Australian government launches nationwide cybersecurity education programme
In a bid to tackle a looming skills shortage in cybersecurity, the federal Australian government has unveiled a new higher education programme.
It is launching two new cybersecurity qualifications - Certificate and Diploma-level – which will be offered through TAFE colleges this year. TAFE currently serves around half million students across various Australian campuses and online.
The qualifications have been developed with the help of major industry players, including the National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ANZ Bank, nbnco, Cisco Australia and New Zealand, REA Group, BAE Systems, Telstra, Deloitte, the Australian Information Security Association, ISACA and CITT.
The government also said that many of these companies will be looking to take on graduates from these courses.
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The government says the country’s cyber security industry has the potential to triple in size, with revenues climbing to at least $6bn by 2026, from just over $2bn today. This translates into a need for 11,000 cybersecurity jobs over the next decade in order to meet demand.
Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security Angus Taylor said: “The sad reality is that there are cybercrime threats to every phone and computer in Australia. With the rapid transformation of cybercrime, there is a risk that businesses, smaller businesses in particular, will say it's all too hard.”
