IFLAS at the University of Cumbria becomes first public university to accept Bitcoin for tuition fees

The University of Cumbria's Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) has become the first public university in the world to accept Bitcoin for the payment of tuition fees. 

The move comes with the launch of courses that examine the role of complementary currencies in economic and social systems. UoC believes it is the first public university in the world to accept Bitcoin as payment for course fees.

Bitcoin is an online currency and payment system that already enables the international transmission of funds per day at an amount greater than Western Union. Thousands of merchants now accept Bitcoin worldwide. The university uses the system Bitpay to process any payments.

The acceptance of Bitcoin will initially be limited to the two programmes that address complementary currencies. These are the Certificate of Achievement in Sustainable Exchange, which will be taught from the university’s London campus in 2014, and the Postgraduate Certificate inSustainable Leadership, which will be taught from its Lake District campus, in 2014. Both courses are run by the new Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS).

The founder and director of IFLAS, Professor Jem Bendell (pictured), explains the move: “We believe in learning by doing, and so to help inform our courses on complementary currencies, we are trialling the acceptance of them. The internal discussions about currency and payment innovation and the practical implications for different departments have been insightful.”

The reason IFLAS has launched a course on these topics is due to the growing practice of currency innovation and the potential it presents for significant societal change. Professor Bendell continues:  “Some support Bitcoin due to its speed and cost, others due the new era of financial freedom it could enable. Others are concerned about it and how it will affect economies and society. Others think that what comes next will be even more important. We think it is essential to become better informed, and analyse it from many different perspectives.”

In May last year IFLAS co-organised the first symposium by the United Nations on complementary currencies and has an active research programme on this topic, including PhD students. 

Late last year a private university in Cyprus announced it would accept Bitcoin, but the University of Cumbria is the first public university to do so, and for courses that are already validated and accepting students. Cumbria’s system for accepting payments, via the Bitpay system, is already operational.

FAQs on the University of Cumbria and alternative currencies

The University of Cumbria has announced it will accept payment for courses via Bitcoin. It understands this makes it the first public university in the world to do so. It will accept Bitcoin for payment of two specific courses that relate to currency innovation, and learn from the process and incorporate that into its teaching.

Is the university accepting payments in Bitcoin for fees?
The university facilitates students to use one of the transaction services such as Bitpay to pay their fees using their Bitcoin, for the Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Leadership and the Certificate of Achievement in Sustainable Exchange. This facility is on a trial basis and will be assessed on an ongoing basis and also at the end of 2014.

Is it the first university to do so?
We understand we are the first public university to facilitate payments using the Bitcoin system, the first British university to do so, and the world’s first Business School to do so. A private university in Cyprus recently announced it will accept Bitcoin for fees.

Why is the university doing this?
First, this is an area of our expertise. The university’s Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) is a leader in complementary currency research, education and dialogue. In May 2013 it co-organised the first United Nations conference on complementary currencies. Its director, Professor Jem Bendell publishes and supervises PhDs in this field. In 2014 we launch what we understand to be the world’s first Certificate of Achievement in complementary currencies, as part of the Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Leadership. The tradition of the university in action research and applied research means our academics naturally seek to learn by analysing practice. Therefore we will study the experience of facilitating payments by one complementary currency system, Bitcoin for this particular course.

Second, we are open to relevant innovations in payment technology that could increase options for our students.

Third, we recognise the attention being given to Bitcoin at present, and as we have relevant expertise and courses on offer, think that we should make these resources widely known to both enthusiasts and critics.

What are the university’s views on Bitcoin and alternative currencies?
The university does not have a view on Bitcoin or alternative currencies. Our academics have a variety of views. IFLAS has specialist knowledge in the field of complementary currencies. Its director, Professor Jem Bendell, has worked in this field for four years, and is a leading commentator on the topic. IFLAS and Professor Bendell consider complementary currencies to be important for sustainable development if designed and managed well. They consider there is currently much misunderstanding about complementary currencies, both misinformed criticism and superficial hype, which is a reason for our courses on the topic. The Bitcoin unit may vary in value, and opinions differ on that value, yet the key innovation is the system it is based on, which is a global ledger maintained by any computers that download the relevant software and have the appropriate hardware and internet connection. The evolution of payment technology and currencies poses many opportunities and issues for all sectors of society, so deserves our research, discussion and impartial advice.

What are the benefits for students and the university?
Students can benefit from experimenting with a new means of payment if they have Bitcoin. The university can benefit from experiencing complementary currencies and be recognised for that.

What are the risks for students and the university?
We advise against students purchasing Bitcoin in order to pay their fees. They should only use this facility if they already have Bitcoin, or can receive Bitcoin donations in order to pay their fees. We make this clear due to the risk of currency volatility. The university does not risk currency volatility as we use transaction services that convert the Bitcoin into GBP at the time of payment. Bitpay is a US-based company that enables thousands of merchants to accept Bitcoin. Last year it secured investment from the founders of Paypal. In future we may use others systems or have our own Bitcoin wallet but this is something we are currently examining. There are misunderstandings about Bitcoin and this is a trial move by the university, where we  approach it as a learning exercise and welcome feedback. Payments made using Bitcoin and any requested refunds will be subject to the university's tuition fee policy.

Will the university accept other currencies in future?
The university will learn from this trial and develop its awareness of innovations in complementary currencies and payment technology.

A year of media buzz on IFLAS

People are taking notice of IFLAS. During its first year, IFLAS and its team featured in British newspapers six times, on the radio twice, on television twice, in international media outlets over ten times, and in specialist sustainability magazines twice.

The Director appeared on Al Jazeera television explaining the need for community currency innovation (Money for Nothing: Counting the Cost), and our Associate Scholar Will Ruddick then appeared on that station discussing his action-research project in Kenya to create a local currency for a poor neighbourhood (Counting the Cost of Aid). That project generated dozens of newspaper and TV appearances in Kenya itself and a retrospective from Al Jazeera. Professor Bendell also wrote for Al Jazeera about the benefits and limitations of attending the World Economic Forum in Davos (Uncovering Davos Ma’am).

 

In the run up to the Institute’s launch at the Royal Geographical Society in May 2013, the Guardian ran a number of articles by the speakers. Our Senior Lecturer Kate Rawles wrote about “Injecting a Sense of Adventure into Sustainability,” Daniel Start wrote about “Why Google and Sony are turning to nature to inspire their leaders ” while Professor Bendell wrote about community currency in “Trading without money? Why a new system can address the economic spiral”, and the need to emphasise adaption to climate change (Is Sustainable Business Still Possible?). He also explored answers to the question “If It’s Too Late Why Bother?” in The Environmentalist. Then speaker and IFLAS Advisory Board member Ed Gillespie appeared with Dr Rawles on Sea Change radio, discussing how to see sustainability as an everyday adventure.

The need for a more sustainable financial system was the subject of articles in The Times and the Mail on Sunday, which focused on Professor Bendell’s reasons for switching his account to The Cumberland Building Society (Give Your Bank Its Marching Orders). Jem’s lecture tour in Australia on Bitcoin and the need for sensible currency innovation appeared in their leading daily newspaper The Australian (The Rise of Bitcoin to Put the Bite on Banks).

What’s all this got to do with sustainability leadership? Jem shared some ideas in an interview for the specialist CSR Wire on “How to Assess Top Talent for Sustainability Leadership Skills.”

2014 sees a continued interest in IFLAS, with Professor Bendell already appearing on ITV to discuss the growth of international attention for the University of Cumbria in its Lake District Campus in Ambleside. 

Stay tuned… one way is to join the Sustainable Leaders Linked In Group.

IFLAS professor is first UK academic invited to attend Harvard leadership programme

The director of the University of Cumbria’s Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) has been selected to join a group of world leaders in business and politics to study the latest leadership approaches at Harvard University.

Professor Jem Bendell

Professor Jem Bendell, named a ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum, will attend the Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century programme in Cambridge, USA in March.  

Young Global Leaders are chosen by the forum for having demonstrated leadership for the common good on a global stage, and include people such as Kumi Naidoo (Greenpeace CEO), Hannah Jones (Head of Sustainability at Nike), and Chuka Umunna MP.  The Forum of Young Global Leaders meets on Monday, January 20 in Davos, Switzerland, ahead of the Davos Summit.

Professor Bendell is the first academic from the UK to be accepted onto the programme.

He said: “I am delighted to be accepted on to this Harvard programme, which gives me the chance to experience the latest approaches to leadership education, and also to share our own approaches in the Lake District.

“Harvard provides elite education to some of the world’s most influential people, in a class-based setting. In Cumbria we have a tradition of experiential learning, and a liking for taking our executive students into nature and to local heritage sites, to stimulate their reflection. I think in future we will see more combinations of such approaches.”

Through a partnership between the Harvard Kennedy School, the Center for Public Leadership and the World Economic Forum, the programme has been developed to expand and enhance the leadership skills of Young Global Leaders, necessary to address the world’s most serious problems. The curriculum considers critical global policy areas such as education, environment, global health, international development, and security, and is provided free of charge due to sponsorship.

As the world’s first professor of sustainability leadership, Professor Bendell recognises the need to blend insights from leadership development and the challenge of sustainable development.

“Ultimately we need to better understand how to lead across borders, for the greater good, not only for our organisation,” he explains.

For more information about IFLAS and the courses it offers, visit www.cumbria.ac.uk/IFLAS

Certificate of Achievement in Sustainable Exchange

(Offered by the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) in our London Docklands Campus, 20 credit points at Masters-level, can be part of a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Leadership).

Economic and environmental crises are often in the news, yet social innovation is growing at pace.

Collaborative consumption systems like Airbnb, digital currencies like Bitcoin, local currencies like the Bristol Pound, gifting systems like Impossible.com, and sharing systems like TimeBanks UK, suggest that there could be a new paradigm emerging for how we organise our economic lives in ways that could restore community and the environment. 

The aim of this Certificate of Achievement is for you to understand why and how to create, scale and evaluate digitally-enabled systems of “sustainable exchange”.

Sustainable exchange includes systems for giving, sharing, renting, exchanging, and funding, with or without official money.

We understand that this is the world’s first Masters-level course on digital currencies and the sharing economy, and it is already receiving international press coverage.

The course is taught as a four-day block on the edge of the London Docklands financial centre, with structured online interaction beforehand, and an assessment to study for and write afterwards.

 

Join us at our London campus

Various online materials are supplied pre and post residential via our online Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).The course involves walking tours in the Docklands on monetary history, visits to relevant initiatives, and guest lectures from leaders in the field.  

Tutors will include Professor Jem Bendell (IFLAS), April Rinne (Collaborative Lab), Adam Werbach (Yerdle), John Rogers (author, People Money), Leander Bindewald (NEF and IFLAS), Brett Scott (author, Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance), Chris Cook (UCL), Will Ruddick (BanglaPesa and IFLAS), Susannah Martin Belmonte (EuroCat) (all TBC) and Matthew Slater (Community Forge).

The first offering is in 2014, but places are limited so apply early to avoid a delay of 6 months for the following iteration. Course fees are £1,111.

If this module is taken standalone, there are no specific entry requirements for this module but you must demonstrate that you are able to study at the appropriate level. 

To apply for the course click here.  If you would like to take this course as part of the new Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Leadership, click here. If you would like to apply for a scholarship then the deadline is January 30^th 2014 and details on that are here.

We are currently accepting donations in digital currencies and national currencies to be able to award scholarships for this course. If you would like to support this initiative, please contact Professor Jem Bendell: iflas@cumbria.ac.uk

On successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Critically evaluate the historical evolution of different exchange systems.
• Critically analyse the variety of sustainable exchange systems and the potential and pitfalls of digitally-enabled sustainable exchange systems
• Effectively communicate the rationale for sustainable exchange systems to a variety of stakeholders, with a critical understanding of claims made about them
• Describe and advise on the key factors for designing, developing and managing successful sustainable exchange systems
• Critically analyse the potential and current impact of any sustainable exchange initiative for its ability to promote sustainable production and consumption

Indicative Module Content:

• The history of exchange and monetary systems, according to anthropology and contrarian economics.
• The current monetary systems and its implications for sustainable development
• The variety of sustainable exchange systems, both new and old, for giving, sharing, renting, exchanging, and funding, with or without official money.
• The potential and pitfalls of digitally enabled sustainable exchange systems
• The key factors for designing, developing and managing successful sustainable exchange systems.
• Evaluation systems for sustainable exchange initiatives.
• Communication challenges and techniques for sustainable exchange.
• Practice-based inquiries into sustainable exchange.

For a short TEDx talk introducing this topic, see Professor Bendell’s The Money Myth:

Indicative Bibliography

• Bendell, J and T. Greco (2013) ‘Currencies of Transition’, in McIntosh (2013) The Necessary Transition, Greenleaf Publishing, UK. http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/content/pdfs/TNT_bendell.pdf
• Botsman, R and R. Rogers (2010) Beyond Zipcar: Collaborative Consumption, Harvard Business Review, October 2010.
• Gold, L (2004) The sharing economy: solidarity networks transforming globalisation, Ashgate Pub Ltd, UK.
• Graeber, D (2011) Debt: The First 5000 Years. Melville House Books.
• Greco, Jr., Thomas H. (2009) The End of Money and the Future of Civilization. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2009.
• Eisenstein, C (2012) Sacred Economics. Evolver Editions, USA.
• Lietaer, B., M. Kennedy and J. Rogers (2012) People Money: The Promise of Regional Currencies, Triarchy Press.
• Schroeder, R.F.H., Y. Miyazaki1 and M. Fare (2011) “Community Currency Research: An analysis of the literature”, International Journal of Community Currency Research, Volume 15 (2011) Section A 31-41.

Become a sustainable leadership scholar with a funded place for the Post Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Leadership

The Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) is accepting applications for the new Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Leadership; aimed at experienced professionals seeking an academic context to explore how to increase their impact. 

The course begins in 2014, and requires two visits to the Lake District, UK, of one week each, and then a module of independent study.  

Through sponsorship by the Robert Kennedy College, there are scholarships for two students to have their £3,333 fees paid. The scholarships are made through a competitive award and are only open to UK or EU nationals only. 

The scholarship provides the opportunity to study in the heart
of the Lake District National Park during two residential weeks.

To apply, complete the following steps before January 30^th 2014:

- Write an article of between 700-1200 words that is published on a relevant online website (either through a publisher, an internationally recognised newspaper or a relevant organisation, but not behind a paywall). The article must be on one or more of the topics of the programme: sustainable leadership, experiential learning, the sharing economy or community currency. The article must mention at some point why courses like the PGC in Sustainable Leadership, or its modules (such as the module “Sustainable Exchange”) are important, and link to the course website: http://bit.ly/1hmTmyR. The article must be published between December 9^th 2013 and January 30^th 2014.  The article must indicate that you are the author.

- Tweet the article title and web-link, including the following text within the tweet: See #IFLAS course http://bit.ly/1hmTmyR

-  Consider uploading the article as part of a discussion on the IFLAS Sustainable Leaders Linked In group (accessible via the menu icon at www.iflas.info)

- Send an email with your CV, a link to the article, and less than 200 words explaining why you want to take the course and why you need your fees to be paid. Email iflas@cumbria.ac.uk  (do not contact individual judges).

Applicants will be informed of the decision before March 1^st 2014. 

Before applying, look at the programme description. Other courses may be more relevant to you, such as our suite of MBAs offered with the Robert Kennedy College, including the largest specialist sustainability MBA, delivered online, with a block residential in the Lake District. 

The Judges

• Leander Bindewald, New Economics Foundation
• Richard Little, Impact International
• Philippa Chapman, Institute for Leadership and Sustainability
• David Connor, 3BL Media and Just Means
• Professor David Costa, Robert Kennedy College
• Dr Audrey Sleight, University of Cumbria
• Professor Jem Bendell, Institute for Leadership and Sustainability

Please note that individual judges cannot vote for someone they work with, live with or are related to. 

Exploring Sustainability - the Inaugural Professorial Lecture by IFLAS director Prof Jem Bendell

IFLAS director Jem Bendell will give his Inaugural Professorial Lecture at Keswick's Words by the Water literary festival on March 14, 2014.

Prof Jem Bendell, director of IFLAS

Prof Bendell has been invited to deliver the prestigious annual Derwentwater Lecture, organised in association with the Keswick Fair World Alliance, and supported by Impact International and the Cumberland Building Society.

The Lecture

How do we know what to do in a world we perceive as unfair, difficult and threatened, yet simultaneously beautiful, inspiring and unfolding?

What can we learn from old and new, local and global, the personal and professional?

What if we are guided by love, not fear?

What if we are more honest with ourselves and each other about what’s not working, and what we really wish for?

Derwentwater forms the magnificent backdrop to the lecture. Photo: Stuart Holmes

A Professor of Sustainability Leadership, and Founding Director of the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS), Jem Bendell has worked on business and sustainable development for almost 20 years, in business, government and civil society, as well as academia. 

In 2012, the World Economic Forum appointed him a Young Global Leader, in recognition of his work on cross-sector alliances for sustainable development. 

In his academic work he traversed political science, sociology, development studies and management studies, as he saw how ‘disciplines’ restrict creativity and relevance in a world that urgently needs breakthrough ideas for our common good.

In his Inaugural Lecture, Professor Bendell will share insights from this intellectual journey on the causes and solutions to social and environmental degradation. 

He will present insights from his forthcoming book, Healing Capitalism. 

In particular he will describe how his worldwide, multi-sectoral and trans-disciplinary exploration of the causes and solutions to unsustainability led him to focus on innovations in ways of exchanging and sharing without money. 

A consultant to the United Nations since 1996, in 2013 he co-organised the first UN conference on complementary currencies. 

He is now a leading commentator on that topic, discussing it on Al Jazeera, for the Guardian, and with his TEDx the most-watched online talk on complementary currencies. 

He is developing a research and educational programme on these topics at the institute he founded at the University of Cumbria in the UK. www.cumbria.ac.uk/iflas

The Evening

• 4pm - Arrivals
• 4.15pm - 5.15pm: Inaugural Professorial and Derwentwater Lecture. On the theme “Exploring Sustainability” (introduction by the University and organisers of the Derwentwater Lecture)
• 5.30pm - 7pm: Drinks reception, the Circle Gallery, with the University of Cumbria Honorary Fellows as guests of honour (by invitation only)

Tickets and Travel

The Theatre by the Lake, Keswick. Photo: Steve Barber

The lecture takes place at the Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, at 4pm on Friday, March 14, 2014.

A small number of tickets are available for staff and partners of the University. Minibuses will be travelling to and from Ambleside on the day. For information, email iflas@cumbria.ac.uk

Other festival talks on the day can be attended at 11am, 12.45pm, 2.30pm, 5.30pm and 8pm. 

More information on buying a ticket for those talks or the Inaugural Lecture will be available on the festival website.

IFLAS open lecture series: Jonathan Robinson - 'Enabling Social Enterprise'

Jonathan Robinson is a social entrepreneur, writer and anthropologist. He is co-founder of The Hub, the place for people with world-changing ideas.

The Hub sought to borrow from the best of a members club, a business incubator, an innovation agency and a think-tank to create a very different kind of institution.

Jonathan Robinson, founder of The Hub

Hubs can be found all over the world, in places as diverse as London, Amsterdam, Johannesburg, Singapore, Sao Paulo and Mumbai. 

Hundreds of new social enterprises have been created by providing creative and purposeful shared working spaces.

At the University of Cumbria’s campus in Ambleside, a new Cumbria Business Growth Hub & Rural Growth Network is being developed, part financed by the European Regional Development Fund Programme. 

As government agencies and others seek to promote entrepreneurship, often through the creation of such working spaces, what can we learn from what has been successful worldwide in enabling social enterprise?

Jonathan’s free open lecture is the fourteenth public event organised by the new Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (www.iflas.info). Register by emailing iflas@cumbria.ac.uk

The lecture takes place at the Charlotte Mason Building on the University of Cumbria's Ambleside Campus from 5pm to 7pm on Tuesday, November 12. 

Future events can be viewed on the Institute’s events page.