The Spanish national agency SEPIE has approved our new Erasmus+ project, “Digital Training for Cybersecurity Students in Industrial Fields”

The DICYSTECH – Digital Training for Cybersecurity Students in Industrial Fields project (2021-2023), unites five EU partners from Greece, Portugal, Italy and Spain in the development of open access training modules and linked cybersecurity remote laboratories for cybersecurity education that serve a double purpose: to meet Industry 4.0 needs and to provide innovative educational practice in the digital era supporting the uptake of innovative digital technologies (such as VLEs) for teaching and learning in HVET.

The DICYSTECH project will create 5 innovative digital DICYSTECH Modules in both technical and transversal competences for cybersecurity students in Industrial environments available via an open attractive e-learning platform. The Modules will cover Industrial Networks, Equipment and Network Protection (deploying and maintaining cybersecurity in advanced industrial contexts), the Forensic (security) Analysis of these networks and countermeasures to threats, and transversal competences necessary for cybersecurity technicians.

The Project will also develop a DICYSTECH HUB offering users remote access to three fully developed partner cybersecurity laboratories in which learners can view and experiment with high end enabling IT technology and cybersecurity measures in simulated industrial contexts. Users will be invited to register and use the labs remotely for practice and the development of learning challenges provided in the training modules. The DICYSTECH Training Modules will be accompanied by practical User Guidelines for staff with supporting pedagogical tools and an understanding of Challenge Based Learning (CBL) and how to implement or further develop challenges for students/learners. The DICYSTECH training course also comes with integrated ECT and ECVET accreditation guidelines.

The DICYSTECH Training Course and HUB of cybersecurity labs will be tested by 4 pilot groups (with 120+ learners) in Greece, Portugal and Spain in 2022. The outputs will be available since July 2022 for free use/downloading from the project website and e-learning platform. The final products will be reviewed and validated by relevant cybersecurity and Industrial 4.0 representatives from partner countries. The partnership aims to provide higher education providers with the most innovative, quality and ready to use digital training materials and technology for cybersecurity technicians in Industrial environments, which will see high skilled graduate technicians and workers in upskilling and reskilling training courses, fully competent and employable within the Industry 4.0 sector.

By the end 2022 DICYSTECH aims to be implemented by at least 35 EU HE/HVET institutions and training bodies and have reached/reach learners all over Europe. All DICYSTECH outputs will be produced under the Creative Commons License. Project partners actively encourage higher educational organisations and other training entities throughout Europe to use and benefit from the Digital Training results. The project supports and aims to contribute to closing skills gaps, the collaborative renewal of innovative teaching practice andcurriculum, attractive digital education, and open/distance learning opportunities for learners and institutions with fewer resources.