Discover Blockchain Enabled Business

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Hi. My name's Dr. Stuart Thomas, and I'm the Director of Blockchain Education Development here at RMIT and I'm the Program Manager for our brand new suite of degrees in blockchain enabled business. I've been an educator, researcher and program designer here at RMIT for more than 20 years. My dad, brother, granddad, and me were all RMIT alumni. So I guess you could say that RMIT runs in my veins.

Today, I'm going to tell you a bit about RMIT's Bachelor of Business in Blockchain Enabled Business. That name's a bit of a mouthful, but I'll tell you what it all means very soon. I'll explain why blockchain is an important thing for you to know about in the new digital economy, what the job market for blockchain skills looks like, and why RMIT is the place to get those skills. I'll talk about what you'll study in the degree and why, the structure of the program, and the opportunities to choose your own path and learning experiences as you go. I'm proud to be part of the business education community and the blockchain project here at RMIT, and I'd love to welcome you to our programs one day soon.

Wominjeka, which means welcome in the Victorian language of the Wurundjeri people. Before I start, I'd like to acknowledge the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin nations on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the university. RMIT respectfully acknowledges their ancestors and elders, past, present, and emerging. And while we conduct our work remotely, I want to pay my respect to the wider unceded lands of this nation.

I'm here today to talk about our brand new degree program, the Bachelor of Business in Blockchain Enabled Business. This is part of our development for the next wave of transformation in the digital economy. It's a multidisciplinary course that will prepare you to work in a globalized international context in a range of in-demand roles and sectors. And I'll talk about what those are in a minute.

In this program, you'll gain specialized knowledge and skills in the areas of where blockchain fits into the economy, important areas of cryptofinance and FinTech, financial technology, building and using smart contracts and other blockchain elements, blockchain for trade, legal, ethical, accounting, and regulatory aspects of these new technologies, and how they fit into enabling business to adapt to this remarkable new technology.

So what's blockchain, you might ask. Blockchain was originally conceived as a platform for Bitcoin. We probably all heard of Bitcoin. But that was really just the start. Bitcoin is a bit like email compared to the internet. Blockchain is like the internet in that scenario. So blockchain has emerged as a general purpose disruptive technology that represents quite a seismic shift in the way business is being done in commerce, in trade, in government, and all sorts of social enterprises.

So what can you do with the blockchain? What's it for? There are a number of elements to blockchain that are in the middle of that diagram there. It manages digital identity. It manages digital assets. It manages distributed applications. And it does a lot of that through devices called smart contracts, which you'll learn about more in the program.

It's used in finance for managing identity, for expediting payments, for handling digital assets, for doing a whole range of things like that. It's used in social enterprises and government services, again for identity, for expediting payments in a trusted and reliable way. It's used in healthcare for managing medical records and making sure that people's medication gets to them in the right way in the right doses. It's used in international trade. And it's used in agriculture to make sure that the things that you think you're buying came from where you think they came from and are actually of the quality that you expect.

It integrates with a range of digital technologies like temperature control and tracking devices and so forth to manage the movement of goods and services and so forth through the economy. And it's also used in creative industries to protect artists rights and also to expedite payments and make sure that provenance and copyright and things are protected for artists.

Now, this is the only blockchain degree in Australia. It's the first and only so far. RMIT is number three in the world for the study of digital currencies, ranking ahead of quite prestigious institutions like Princeton, Stanford, and various others. And we are number 55 in the world. That's the world for graduate employment. So it's a good place to come to learn about these skills.

So a little more about why study blockchain. I've talked a bit about what it is. Why should you study it? There's a very, very clear need for multidisciplinary blockchain education to enable business, government, and social enterprises to adapt to these new ways of operating. The pace of digital transformation, particularly in the wake of the COVID pandemic is moving faster than ever in 2020, and we've all experienced that. The global blockchain market size is huge and it's expected to grow to in excess of 20 billion US dollars over the next couple of years, to 2023. Closer to home, Data 61, which is a branch of the CSRO identifies greater than 200% year on year job growth in blockchain since just 2015, and half of that growth is in what we call non-technical or business enabling skills. That is the skills that allow or help businesses to adapt and embrace the technology into their operations.

The World Economic Forum just last year found that nearly 60% of enterprises worldwide intend adopting blockchain. Global professional services firm Deloitte also found that more than half of Fortune 500 companies are planning to integrate blockchain into their operations. And one of the key things that's slowing that down or making it difficult for that to happen is a lack of in-house skills. And that's why we're here. That's why we have this program.

It's identified as a major impediment to adoption of the technology in firm operations and all sorts of enterprises. Even Australia's Prime Minister, Scott Morrison identifies blockchain as a key technology for Australia's economic future and for our post-COVID-19 recovery. And I should also say that blockchain skills are currently number one searched skills by employers on LinkedIn and the most highly sought after technical skill in job ads in Australia and New Zealand in 2019. And that statistic comes from industry job market watcher Burning Glass.

Now to RMIT, why study blockchain here at RMIT? Here in humble Melbourne we are a world thought leader in blockchain. We rank first in Australia and third in the world, as I said before, ahead of Princeton, Stanford, and Cornell, are the leading worldwide prestigious institutions in the study of blockchain, and particularly in digital currencies. RMIT has a blockchain Innovation Hub, which is a major investment on the part of RMIT into understanding helping industries integrate and educating people about blockchain. Our leaders in that group are key members of Australia's National Blockchain Roadmap. We're at the forefront of what our country is doing, and also at the forefront of other similar international leadership groups. As I said before, this is the first and only full curated degree in blockchain enabled business in Australia and I think anywhere in the world.

Now courses have been designed very carefully in conjunction with leading blockchain industry partners. They've had a lot of input into how we've designed the programs and they will be working with us to do industry experiences with you and a range of other activities along the way. RMIT's blockchain programs are truly multidisciplinary. They'll equip you with the knowledge and skills in economics, finance, accounting, business IT, strategy, law and ethics that are industry focused and relevant to the needs of business, government, and social enterprises, the skills that those groups are telling us they're looking for.

So I'll talk for a moment about the structure of the course and what it looks like. With all business degrees here at RMIT we have a common business core, and those are the dark blue boxes at the top of that slide. We will take you through some fundamental, important fundamental. The common core includes vital foundational business education. That includes economics, microeconomics, macroeconomics. It includes management thought. It includes marketing and marketing principles. It includes foundational elements of accounting that you'll need for later courses. And it also includes business information systems or IT, statistics, and important elements of law that you need to understand how business and commerce operates.

In the specialist major in blockchain we will take you through some foundational courses in blockchain for business. That is how blockchain fits into the business world in a range of different ways. We will provide you with an understanding of the blockchain economy, how blockchain fits into the economy more generally. We will look at financial instruments and technologies and cryptocurrencies and the like. We will take you through how to build blockchain applications and things like smart contracts that are very, very useful in using blockchain out in the world.

We will look at the law and legal and regulatory dimensions of blockchain and particularly the ethical dimensions, which are very, very important. We'll take you into more detail into cryptofinance and cryptocurrency. We will look at the specific aspects of accounting and taxation and the elements of blockchain that will change that profession. And the final capstone course that you will do is an industry led, industry mentored blockchain application project. So you'll work with an industry partner, will be guided by an industry partner to work on a real problem or a real challenge in a project based on blockchain.

Parts of your degree are flexible and up to you. There are a range of different ways you can craft your experience according to your interests and what you would like to do. You could take a second business major, so you could take a major in say IT or finance or marketing or digital business or accounting. You could take two minors, perhaps another minor in either of those disciplines, or you could take a minor and some electives. And those electives could include things like global study tours or internships or work experiences of that nature. So roughly a third of your degree will be up to you. You will have a great deal of choice about how you craft your own learning journey.

Looking at our industry connections for a moment, industry engagement is embedded in this program. Industry has had a big part in the design of the program, and the experience through the degree will include a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things with industry. You'll be able to work on industry projects in work integrated learning courses. You'll have the opportunity to take part in local and overseas work placements and exchanges. That's up to you, but there are opportunities to do that. I'll talk about those global opportunities in just a moment.

You may have the opportunity to work in a student team as part of our Fastrack Innovation Program, which is another opportunity to work with industry mentors and develop and present a solution to a real industry problem. You could work in a business internship, perhaps one or two days a week, or even take a semester out and work on an internship. And there are lots of opportunities to take part in business competitions mentored by industry, business forums and hackathons and webinars and things like that with industry engagement.

Just a brief look at our industry partners. These are the groups that we work with in the blockchain innovation hub and in other parts of RMIT. We work with government. We work with arts bodies. We work with big corporations. And we also work with even charitable organizations like Red Cross and Oxfam. We work with arts bodies like the Australia Council and Screen Australia. We work with a range of different groups that are all active in the blockchain space. And we work with some of the smaller startup groups like Type Human and Stone & Chalk and others that are leading the way in blockchain thought and application. All of these groups feed into our educational offerings. They all have contributions to make at various points in our design of courses and also our delivery of courses and the student experience.

Looking at global opportunities for a moment, RMIT has partnerships with 215 universities around the world, through North America, South America, on the African continent, all throughout Europe, all throughout Asia, and in places like New Caledonia and New Zealand. There are opportunities through our global groups within RMIT to take part in exchanges with other universities in those places, or even take work placements with companies in some of those locations.

So what are the career outcomes? What are the job opportunities you can expect to find at the end of your degree in blockchain enabled business? As I said before, the global and Australian labor market is booming in blockchain, with more than 200% year on year job growth over the last couple of of years. The sorts of jobs that you're likely to find yourself in are in business analytics, working as a consultant or an advisor in industry or government, or even in social enterprises on how to adopt blockchain, working in policy advice and management in all those sorts of levels and types of firms in the economy. You could even start your own startup. You could work as a project leader, or you could work as a blockchain strategist. But the field is growing and the types of roles and job opportunities are expanding all of the time.

Let me talk for a moment about entry pathways. RMIT has a range of options for entry pathways other than the conventional pathway in through VCE and ATAR. So we have a range of diplomas and associate degrees in business and business related disciplines that will give you some degree of credit towards your blockchain enabled business degree if that pathway through a vocational education is the opportunity for you. There are a range of pathways available listed there on that slide. That list is growing all of the time. For more information about that, you can use our pathway tools to explore all of your study options with RMIT at the pathways website, pathways.rmit.edu.au.

Let's look at the entry requirements for the Bachelor of Business in Blockchain Enabled Business. The entry requirements are standard for business programs here at RMIT. There is a nominal ATAR of 75 for the program and the program entry requires successful completion of an Australian year 12 qualification or equivalent with a score of 30 in English as language, or at least 25 in an English other than EAL. There may be other factors that we could take into account depending on your circumstances and which courses you've done in year 12.

For international admissions, there is a requirement for an equivalent of an Australian year 12 with a secondary school qualification with a minimum of 65% average score and equivalent qualifications may also include completion of the RMIT foundation studies if you've taken that pathway. We do have English language requirements as all Australian universities do. So you'll need to complete an English proficiency test, either IELTS or TOEFL, or the Pearson Test of English and Cambridge English. The program page on RMIT's website for blockchain enabled business shows the minimum scores required for language skills.

So what's next? The important dates coming up. Orientation will be in the last week of February in 2021. Classes will begin on the 1st of March and the last day to enroll for semester one in 2021 will be the 8th of March.

So I hope this has been helpful in understanding what the blockchain enabled business degree looks like, what we will take you through, what sort of skills and knowledge you can expect to acquire as you go through the degree, and what the job opportunities and market opportunities for you at the end.

Now, let me end by saying thank you very much for taking time to hear about our groundbreaking new blockchain program at RMIT. For more information about blockchain enabled business, check out our website or call Study@RMIT on 9925-2260. Take care, stay safe and healthy, and I hope to see you around RMIT very, very soon.

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