Amiosec attended the “Developing Cheltenham’s Future Cyber Generation” event to understand what is being done to grow the skills pipeline in the cyber security industry.
Date
9th July, 2019
Location
Gloucestershire College, Cheltenham
Description
Amiosec are keen to engage with the local schools, universities and employers in order to collectively tackle the skills shortage in engineering, and in particular within the cyber security industry and attended the event “Developing Cheltenham’s Future Cyber Generation”, hosted by Gloucestershire College (GC) and UWE Bristol, to find out more about what the local area has planned.
The morning started off with a networking breakfast at the college, which gave us a chance to introduce ourselves to several employers and local governors who were in attendance. We had a great discussion about the apprenticeship scheme that GC offer as well as all the different opportunities this opens up for local businesses. It is something that we are going to look into further.
Matthew Burgess, Principal of GC, and Professor Steve West, Vice Chancellor of UWE, then welcomed us to the event and opened the talks with an overview of the new cyber degrees that are going to be included in the new cyber hub in Cheltenham from September 2020, with the aim at attracting more students in cyber and IT related education. The degrees sounded very relevant and Amiosec are looking forward to the first batch of students that graduate.
Chris Ensor, Deputy Director for Cyber Skills and Growth at NCSC then discussed the importance of training the future cyber workforce. He stressed that building a strong cyber security pipeline is crucial for future companies, and he detailed the work that the NCSC are doing with their Cyber First programmes and opportunities. He also discussed the need for more diversity within the industry, particularly the need to attract more women into cyber related education opportunities. This is a topic that Amiosec feel passionate about and we actively support STEM opportunities that encourage and inspire women to think about a career in engineering.
BAE Systems followed with an insight into how they develop their cyber security talent through apprenticeships and graduate schemes, and we had the opportunity to hear from one of their graduates about their experience.
Finally, the day wrapped up with a talk from Tim Atkins from Cheltenham Borough Council on the latest news about the cyber business park that is going to be developed beside Gloucestershire College campus and GCHQ. As well as providing a great support for Cheltenham and the cyber security industry, he discussed how it is going to put Cheltenham on the map internationally for cyber, as well as offering housing estates, recreational and entrepreneurship opportunities.
It was a really informative event and Amiosec are keen to see how the apprenticeships and new cyber degrees work out for the Cheltenham and surrounding area.