Let’s talk about Education in cyber

Let’s talk about Education in cyber

Be part of the European Education Ecosystem for Cybersecurity. Are you a professional providing cybersecurity related services, a Chief Technology Officer, an HR representative, a mid-manager, or a cybersecurity professional working in a company? Get involved in shaping the certification framework for cybersecurity skills and in developing relevant courses for cybersecurity consultants or alike.

The issues at stake

Nowadays cybersecurity is not only a trending issue but also a very dynamic one. Under the light of many cybersecurity attacks that have caused havoc at European and International level and produced considerable damages, it became evident that cybersecurity shifted from an IT matter only towards a business risk which needs to be continuously monitored and properly addressed.

Several studies show in colorful terms that there is a shortage of related competences in existing personnel within the organizations while at the same time, there is an increasing difficulty to find competent professionals on the market. At the same time, there are a plethora of organizations providing courses and in some cases Certifications of skills in the subject of cybersecurity.

The assessment of the EU cybersecurity educational portfolio for professionals and of the CONCORDIA one we ran in 2019 revealed heterogeneity both on the cybersecurity jobs market and on the cybersecurity courses offer. The courses are various but not necessarily industry specific, especially the ones addressed to middle managers and executives, the main audience CONCORDIA is targeting. Besides, they cover mainly academic and technical knowledge and to a lesser extent business aspects and hands-on components for which the industry actors are interested in. The issue at hand becomes even more complex since there is no Cybersecurity Skills Framework in the European Union. Hence the existing courses lack a structured approach in their design against a competence framework and a career path thus making difficult the effort of the individuals to choose the right course to cover their professional needs.

What we propose for year 2020

First of all, we are collecting information on existing courses for cybersecurity professionals, mid-managers and executives interested in learning about cybersecurity and plot them on the CONCORDIA map of courses. The information is structured around the specific cybersecurity levels, industry, target audience, content and format type.

Then we will build on the expertise of EIT Digital Professional School and put in place an effective methodology to develop courses for professionals by starting from the needs and challenges of a specific industry. This approach would ensure that the competences developed, and the skills acquired via the courses would be applicable immediately.

We will go further by piloting the methodology developed via the creation of new courses for professionals for a selected profile and specific industries. When doing so we will ensure to align the learning objectives to the cybersecurity skills framework currently under development within CONCORDIA.

But above all, we are looking for further getting engaged with you as to build together the European Education Ecosystem for Cybersecurity.

Get involved!

Be part of the European Education Ecosystem for Cybersecurity. Let us know your opinion about:

And fill free to forward the survey to other colleagues within your organisation (CTO, HR, mid-managers, cybersecurity professionals, …). The more views from different angles we get on the topic, the better our work will address the needs of the ecosystem.

Check the CONCORDIA Service Catalogue for more options of getting informed of the EU Cybersecurity landscape and/or getting involved by engaging with CONCORDIA partners

(By Felicia Cutas, EIT Digital)