Campuses in South Africa embrace cryptocurrency

While the Bitcoin price may have decreased since the highs of 2017, the interest in learning about it and understanding the underlying blockchain technology that powers it has continued to climb.

In response to surging demand, Vega (a brand of The Independent Institute of Education – The IIE), has introduced a comprehensive cryptocurrency short course at a tertiary level in South Africa. The course caters for the generalist audience and those looking to understand how to broadly apply the technology within their fields of expertise.

With many convinced that cryptocurrencies and blockchain will be a transformative force across all sectors (in much the same way as the internet was), students and professionals alike are queueing to upskill themselves on the topic.

This move follows an international trend which sees graduate-level courses on Bitcoin and blockchain being oversubscribed at universities such as Berkeley, Cornell, Duke, MIT and New York University.

With much of the education around cryptocurrencies at present being offered through online learning, the course aims to be more hands-on and to help students grapple with this multi-faceted, virtual subject. Students will be given the opportunity to build their own blockchain in the real world, assemble a mining rig and mine coins, spend cryptocurrency on goods, and even receive their course certificate on a blockchain.

“This new offering adds further value to the comprehensive range of IIE brand communication, business and design qualifications and short courses available to study at Vega,” says Shevon Lurie, Managing Director at Vega. “The course will run over three weeks with two highly engaging sessions per week at Vega’s Johannesburg campus only, covering everything from the history of some of the world’s leading cryptocurrencies to buying, trading and using Bitcoin.”

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have become the focus of highly anticipated technological disruptions since 2009. With the likes of Microsoft, Bank of America, Google and Goldman Sachs making vast investments into the technology, the value of the industry grew from $16-billion to almost $1-trillion in 2017 alone.

With developments in the field moving rapidly and crossing multiple disciplines, The IIE Vega chose to partner with CoinEd, an education house founded to satisfy the demand for education in the field of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, to deliver the course.

“Familiarity with cryptocurrency technology is fast becoming useful in the job market,” says Warren Gray, co-founder of CoinEd. “I’ve seen juniors at law firms and investment houses being offered high-level opportunities on the basis of being the most knowledgeable in the business when it comes to cryptocurrencies and blockchains.”

Job sites have reported a spike in job listings for positions relating to blockchain technology, a skill that is currently one of the most sought-after amongst software developers.

The short course begins on 10 April 2018 and is ideal for anyone looking to gain a broad understanding of all aspects of the field of cryptocurrency. Universities such as The University of Cape Town have also committed to offering cryptocurrency courses later in 2018.

To get more information, or to enrol, visit www.VegaSchool.com.