A Session Summary from the Interledger Summit 2025
At the Interledger Summit 2025 in Mexico City, three educators from three continents gathered to discuss an urgent question: How do we prepare students to build payment systems that actually serve historically excluded communities? The panel, “From Classroom to Codebase: How Universities Cultivate the Next Generation of Open Payments Talent,” moderated by Interledger ambassador Smriti Parsheera, revealed that the answer lies not just in technical training, but in fundamentally rethinking how universities approach financial technology education.
On stage were three academics who are already doing that work: Andrew Mangle (Bowie State University, USA), Allan Davids (University of Cape Town, South Africa), and Aleksandra Asscheman (The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands).
Building Diversity Through Higher Education
The Interledger Foundation has strategically invested in universities specifically chosen for their commitment to serving underrepresented communities.
Bowie State University, Maryland’s oldest historically Black college and university (HBCU), has created over 700 touchpoints for student engagement with Open Payments through courses, guest speakers, and Interledger Summit participation over nearly four years of partnership. Mangle emphasized that HBCUs bring particular value to fintech education because students arrive with “deep personal insight of financial inclusion and not being part of the process”; lived experience that becomes pedagogically powerful when channeled into curriculum design.
Rather than beginning with technical specifications, Bowie State leads with empathy and awareness, teaching students to understand the underbanked by studying cross-border payments and interviewing financially excluded individuals. This approach creates entry points for students across all majors to see themselves as potential contributors to solving global financial access challenges.
The University of Cape Town’s MPhil in Financial Technology, which launched in 2018 with Interledger Foundation support, similarly prioritizes diversity: for the 2026 cohort, 70 percent of students will come from historically disadvantaged backgrounds, and 52 percent will be women, despite women comprising only 38 percent of applicants. These diversity targets reflect proactive efforts to ensure that fintech innovations are built by people who understand the communities these systems will serve.
Pedagogical Innovation and Real-World Engagement
All three institutions have embraced experiential learning models that move beyond classroom theory to immersive practice. Bowie State brings students directly to the Interledger Summit itself, where they experience firsthand that “ChatGPT doesn’t have all your answers” about Open Payments development. This immersion transforms abstract concepts into lived reality and signals to students that they belong in professional spaces.
The University of Cape Town has made annual hackathons central to its approach. When organizers asked participants at the most recent event how many were experiencing their first hackathon, every hand went up, revealing that even Master’s-level fintech students had not previously participated. The quality of solutions emerging from these intensive five-day learning events, where students arrive Monday knowing nothing about Open Payments and compete Saturday, has consistently impressed experienced practitioners, suggesting that appropriate support and high expectations unlock student potential.
The Hague University of Applied Sciences takes an interdisciplinary approach by pairing law and finance students, addressing a critical market gap: professionals who understand both what developers are building and how regulatory frameworks must evolve. Students begin with workshops on the Interledger Protocol and Open Payments, but crucially, they learn through real stories and use cases rather than abstract regulatory texts. The curriculum culminates in student-driven projects where legal and finance students explore problems of their choosing, with faculty coaching rather than directing.
Confronting Artificial Intelligence in Education
The panel addressed an urgent challenge for contemporary universities: how to teach effectively when AI tools like ChatGPT cannot keep pace with rapidly evolving fields. Mangle noted that generative AI has “not kept pace with the movement of Open Payments and open systems,” making AI-generated information about the Interledger Protocol frequently outdated. This limitation becomes a teaching tool: when students discover that ChatGPT lacks answers, they must engage with primary sources, attend convenings, and participate in communities of practice.
The University of Cape Town recently implemented an AI teaching policy that works with, rather than against, these tools, by banning AI detectors and rethinking assessment entirely. Oral exams have reemerged as verification that students understand material deeply rather than simply receiving AI-generated submissions.
The Hague University of Applied Sciences takes a more integrated approach, teaching students to use ChatGPT as a starting point, then critically evaluate and iterate their queries. Asscheman observed that students anxious about AI replacing their careers experience relief when the curriculum itself demonstrates AI’s current limitations: “if you have the skill to correctly interact with it, then don’t worry, your job is not going to be replaced by AI.”
Building Systems, Not Programs
A recurring theme was the need to move from episodic engagement to systemic support. Mangle emphasized the goal of “transition from episodic engagement to now systems that support curriculum continuous engagement.” However, this systemization faces headwinds. Davids noted that universities globally face “a bit of a precarious position,” with funding that has “generally flat lined globally” while student intake increases. Even well-funded opportunities may go unapplied simply because institutions lack human resources to implement new programs.
This constraint makes collaboration essential. Each institution that develops curriculum, assessment rubrics, or pedagogical solutions creates resources that could benefit the network, if effectively shared. The Hague University of Applied Sciences plans to connect with practitioners to bring “people passionate about all the topics” into classrooms, recognizing that faculty cannot be experts in every dimension of rapidly evolving fields. Davids articulated a vision for the next phase: creating a “fully-fledged onboarding kit” that leverages collective experience to lower barriers for new institutions.
The University as Connective Tissue
Davids offered an expansive vision for universities’ unique role. Universities are “the connective tissue between industry, between research, and between policy,” operating with relative independence from commercial pressures while maintaining public trust. However, fulfilling this role requires universities to overcome siloed structures that “don’t allow any flexibility” and prepare students for inherently interdisciplinary fields like fintech. Partnerships prove essential: Interledger Foundation funding provides access to technologies and practitioners; regulators could create university sandboxes where students build and test solutions; industry can offer internships and pathways to employment.
Toward Open Access and Shared Resources
Mangle challenged the assumption that higher education institutions must serve as knowledge gatekeepers. Learning resources “should be open and accessible to everyone” and not restricted to enrolled students. The Hague University of Applied Sciences has already implemented this through its blockchain minor, where the lecture materials are published open access for anyone interested. This approach recognizes that passion and aptitude for Open Payments may exist far beyond formal degree programs.
Asscheman articulated another critical shift: moving Open Payments perception from niche specialization to fundamental literacy necessary for future careers in finance or banking. This requires concrete, relatable examples rather than abstract concepts, and the kind of real stories that make financial inclusion stakes tangible.
The work of preparing the next generation of Open Payments professionals fundamentally rests on human commitment. For Mangle, it means “building relationships with students, being accessible to students, trying to empathize with students” to help them “live their best lives.” For Asscheman, it means finding colleagues equally passionate about “doing something that really is going to make the eyes of our students lighten.” Beneath systems-building and curriculum development lies the work of seeing potential in students and investing in relationships that transform lives.
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