How educational institutions respond to the skills gap

The widening skills gap in many burgeoning industries is a topic frequently included in front page news on the future of work. Much emphasis is placed on how companies are struggling to find job candidates with the right qualifications and education, but less is placed on how educational institutions are responding, writes Anant Agarwal for Forbes.

According to the 2017 Global Information Security Workforce Study from the ISC Center for Cyber Safety and Education, the shortage of cybersecurity professionals is expected to reach 1.8 million people by 2022. The same study projects that by 2022 the United States will have 265,000 more cybersecurity jobs than qualified workers. The Georgia Institute of Technology, a nationally top-10 ranked school in cybersecurity, is working to address this global workforce shortage while increasing higher education accessibility and affordability.

Dr Nelson Baker, dean of professional education at Georgia Tech, said its MS in Cybersecurity serves traditional students on campus. But he said the current model of a strictly campus-based programme does not meet the needs of working professionals with full-time jobs and family commitments, who are not able to attend classes on campus and who need a more flexible alternative. “A traditional, campus-based programme also doesn’t allow us to produce qualified cybersecurity professionals at the scale and rate needed to meet the worldwide market demand,” he said.
Full report on the Forbes site