Malta to Host World’s First Blockchain-Powered University

Malta might host the world’s first university powered by blockchain technology, Lovin Malta reports. The idea comes from Joshua Broggi, an Oxford research fellow. The Woolf University, as the project is called, will operate on distributed ledger technology (DLT) to automate administrative processes, maintain the high security of degrees, and save costs. Though it is not an online university, the school will provide students around the world with personalized tutorials as complementary teaching.

Broggi commented on the university:

“Malta provides an educational framework based in the British tradition - and after Brexit, Malta will remain both an EU member state and a Commonwealth member.” “We have had productive meetings with Evarist Bartolo (Education Minister) and the National Commission for Further and Higher Education (NCFHE). As part of our participation in the community of Malta, members of the Woolf University have already been contracted as expert peer-reviewers and acted to help the NCFHE in assessing applications for degree accreditation,” he added.

The university will leverage smart contracts to validate attendance and assignments, enable students to pay teachers in tokens and get micro-credits.

Several professors and lectures have already agreed to collaborate with the blockchain-based institution. Most of them come from the UK, from universities like University of Oxford, Cambridge University, George Mason University, and King’s College London. However, some teachers teach at Kyoto University and Leipzig University.

Woolf wanted to raise funds via a public initial coin offering (ICO) but said it had raised enough through the private sale, so there was no need to go public, at least for now. During the sale, investors can buy WOOLF tokens with Stellar Lumens.

Recently, we reported that more and more students are showing interest in topics like blockchain and cryptocurrencies. They believe that such knowledge would help them find a job easier, a study by Coinbase and Qriously found.