Five Leading Russian Universities Start Offering Cryptocurrency Courses

Many universities across Russia have added new courses to their existing finance curricula that are focused on cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, and blockchain technology. They will offer these courses for the first time this academic year due to high demand.

Also read: Russia’s Finance Ministry Drafts Law to Legalize Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrency Courses

A number of top universities in Russia will begin offering special courses and master’s degree classes devoted to the topics of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology for the first time this year, the universities told RT. The courses will be incorporated into the schools’ existing programs in the academic year 2017-2018.

The publication interviewed five universities in particular. Moscow State University (MSU) is a reputable, coeducational public research university. Sergey Studnikov, a managing board member of the MSU economical faculty, runs the Financial Analytics master’s program. He told the news outlet about the school’s new cryptocurrency courses:

We will have master classes immediately for several programs – for this we invite industry representatives.

At the Higher School of Economics (HSE), which is one of the leading and largest universities in Russia, the topic is included as part of the school’s Financial Technologies course. This course is part of the Financial Technologies and Data Analysis master’s program which was jointly launched this year with the state-owned Russian banking and financial services company, Sberbank.

The Saint Petersburg State University of Economics (Spbgeu) is devoting two sections of its existing program on banking, finance, and financial markets to cryptocurrency and blockchains. According to an associate professor of the school’s Faculty of Economics and Finance, Denis Gorulev, “to introduce a separate course here, we rely on a number of formal things – this needs to be coordinated with the Ministry of Education a lot and for a long time.”

High Demand for Crypto Classes

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), also known informally as Phystech, describes itself as “a top 5 Russian university that is highly regarded by scientists, students, and engineers alike.” The institute will teach the IT component of blockchain technology.

According to a director of the MIPT’s School of Applied Mathematics and Informatics, Andrey Raigorodsky, this field is in high demand among both students and employers. “This year we have a couple of special courses,” he told RT, adding that:

This topic is extremely popular.

There is strong demand from the school’s industrial partners, he detailed. “For example, Sberbank is working with us now – they have opened a new scientific laboratory, where research on this topic is being conducted.”

The National University of Science and Technology (Misis) is Russia’s primary technological university in the field of steel-making and metallurgy. This summer, Misis and government-owned bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) signed an agreement to create a center for new materials and breakthrough technologies with a focus on blockchain technology, the university told RT. Students will study blockchain technology at the new training center, the publication wrote, adding that:

In particular, students of MSU, HSE, Misis, MIPT and Spbgeu will learn about Bitcoin and other aspects of innovative financial technologies.

What do you think about Russian universities offering Bitcoin and blockchain-focused courses? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, MSU, HSE, MIPT

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