5 Universities Offering Blockchain Courses.By:Sudhir Khatwani

The rising demand for blockchain technology is naturally signaling the need for a pool of blockchain talent all over the world.

From blockchain/cryptocurrency startups like Golem and ConsenSys to blockchain protocol creators like Counterparty and 0x, the world is thirsty for talented individuals who are interested in areas of tech, business, and blockchain marketing.

The sudden demand for this relatively infantile technology, which is just less than a decade old, is facing a huge crunch of human capital who are interested and trained in this tech.

The Google Trends charts and the number of job listings for blockchain/cryptocurrencies also confirms what I am saying.

Just to put in perspective the kind of demand we have in the market, here are a few facts:

Angle.co claimed that job listings for blockchain/cryptos are set to triple in 2017.
Google Trends shows an 8-fold increase in interest for blockchain courses worldwide.
Blockchain talent pools are being built in India and Asia.
And in tandem with these demand matrixes, numerous courses are proliferating both online and offline to train this next-gen blockchain talent.

To serve this demand, several universities have also started offering blockchain and crypto courses.

And that’s why CoinSutra has put together a list of universities from where you can get yourself trained in order to market your blockchain skills in front of potential employers.

5 Universities Offering Blockchain Courses

1. University of Nicosia | Cyprus

The University of Nicosia, based out of the small middle-east country Cyprus, offers the world’s first Master’s degree in digital currencies.

The first leg of the program is a pre-requisite, free 12-session MOOC on digital currencies (DFIN-511: Introduction to Digital Currencies) taught by leaders of the industry like Andreas Antonopoulos and Antonis Polemitis. This first course is followed by an MSc in Digital Currency degree program if the students are interested in enrolling.

The target audience for this course is business people/entrepreneurs, bankers, lawyers, accountants, auditors, social workers, NGOs, non-profits, development experts, regulatory officials/policy makers, and computer scientists.

The total tuition fee for the program is €12,080.

1. Princeton University | USA

This course is brought to you by New Jersey-based Princeton University via Coursera. It is a free course comprising of 11 weeks of online material, but it has no certification awarded at the end.

The course covers things like: How does Bitcoin work? What makes Bitcoin different? How secure are your bitcoins? How anonymous are Bitcoin users? What determines the price of Bitcoin? Can cryptocurrencies be regulated? What might the future hold?

It has 12 lecture videos and 11 lecture slides that are also free. While this course was meant for Princeton students during the Spring 2015 semester, its information is still very much valid for today’s blockchain/crypto world.

Here is an interesting introductory video:

1. Stanford University | USA
   
   California-based Stanford University offers a unique free course on Bitcoin and blockchain tech. This course is called Bitcoin Engineering and teaches its participants how to make Bitcoin-enabled applications.

This course requires no prior knowledge of Bitcoin, but does recommend a basic knowledge of Python and Unix languages.

The course covers aspects of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, smart contracts, distributed ledger technologies, and consensus systems.

To narrow down the vast subject of cryptos, they have only taken the case studies of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

1. Duke University | USA

Duke University offers a course called “Blockchain and Innovation” for its undergraduate students, which is free of cost. It is run by a select group of students, professionals, and professors by a Duke Blockchain Lab pioneered by Duke University.

The class meets every Monday and aims to inspire students to explore this new technology. It organizes meetups, events, talks, and seminars where they discuss blockchain technology, cryptography, cryptocurrencies, and non-financial blockchain use cases.

1. The University of California, Berkeley | USA
   
   UC-Berkeley runs a unit called Blockchain At Berkeley which is a student-run organization to bridge the gap between blockchain/cryptocurrencies and the general masses.

It is not a certification or a degree course, but it’s an all-out endeavor to make the steep learning curve of this new tech a lot easier to bear. They organize workshops, seminars, screencasts, and events, and every Sunday there are meetups to discuss some of the cutting-edge whitepapers of the blockchain industry.

They also have a stringent attendance policy, and they drop students who are not regular in their attendance.

If you want to apply, follow this link.

List Of Universities Offering Blockchain Courses
So that’s all from my side with this list of universities offering blockchain courses. I will be updating this list of resources when I get to know about more such courses. So keep an eye here on CoinSutra!

Now it’s time to hear from you: Have you taken a cryptocurrency course? Which one did you choose? Do you know more universities that should be on this list? Let us know in the comments section below!

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