University of Tasmania Launceston campus
Fortinet has brought its global Academic Partner Program to the University of Tasmania in an effort to boost students’ cyber security skills.
The cyber security vendor’s program will begin in Semester 1, 2023 and will be the sixteenth launched in Australia.
As part of the Fortinet Training Institute, the Academic Partner Program works with academic institutions worldwide to train students in cyber security and prepare them to become professionals in the sphere.
At the University of Tasmania, which has campuses in Hobart, Launceston, Burnie and Sydney, the program will be provided to students in several forms: as part of the IT curriculum for high achievers/Honours students; as a short course for undergraduate/diploma students or school leavers; and to people outside the sector that are looking to reskill.
The University of Tasmania’s ICT school head, Professor Anna Shillabeer, said: “As part of my work here, we undertook a rethink of what is required to build capability and digital skills. We identified that there are pockets of Tasmania’s IT with significant capabilities; however, there is also a skills shortage that needs to be overcome, especially in cybersecurity, to better cope with demand.
“The Fortinet Academic Partner Program is continuously updating its training with content that is relevant and dynamic for the issues and challenges cyber professionals face today. It is so important that we offer current skills for our students to ensure they are workforce ready.
"This new offering will significantly benefit the Tasmanian industry in all sectors, as students will now enter the workforce with qualifications as well as cyber security certifications.”
According to Fortinet, graduates of the program will have cyber security skills covering phishing attacks, ransomware and business email compromise.
“Partnerships with universities, such as the University of Tasmania, are key to Fortinet’s mission to close the cyber skills gap,” said Dale Nachman, country manager at Fortinet Australia.
“The cyber threat landscape continues to grow in both volume and sophistication and having trained professionals to help governments and enterprises improve their cyber resilience will be critical.”
Fortinet recently appointed its first field chief information security officer (CISO) for Australia in the form of Steven Woodhouse.
Woodhouse previously was CISO and executive director – enterprise technology services for the Queensland Education Department and has also held the role of CIO at NSW Land Registry Services.
