World’s First “Blockchain University” Seeks Accreditation from Malta

The world’s first university powered by blockchain could soon set up shop in Malta, and academics from some of the world’s best universities have already signed up according to an August 24, 2018, report from Medium.

World’s First Blockchain-Powered University

Woolf University, the brainchild of an Oxford research fellow Joshua Broggi, could become the first blockchain-powered university in the world. It won’t be an online university per se, but r to save costs by automating administrative procedures, The Woolf University will run on blockchain technology.

The university’s framework is intended to complement both online and onsite teaching anywhere in the world by providing students with personalized tutorials. Running on a distributed ledger will also enable it to ensure the security of the student’s degrees.

The technology will enable the execution of a series of smart contracts that validate attendance and assignment completion once students and teachers “check-in.” According to Lovinmalta.com, the university will pay the teachers in tokens, while providing micro-credits to students.

Malta
(Source: Pixabay)

“We use a blockchain to create efficiencies by managing custodianship of student tuition, enforcing regulatory compliance for accreditation, and [the] automation [of] a number of processes,” Broggi told Forbes.

“Our blockchain-enforced accreditation processes are such that teachers and students from outside the EU can join our platform and earn a full EU degree – a non-EU student with a non-EU teacher in a non-EU language.”

Tech Hub Malta a Perfect Location for Blockchain University

With some of the largest crypto exchanges moving to Malta and the Maltese government passing ICO-friendly bills, it’s no wonder why projects such as the blockchain university have chosen to set up shop in the tiny island nation.

The university plans on having more than one regulatory partner in the future and its founders have chosen Malta as their starting point. “Malta is an ideal partner for a borderless university,” Broggi said.

“As an island country, Malta has a long tradition of looking beyond its own borders, and Malta is now developing a robust regulatory framework for distributed ledger technology. Both the educational policies and the blockchain policies are supportive of Woolf’s aims and we look forward to continued work with Malta as they become ‘the blockchain island.’”

The first phase will see the launch of five different colleges, after which the university’s founders hope to attract academics with a doctorate from one of the world’s top 200 universities.

The university currently employs a wide range of well-qualified professors and lecturers, most of whom come from the University of Oxford. However, the faculty also boasts lecturers from Cambridge University, George Mason University, King’s College London, Leipzig University, and Kyoto University.

While Woolf University had initially planned to fund the university through a public ICO, it has since found enough private investment to delay the need to go public.