The Coinbase report released today has revealed that students in U.S universities prefer cryptocurrency courses over engineering with a bigger number of those studying medicine investing in crypto.

“You need to prepare your students for the future. Blockchain is not going away,” were the words of Campbell Harvey, the professor of international business at Duke University.

To concur with Harvey, Benedikt Bünz, a doctoral student at Stanford University majoring on cryptocurrencies after he finished his master’s degree in artificial intelligence said that “if you’re an expert in cryptocurrencies and cryptography you’ll have a difficult time not finding a job.”

The report also captured that most of the universities offering courses covering blockchain and cryptocurrency fields are mainly from the United States. Additionally, 42 percent of the leading 50 universities globally now offer ‘at least one course on crypto or blockchain.’

The survey revealed a changing landscape where these courses were not as popular 4 years ago.

For example, in 2014 when the New York University Stern School of Business first offered a course on blockchain, only 35 students showed interest which did not reach the typical elective of 43 students.

But in 2018, the same course had 230 enrolled students prompting the university to have the course taught on both semesters to cater for the demand.

What was a bit shocking in the Coinbase survey is that cryptocurrency classes are not limited to computer science department but spans across anthropology and finance departments.

On why the this was the case in the top 50 universities sampled, Dawn Song, a computer science professor, University of California, Berkeley, observed that since “Blockchain combines theory and practice and can lead to fundamental breakthroughs in many research areas, it can have really profound and broad-scale impacts on society in many different industries.”

Out of the total students sampled, the Coinbase report noted that 18 percent own cryptocurrency with those studying medicine investing mostly in virtual currencies at 19% followed by computer science 18%, economics & math 12%, business 13% and law 12%.

Since students in U.S universities prefer cryptocurrency courses over engineering, is it possible that a cryptocurrency/ blockchain course will be a major requirement on the global job market in the near future?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.