New Zealand’s first Cyber Prep Academy (CPA) is being launched by the Unitec Institute of Technology, in partnership with managed security services provider, SecOps NZ.
As reported, it is designed to address the country’s cybersecurity skills shortage with the provision of hands-on training and practical experience for junior ICT professionals.
The course will combine leading industry technologies with the practical application of security frameworks to provide real-world experience.
Moreover, it is designed to complement existing foundation security experience and formal ICT qualifications.
Awareness of the cybersecurity skills shortage is growing globally and the University is working with industry partners to address this through the creation of a highly skilled and employable workforce.
Students are often not considered for roles or struggle to get to the interview stage due to their lack of real-world security experience.
The Cyber Prep Academy provides students with the opportunity to gain essential, hands-on practical experience to assist them in securing those roles.
The course is 12 weeks long and will start in February 2019.
It will include training in areas such as asset discovery and classification, patch management, vulnerability management, applications discovery and whitelisting.
It will also cover credentials management, authentication methods, centralised logging, endpoint, perimeter and cloud security technologies and the effective use of AI and machine learning in security operations.
In addition, the course is designed to assist participants in finding employment, with one day per week dedicated to industry-based training.
Upskilling at the Cyber Prep Academy is accessible to New Zealanders. This will lead to greater diversification within the cyber security field and help reduce the skills shortage in the country.
Training will be provided by experienced industry professionals with expertise in the ISO 27001 standard for information security management systems.
In other news, the University will be utilising the talent of one of the largest IT companies in New Zealand in an online learning course for iOS app development.
According to a recent report, it is the first tertiary institution in New Zealand to offer an online coding course to teach students how to build apps and websites.
The beginner-level programme will be offered over a number of four-week courses from February 2019.
This includes getting started with app development, the fundamentals of Swift, building modern mobile apps, iOS, Xcode and other tools in the Xcode development environment.
The students will have access to a live, interactive tutorial guided by tutors from the University and Datacom.
Tutorials will be recorded so that the students can access them on demand. There will be assessments in order to monitor the progress of the students.
This program will make education accessible to all, blending academic knowledge with leading industry skills.
Students will learn useful, practical and applicable skills while establishing strong industry networks.
Opening up new educational pathways was vital for the continued growth and good health of the New Zealand tech sector.
The company is very supportive of new ways of learning the business and of developing the knowledge and skills.
Whether the student is a high school leaver or someone looking at a new career path later in life, people from all ages and backgrounds are needed to help deepen and widen the IT talent pool in New Zealand.
Hopefully, this new course opens up doors for new students to this growing and exciting part of the economy.