The potential for blockchain technologies in education has been examined in a new report from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). The report looks in detail at the ways that blockchain technologies could disrupt education, and the opportunities for using the technology to improve education.

Blockchain is a decentralised technology that allows records of transactions to be securely made. While it is commonly used in applications such as smart contracts, the JRC’s report identifies the potential for its use in recording and validating academic certificates and qualifications, or tracking intellectual property.

The report makes a number of recommendations, including, “the application of blockchain technology to specific educational use cases”, and developing an expert consultative committee to inform policy makers of developments in the area.

The full report can be downloaded from the website of the European Commission.