Scotland’s University of Strathclyde has announced the launching of its new FinTech masters course, making it a first in the U.K. in an announcement on the university’s website.
The Master of Science (MSc) in Financial Technology will provide students the financial, programming and analytical skills needed to help companies accelerate and enhance their security. It is hoped that this new course will support the digital transformation of Scotland’s growing financial sector.
Boost in Scottish Jobs
An economic modelling study found last year that Scotland could lose more than 14,000 jobs in its financial sector over the next ten years if it fails to embrace the FinTech wave.
In a bid to retain those jobs within Scotland the launch of the new intensive 12-month course, starting in September 2017, will provide students with the entrepreneurial and innovative elements of FinTech to make sure Scotland doesn’t fall behind.
Daniel Broby, director of Strathclyde’s Centre for Financial Regulation and Innovation, said that the Scottish financial industry needs to embrace FinTech or risk missing out on what could potentially be a golden opportunity for the country.
FinTech is developing rapidly, utilising software and programming code in innovative ways. It is driving efficiency up and costs down and the digitalisation of transactions is now a cross-disciplinary science.
Digital Currency and Blockchain Courses
Scotland isn’t the only country that is offering its students a course focusing on the new technology.
Other universities around the world are realizing the potential benefits of blockchain and bitcoin and are expanding the range of courses they provide.
Cyprus was the world’s first location where students could undertake a Master of Science in Digital Currency at the University of Nicosia in 2014 through an online format.
Even though it may not offer courses in bitcoin or blockchain, ESMT Berlin, a state-accredited private business university announced last month that it would accept bitcoin as a currency for all payments including tuition. This makes it the first German institution of higher education to accept the digital currency as a form of payment.
Last year Stanford University held a lab course on building bitcoin-enabled applications for its students where they learnt how to rewire Internet services based on bitcoin.
In 2014, the University of Cumbria announced that its students could pay for two of their courses with bitcoin as they experiment with the digital currency via BitPay.
While last year cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab recognized three universities for their work on blockchain technology out of 19 universities from the United States and the United Kingdom. The winning three universities were New York University, the University Of Maryland, College Park’s Maryland Cybersecurity Center and Newcastle University.
As the technology continues to grow more colleges and universities will undoubtedly provide these courses for their students, which will prepare them for the future as it embraces FinTech, bitcoin and blockchain.
Featured image from Facebook/University of Strathclyde.
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