The blockchain technology’s prowess as a disruptor of many sectors has already gained grounds. Whiles many countries across the globe are still skeptical about the ecosystem, Malta is on a different level. The country is undoubtedly one of the best blockchain-friendly environments, spanning adoption, laws, and governance. One sector, that has however not received much attention, even on a global scale, is blockchain education and research and Malta is bound to change that.
In line with its aim to provide a world-class blockchain-based educational curriculum, the University of Malta has created the Centre for Distributed Ledger Technologies. The center will host and oversee the smooth running of blockchain-related and distributed ledger technology courses starting October this year.
These courses and study units will be offered under existing undergraduate and master’s degree programmes at the University of Malta. The study unit Blockchain and Smart Contracts (ICT 3009) will be offered under three courses, including BSc in Computing Science, BSc in Artificial Intelligence, and Master’s Degree in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. The development version of this course, Blockchain and Smart Contract Programming (LAS3019) are geared towards those who want to get into smart contract and blockchain programming. This course comes under the Liberal Arts and Science (Plas) programme of the university and will be taken on evening sessions.
Another course that will come under the Liberal Arts and Science (Plas) programme of the university is The Blockchain World: An Introduction (LAS1062). This is a non-technical course that will bootstrap students into understanding the world of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.
Whiles these courses will start this October, the university has more courses coming in the early parts of 2019. The University is working on a research-based course, A Blockchain and DLT Master’s intended to kick off by February 2019. And a taught Master’s degree in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies will also follow suit in October same the year.
These moves by the university will not only position Malta as a center of excellence for blockchain and distributed ledger technologies but will also help the country to create the next generation of blockchain talent for the world.