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Students interested in developing their cyber skills are attending the four-day course at locations across the country, including the University of Greenwich, the University of West of England, Lancaster University and QinetiQ’s offices in Malvern.

The course is introducing students to encryption technologies and digital forensics, while giving them the opportunity to hear directly from experts across the industry and undertake real-world tasks using Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Penetration testing.

The delivery of the course is one strand of QinetiQ’s work that supports the Government’s local skills agenda to unlock opportunities for young people in technology. As an example of cross-sector collaboration in a rapidly growing area of significant interest to the UK’s national security, the course helps students learn about possible careers in the sector and support their university application decisions.

Anita, Student, Worcester Sixth Form College, said: “I joined this course to expand my knowledge in cyber security and confirm that this is what I want to do as a career. And it has done exactly that! The speakers that where brought in where amazing and they were truly inspirational.”

James Willis, Chief Executive Officer, QinetiQ UK Intelligence, said: “Young people are the future of our national security and at QinetiQ we are proud to be delivering a vital programme to inspire the next generation of cyber security experts. The course this week has been a great success, introducing students to advanced technologies, giving them access to experts from across the industry and bringing to life this critically important industry.”

Chris Ensor, Deputy Director Cyber Growth, National Cyber Security Centre, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to QinetiQ for their innovative hub-and-spoke delivery model for the CyberFirst Advanced courses. This exciting approach not only expands access to high-quality cyber education, but also sets a powerful example of how collaboration and creativity can help scale CyberFirst opportunities across the UK. We hope others will be inspired to adopt and build on this model in the future”.