Several Oxford University professors in UK are planning to launch the first blockchain-based university. Scientists believe that with the use of such an advanced technologies they will be able to democratize the structure of higher education. They plan to use the distributed ledger technology and smart contracts for this purpose.
Why it is important
- The development of Oxford University can become a precedent in the classical education system. With a successful outcome in the future, it will help to solve a number of accumulated problems.
- Maximum transparency of the blockchain will not allow students to falsify the level of academic achievement. Smart contracts automate the account of attendance and the calculation of points.
Also, a group of developers consisting of well-known university professors plans for the new system to address the issues traditionaly haunting well established universities; high tuition fees, bureaucracy, administrative costs and low salaries for teachers.
The first blockchain university could be operational as soon as autumn of this year. The programs will be based on the course already offered by universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Since students will choose online or offline, the training program will also be as accessible. The company behind the initiative, Woolf Development was founded by Joshua Broggi from the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford. A WOOLF token will be used to formulate the University budget and to pay for the tuition.
And Oxford University academics are thinking on similar lines to some of the largest crypto companies. For example, in early June a startup behind the 3rd largest cryptocurrency by capitalisation - Ripple looked to speed up the growth of the blockchain and crypto technologies by donating $50 million to 17 leading universities to boost academic blockchain research.
By Ekaterina Ulyanova