Cyprus University world first to accept bitcoins for tuition

Written on November 22nd, 2013 in politics Comments Off

Published on Russia Today RT, Nov 21, 2013.

The University of Nicosia (UNic), one of the major English language universities in the Mediterranean, will become the world’s first to accept bitcoins for tuition. The university will also begin a new Master of Science course in Digital Currency.

According to the university those who wish to pay tuition fees in bitcoins, will be able to use an online merchant processing service or by paying directly to the university’s finance office.  

“The intention of this initiative is to ease transmission difficulties for certain students and to build our own practical knowledge about this field, not to engage in currency speculation,” the University spokesperson told GeekWire.

Following the rising popularity of online commerce the University of Nicosia is starting the first Master of Science degree in Digital Currency. The idea is to give a whole variety of students from entrepreneurs to government officials with a better understanding of the technical underpinning of digital currency.

“While digital currency is a relatively new concept, currency is one of the oldest human inventions. What we aim to explore in this program is the likely development pathway of digital currency and give our students insights that they can bring to bear in their professional careers”, said Dr. Andreas Polemitis, the senior vice Rector.

The new Master’s programme will be taught in English, distributing both on-campus and online to distant students, and should begin in the spring of next year.

The virtual currency has recently been attracting a lot of attention from both users and policymakers. On November 18 bitcoin skyrocketed to an all-time high of $900 per unit on the Mt.Gox exchange. This is seen by some as people around the world increasingly betting on the crypto currency. The jump came during a hearing in the US where the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee is scrutinizing the virtual currency. Officials called bitcoins a “legitimate” financial service, despite past focus on the currency as a prime target for money launderers … //

… (full text).

Links – Bitcoins:

also on Russia Today RT:

see also:

Comments are closed.