Publication details

Home Publications Publication details

The Cyber Security Degree Apprenticeship: An Academic Route to Embedding Professional Skills
Vasileiou I, Clarke NL
17th Annual Security Conference, Las Vegas, 26- 28 March 2018, 2018

A multitude of evidence suggests that the economy is being held back due to a skills gap, particularly in STEM based subjects. In seeking to reduce this gap, the UK government has extended a long established 'apprenticeship' programme to include degrees. Higher Education Degree Apprenticeships offer a cost-effective route for employers to upskill their staff and for apprentices to access free education (and a degree) whilst being paid. Each of the Degree Apprenticeships has an associated framework that defines core learning requirements devised and created by a collaborative effort of industry and academia. How this framework is implemented however is very much up to individual institutions. This paper presents an implementation of the Cyber Security Analyst degree apprenticeship undertaken by the authors within their host institution. Amongst the first in the UK to operationalise the standard, the approach has pragmatically dealt with a wide range of issues to create an academically rigorous yet commercially viable solution for industry. The paper will present our approach, demonstrate the academic rigor through mapping to industry-accepted standards, and discuss the collaborative role of the employer and University in providing an holistic and complete learning experience.

Vasileiou I, Clarke NL