Best Universities for Blockchain 2022: University of Zurich

From Zug to Zurich, clusters of crypto companies have cropped up and planted roots, quickly transforming a once-quaint swath of Swiss countryside into a bustling crypto capital. It’s for this fact that it should come as no surprise that the best university in Europe, and No. 3 university worldwide for blockchain in 2022 is the University of Zurich (UZH).

This piece is part of CoinDesk's Education Week

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Home to the UZH Blockchain Center, Switzerland’s largest and most active blockchain hub, UZH is a trailblazer in blockchain studies. Its high volume of blockchain-related research papers, collaborations with prominent non-profits in the blockchain ecosystem, and forays into education development and research initiatives have catapulted the university to the top of this year’s list. In CoinDesk's qualitative survey, UZH scored the highest in reputation for "impact in the blockchain world" by both academics and students.

The UZH Blockchain Center was founded in 2017 and has since flourished into a bustling hub of academic, educational and industry-related activities. The center counts 22 faculty members from a cross section of the university’s business, STEM and law departments among its ranks, in addition to hosting more than 40 researchers from UZH and other prestigious institutions. Since embracing blockchain studies, the university has published 108 blockchain-related research papers, earning more than 550 citations.

Although UZH currently offers no degree programs in blockchain studies, it does offer 25 blockchain and related courses, plus four certification programs for the crypto-curious. In the meantime, the university is also hard at work to expand its educational offerings.

Earlier this year, the UZH Blockchain Center announced a three-year partnership with the Swiss-based, nonprofit Cardano Foundation to advance its blockchain educational programming and launch new industry-leading research projects. As a result of the collaboration, the hub’s Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (BDLT) Group has begun researching the efficacy of consensus protocols and attack vectors specific to the blockchain protocol Ouroboros, among other projects.

UZH was founded as the "Universitas Turicensis” in 1833, joining together Zurich’s existing colleges of theology, jurisprudence, and medicine and forming the first democratically-founded university in Europe. Since then, the university has grown considerably, garnering prestige for its programs in medicine, economics, biology, neuroscience, immunology and genetics. In 2006, UZH earned recognition as one of Europe's leading research universities, joining the globally renowned League of European Research Universities, a collection of Europe’s most prestigious research institutions.