Florida International University received $2 million from the U.S. Department of Labor to create a new cybersecurity apprenticeship program called Cyber-CAP. The program will train 800 cybersecurity apprentices over the course of four years.
Cyber-CAP will teach participants the skills they need to earn credentials for a career in cybersecurity, according to university officials. It’s designed to serve people with varied education backgrounds, including university students and graduates and those without a bachelor’s degree.
“FIU recognizes the critical importance of research universities partnering with industry in more substantive ways – developing apprenticeships is one such model,” said Dr. Elizabeth Bejar, senior vice president for academic and student affairs and Cyber-CAP principal investigator. “FIU is well-positioned to shift the higher education paradigm to meet the needs of the rapidly changing world of work.”
The program is a collaborative effort. Florida International University College of Engineering and Computing is developing the curriculum, the Beacon Council will recruit local apprentices and mentors, the Society for Human Resources Management Foundation will match students to their apprenticeships and McAfee, ForeScout Technologies and Cylance will act as consultants for the program.
In the future, the Coalition for Urban Serving Universities will help to scale Florida International University’s model so Cyber-CAP can be replicated at other institutions.