Restaurants, wood shops, hair salons and even public utilities around the world have started to accept bitcoins (BTC). Why not educational institutions? Well, Cumbria University has become the first public university in the world Tuesday to accept the digital currency from some students for tuition payment.

Students who attend two new courses that study complementary currencies will be the ones permitted to use the cryptocurrency. The two courses are the Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Leadership, which will be taught from its Lake District campus, and Certificate of Achievement in Sustainable Exchange, taught at its London campus.

A system has already been installed to process the payments. It is believed that Cumbria has become the very first public institution to allow bitcoin payments, but a private university in Cyprus has already been established a year ago.

“We believe in learning by doing, and so to help inform our courses on complementary currencies, we are trialling the acceptance of them,” said Jem Bendell, founder and director of the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS), in a statement. “The internal discussions about currency and payment innovation and the practical implications for different departments have been insightful.”

The purpose of accepting bitcoin is to allow its students to “benefit from experiencing complementary currencies and be recognised for that.” At the present time, it will examine the payment system and become more knowledgeable in the future about existing alternative currencies and payment technologies.

“Some support Bitcoin due to its speed and cost, others due the new era of financial freedom it could enable,” added Bendell. “Others are concerned about it and how it will affect economies and society. Others think that what comes next will be even more important. We think it is essential to become better informed, and analyse it from many different perspectives.”

The university did note, however, that students should not be purchasing bitcoins in order to pay for tuition. Students should only pay with bitcoins if they already have the cryptocurrency or have means to receive donations.

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