Around 20 educational institutions have partnered with Ripple (XRP) on its newly unveiled University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) that is centered on supporting and accelerating academic research, technical development and innovation in blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital payments.

The collaboration, which involves top universities around the world, attests to the fact that blockchain technology can bring revolution to education. It will expose the education community to many a number of use cases in the blockchain industry that can heighten research within the space.

Owing to Ripple’s outstanding performance in the blockchain world, it is no doubt that it can perform excellently in the academic community and create nonexistent ideas in this space, the same manner it is doing in the fintech world.

In so doing, Ripple has dedicated more than $50 million in funding, expertise and technical resources to UBRI’s maiden partners, which includes 17 internationally recognized institutions around the world.

Among the first batch of partners is the University of Nicosia, Cyprus, one of the frontrunner in blockchain education in the world. Also, it involves the The University of Pennsylvania where UBRI is financing selected MBA-MS candidates yearly in a newly established Wharton-Engineering dual-degree program. The support will give students working on blockchain or cryptocurrency a top regard.

In the same line, the Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP), Princeton University is saddled with the responsibility of creating an UBRI program that will research on the policy impact of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in the whole world.

While the schools involved in UBRI will individually design their research topics and other necessary things, Ripple will finance the research and technical development to increase societal understanding of blockchain.

Importantly, UBRI has linked Ripple with MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab’s new FinTech initiative that comprises close to a dozen respected companies in the financial services industry. With Ripple, they will be working with groups of CSAIL’s 116+ researchers on topics revolving around blockchain, cryptocurrencies, cybersecurity and global payments.

UBRI’s complete list of partners as published by Ripple today:

Australian National University College of the Law

CITP at Princeton

CSAIL at MIT

Delft University of Technology (Netherlands)

Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil)

Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley

IIT Bombay

International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H)

Korea University

McCombs School of Business, UT-Austin

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of Pennsylvania

UCL (University College London)

University of Luxembourg

University of Nicosia (Cyprus)

University of Oregon

University of Waterloo.