The Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec) said it hopes to enroll at least 400 students on its CyberEPQ course, triple the number last academic year, in a bid to attract more diverse talent to the industry.
CyberEPQ is described as the UK’s “first and only” Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) for cybersecurity. It covers a wide range of cybercrime topics, including digital forensics, cybercrime, incident response and the human element, and plans to include AI, quantum computing and blockchain in the future .
CyberEPQ builds on CIISec’s own skills framework, with students having access to the institute’s development program for support throughout their career.
The course aims to attract sixth-year students to a sector where skills deficits and shortages are still pronounced. The United Kingdom is estimated there is a shortage of approximately 57,000 workers.
Learn more about CyberEPQ: School-age students are encouraged to consider a new cyber qualification.
CIISec said it plans to continue to increase student numbers in the coming years, following a successful pilot in the 2022/23 academic year, in which 68% of students achieved A grades * to B.
The course expansion is largely due to government and private sector funding, and will focus heavily on increasing the diversity of young talent choosing CyberEPQ – for example, by enrolling students from public schools located in socially disadvantaged areas.
“In our first year of running CyberEPQ, we have already seen how beneficial the course has been for our students,” said Andy Pape, Head of Computing at Thomas Tallis School.
“The students chose a wide variety of essay topics that truly sparked their curiosity. Some of their presentations felt like we were sitting in training sessions with cybersecurity experts. Many are now considering a future in cybersecurity. I can’t wait to see how our next cohort develops over the course. »