Global demand for cyber security experts is forecasted to outstrip supply by a third before the end of the decade, with companies struggling against what industry experts call the “largest human capital shortage in the world” according to Financial Times. The 2020 (ISC)² Global Information Security Workforce Study estimated that there are ~168,000 unfilled information security positions in Europe and 3.1 million worldwide. This deficiency became even more visible since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is predicted to get even worse over time. The interest in cybersecurity education and skills is of long standing within the EU and it has been a policy concern since the publication by the European Commission of the first EU cybersecurity strategy in 2013. In this context, the DJM-CYBER project aims to develop a multidisciplinary joint master’s degree in cybersecurity, taking industry, academia and policymakers’ inputs into account. This unique joint master’s degree will allow students to gain state-of-the-art hands-on education in cybersecurity and data protection, which will enable them upon entering the European job market to work towards a more secure Europe. This project will utilize the expertise and knowledge of the partnership to develop the new range of cybersecurity experts in Europe. Importantly, our partnership consists of partners located in Central and Southern Europe aiming to ensure that this geographic region remains competitive in relation to other parts of Europe in the digital age. The partnership formed around the DJM-CYBER project is composed of partners involved in two (over four) pilot projects, namely CyberSec4Europe and SPARTA, which are chosen to address the Horizon 2020 Cybersecurity call. Two members of our consortium are part of the ERASMUS+ Sector Skills Alliance REWIRE project tasked with professional development and vocational education in the cybersecurity domain. DJM-CYBER will benefit and draw upon their results.

Keywords
Computer science and informatics;Systems and Communication Engineering;electronic communication;optical networks; systems engineering