Canadian University Adds Two Blockchain Programs to Meet Job Demands

Canada’s York University School of Continuing Studies today announced two new university-level continuing blockchain programs — the part-time Certificate in Blockchain Development and the full-time Post-Graduate Certificate in Back-End and Blockchain Development.

The university said their new courses aim to meet the rising demand for blockchain developer roles in Canada, especially in the Greater Toronto Area, where it has risen by 374% in the last two years.

Helping people upskill and reenter the workforce

The two courses, which are scheduled to start this September, will help students upskill and build a portfolio in the blockchain field so they can secure roles as blockchain professionals.

The university will be offering the part-time blockchain development course completely online. However, the post-graduate certification course will start online, and then depending on public health guidelines, will continue on-campus.

While the enrollment for the course is open, the university has not specified the duration of the courses or the number of students it will be taking on.

COVID-19 has revealed our inefficient system

The coronavirus pandemic has shown a multitude of flaws in existing information-sharing systems and supply chains. An advisory council member of the post-graduate program said that technologies like blockchain are crucial in building a more transparent and high-performance data governance system that can mitigate crises like the current one.

In their announcement, the university highlighted that the ongoing pandemic has only added to the demand for blockchain use cases and blockchain jobs. The assistant vice-president of continuing studies Tracey Taylor-O'Reilly stated that blockchain is a revolutionary technology that can help in “solving problems created by the pandemic.”