Zhejiang University, one of China’s oldest and most prestigious institutes of higher education, is set to offer its first for-credit course on “blockchain and digital currency” this fall to keep up with demand from students and their future employers, according to a report from 8btc. The course will focus on the cutting edge technology behind bitcoin and related practices.

The course, launched by the College of Computer Science and Technology (CCST) of Zhejiang University, is targeted for senior undergraduate students. It will illustrate the principles, technology and applications of digital currency, and analyze the technical architecture and development technology of the current mainstream blockchain platforms like Ethereum and Hyperledger. In addition, the course will introduce blockchain use cases and its development trend.

Due to the widespread attention to blockchain and digital currency in recent years, Zhejiang university has delved into this field three or four years ago.

“ We have carried out some blockchain-related research ,but only a small group of students who take part in the research project have a chance to learn blockchain technology, and we have no related courses. However, Zhejiang University, known as a multidisciplinary and comprehensive university, has seen surging demand from finance, business and computer science students to learn more about blockchain.So we started to prepare for this full-time course from the second half of last year.” Prof. Yang Xiaohu from Zhejiang University’s College of Computer Science said.

As for the teachers, in addition to faculty from Zhejiang University, this course will also have veteran blockchain engineers to give lectures over the development of blockchain platforms.

When asked about the reason why the course is called “ Blockchain and Digital Currency”, Prof. Yang explained that “ we cannot look at blockchain and digital currency separately, so we will introduce bitcoin, but not other cryptocurrencies, in the introductory course. But the course, as a whole, will concentrate on techonology issues.”

As blockchain is going mainstream, there is a pressing need to cultivate talent who specializes in blockchain. In addition to Zhejiang University’s blockchain credit course, many top ranked business schools in the US, including Stanford Graduate School of Business, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, are also expanding classes in digital currency and blockchain.