Can Blockchain Technology Facilitate the Unbundling of Higher Education

Abstract

Higher education is in dire need of reform in order keep up with the rapidly advancing technology and student needs surrounding it. Unbundling of higher education has been discussed as one of the potential directions of reform. Prior research has suggested that blockchain technology has the potential to play an essential role in facilitating such change in higher education. However, the ways in which blockchain can facilitate unbundling remains missing in literature. We specifically address this gap. This study reports on a qualitative study with 17 respondents in the field of higher education as well as blockchain technology. Our findings indicate three specific areas of unbundling that can be facilitated with blockchain technology, namely new governance model, modular student experience and enhanced faculty roles. We explain how four key characteristics of blockchain (i.e., decentralization, immutability, pseudonymity and self-sovereignty) facilitate those three areas of unbundling in specific. The findings of this study can aid both the universities and the blockchain community in understanding how the concept of blockchain can be embedded effectively in the unbundling of higher education.