According to a recent study by Coinbase, the interest of universities towards the cryptocurrency and blockchain world is growing year by year.
The famous exchange has focused on the top 50 universities in the world (according to the U.S. News & World Report) and revealed that 56% of them offer blockchain or cryptocurrency courses. In the previous year’s report, the percentage was 42%.
Not only IT departments
Cornell University ranked first, offering 14 courses on blockchain and cryptocurrencies. MIT and New York University followed closely.
With the help of Qriously, a well-known survey site, Coinbase interviewed 735 students aged 16 and over, with a 6% increase in students’ interest in cryptocurrency or blockchain courses. The previous year the percentage of interested students was 28% of respondents.
Moreover, compared to last year, already twice as many university students, or 18%, participated in a lesson involving blockchain technology.
Of particular importance is the number of cryptocurrency and blockchain courses that do not fall under the traditional label of IT courses. Coinbase said that almost 70% of these courses concern other departments, in particular, finance, economics, law or engineering.
The University of California-Berkeley, for example, offers a course that explores the legal implications and potential business models of blockchain technology.
Cesare Fracassi, professor of computer science at the University of Texas, said:
“Definitely, some of the students interested in this topic are ones who feel mistrustful of the current banking system. So they want to create an alternative system where the decision-making process isn’t centralized. Those are the more idealistic ones. Others are maybe a little more pragmatic, and interested in ways this technology can be used to improve companies’ performance and efficiency”.
Finally, also the student clubs were analysed. Coinbase reported that 41 of the 50 universities had groups run by students related to the crypto or blockchain world.
