Check Point Software Technologies has partnered with the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), Complete Enterprise Solutions (CES), and Salt Essential IT to help tackle the cybersecurity skills shortage in Namibia.
The partnership between Check Point SecureAcademy and NUST will see the university’s faculty members complete the Check Point Certified Security Administrator training, enabling them to teach a range of cybersecurity courses to NUST’s students, starting this year.
CES, which is one of Check Point Software Technologies’ 4 Star partners, and Salt, a 2 Star Partner, will be helping to develop and promote the Check Point SecureAcademy training alongside NUST. Added to this, CES and Salt, working through NUST’s Cooperative Education Unit, will help facilitate industry-relevant internship placement and secure workplace sites enabling Work Integrated Learning for students who have graduated from the partnership’s training programme.
To date, three of the university’s lecturers have successfully completed the training, with more staff signed up to take the course. “Through this partnership, we are strengthening Africa’s cybersecurity landscape, as our lecturers will be passing the crucial cyber skills they have learned onto the next generation of professionals,” says Dr Mercy Chitauro, cybersecurity program coordinator at NUST.
“Achieving Check Point SecureAcademy status within Namibia is an important step forward in developing a new talent pool of qualified security professionals and a sustainable breeding ground for this talent pool in the country,” says PJ Kotze, GM of CES.
Sonja Coetzer, MD of Salt adds: “education initiatives like this are helping build stronger, more secure environments for businesses to compete in a sustainable digital economy, which is so important in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
The partnership will deepen the reach of cybersecurity education already being provided by the Check Point Cyber Security Jump Start programme. Through this programme, learners can access free online courses from anywhere in the world, gaining recognised certification upon completion. Currently, over 20 000 students and security professionals across Africa have completed these courses, increasing Africa’s overall cyber safety through industry leading skills.