance and law departments offer 15 per cent of courses, and that four per cent are placed in social science departments.
The study also revealed these types of courses are most popular in America where students view the development of blockchain and crypto as the birth of a new industry and the emergence of the new Web 3.0 – the next step of internet evolution. And with a rise in job opportunities within the crypto industry which grew by 200 per cent in 2017 and are expected to further rise to over 600 per cent, students are keen to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in this developing market.
This is now beginning to reflect in educational providers’ ranges of course offerings designed to help create the digital leaders of the future. Over in America, Cornell University, Georgetown University, Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of California at Berkeley are amongst those offering educational courses in blockchain technology.
Meanwhile, Duke University has its own BlockChain Lab where students can discover the latest developments in blockchain technology. Elsewhere in the world, The University of Nicosia in Cyprus was the first university in the world to offer a full graduate degree programme in blockchain and digital currency technology. And even one of Australia’s oldest universities is getting in on the act. The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology is the first down under to offer an eight-week short course in blockchain technology.
Over in the UK, B9Lab, an independent company based in London and Hamburg, is offering online training courses in blockchain for students across the globe. Plus, the world famous London School of Economics that has educated the heads of state and Nobel laureates has introduced an online course entitled Cryptocurrency Investment and Disruption. Now students are not only eager to learn about crypto but are investing in the digital currency too with a recent study by Student Loan Report highlighting that 21.2 per cent of college students investing some of their student loans in crypto in the hopes that it will rise in price and help them to pay off their debts sooner.
By Joy Lewis.
