Proactive Curriculum for Cyber Security Education: A Model of Micro-Credentials and Active Blended Learning

The landscape of cyber-attacks is rapidly evolving and increasing in variety and frequency. The demand for cyber security expertise, coupled with a shortage of qualified professionals, underscores the urgent need for comprehensive training programs and curriculum development. This paper identifies the resulting needs and describes how they can be translated into a highly adaptive approach to curriculum design that allows cybersecurity education to be more responsive to ever-changing threats and countermeasures through an activity and problem-based paradigm based on micro-credentials and flexible delivery. This approach provides a valuable model for other educational institutions seeking to provide their students with the necessary skills to navigate and succeed in the complex field of cyber security. The SHIFT project is an example of how targeted educational strategies, supported by robust research and industry collaboration, can significantly improve cybersecurity education and illustrates the approach through the current implementation of the concept at Ferdinand Porsche FERNFH.