Woolf University seeks accreditation in Malta for first blockchain-based institution

Oxford University research fellow Joshua Broggi is seeking accreditation in Malta to establish the world’s first blockchain-powered university.

Local news sources in Malta say academics of the world’s best universities have already signed up to Broggi’s so-called Woolf University.

According to the researcher’s plans, the university will save on costs by automating administrative procedures on the blockchain.

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Woolf University also plans to complement online and onsite teaching around the world by providing students with personalised tutorials, while ensuring the security of the degrees attained by students.

Smart contracts and tokens

Blockchain will allow the institution to execute smart contracts as a way to keep track of student attendance and assignment completion.

Teachers will be paid in tokens and students will have access to microcredits, according to Lovingmalta.com.

Words from the founder

“We use a blockchain to create efficiencies by managing custodianship of student tuition, enforcing regulatory compliance for accreditation, and automation of a number of processes,” Broggi said.

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“Our blockchain-enforced accreditation processes are such that teachers and students from outside the EU can join our platform and earn a full EU degree – a non-EU student with a non-EU teacher in a non-EU language.”

Malta would appear to be the perfect place to set up a blockchain-powered university given that the government of the small Mediterranean island nation has become crypto and blockchain friendly.

“Malta is an ideal partner for a borderless university,” Broggi added in an interview with Forbes.

“As an island country, Malta has a long tradition of looking beyond its own borders, and Malta is now developing a robust regulatory framework for distributed ledger technology.

“Both the educational policies and the blockchain policies are supportive of Woolf’s aims, and we look forward to continued work with Malta as they become ‘the blockchain island.”

Broggi says the during the first phase of the project five colleges will be launched and in later stages, it intends to attract academics with PhDs from one of the world’s top 200 universities.

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Woolf Universtiy’s website claims it will be the first fully-accredited, borderless, blockchain-powered university.

“Woolf University will use blockchain technology to enforce regulatory compliance, eliminate or automate bureaucratic university processes, and manage the custodianship of sensitive financial and personal data,” its website states.

Disruption of higher education

It also says that “Woolf will disrupt the economics of higher education by providing new opportunities for both students and academics. Woolf is developing an accredited platform on which students and teachers can connect – anywhere in the world. Woolf focusses on Oxbridge-style tutorials that prioritise personal interactions between teachers and students. Although the Woolf software platform is online, it will support both in-person and distance teaching”.

It concludes by saying: “Woolf Development was launched in March of 2018 and has since appeared in news outlets in a dozen languages globally, including Forbes, Nasdaq, and The Times.”