The launch of the (ISC)2 Global Academic Program will make educational resources, updated regularly by members and industry luminaries, available to academia to help meet the global demand for more skilled cybersecurity professionals. The growing skills gap in the information security industry has been tracked for ten years in the (ISC)2 Global Information Security Workforce Study .
The most recent report, released in February 2013 in association with Frost & Sullivan, forecasts an annual workforce growth rate of 11.3% by 2017, inadequate in response to the 35% of respondents looking to hire additional workers today.
“We believe it’s critical to recognise and support the role of the academic community in the development of much-needed cybersecurity talent for now and in the future”, said executive director, (ISC)², W. Hord Tipton. “(ISC)2 is in a unique position to offer its educational content, which is regularly updated and vetted by experts, to colleges and universities around the world as part of this collaborative development effort required for our now digitally-dependent society.”
Carsten Maple, Vice Chair of the Council of Professors and Heads of Computing, an association representing computing in UK Higher Education, highlights the need for more security content, saying: "It appears that many Computing graduates are leaving university having studied little in the area of security. There is a varied approach to teaching security, but in a number of institutions there is only one module -approximately 5% of the total credits in a degree - dedicated to information security in their core 3 year Computer Science degree. Clearly with the growth in cyber attacks there is a need for graduates to be equipped with skills and knowledge of the threats and methods to overcome these. To do this and to give Computing students the best opportunity to succeed, we as an academic community are trying to better engage with industry representatives in fields such as information security."
The Global Academic Program, which is being launched as governments around the world seek to improve university curricula as part of their national cybersecurity strategies, offers products and services for colleges and universities. The program is open to accredited institutions interested in enhancing cyber content within their security, computing, IT or other relevant course offerings.
“In addition to the resources we have to offer, this programme presents a real opportunity to become part of a global network of academic members interested in establishing a joint framework for delivering essential skills and supporting the growth of a qualified cybersecurity workforce,” says Jo Portillo, Global Academic Program, (ISC)2.