Cybersecurity Study Programs: What's in a Name?
Jan Vykopal, Valdemar \v{S}v\'abensk\'y, Michael Tuscano Lopez II,, Pavel \v{C}eleda

TL;DR
This study analyzes 101 cybersecurity programs worldwide, revealing gaps in curriculum content and experiential learning, and offers recommendations to enhance program quality and alignment with industry needs.
Contribution
It provides a comprehensive analysis of global cybersecurity programs, highlighting deficiencies and proposing best practices for curriculum development and experiential learning.
Findings
Many top universities' programs lack essential cybersecurity elements.
Most programs do not sufficiently cover law, policies, or risk management.
Experiential learning opportunities are often missing from curricula.
Abstract
Improving cybersecurity education has become a priority for many countries and organizations worldwide. Computing societies and professional associations have recognized cybersecurity as a distinctive computing discipline and created specialized cybersecurity curricular guidelines. Higher education institutions are introducing new cybersecurity programs, attracting students to this expanding field. In this paper, we examined 101 study programs across 24 countries. Based on their analysis, we argue that top-ranked universities have not yet fully implemented the guidelines and offer programs that have "cyber" in their name but lack some essential elements of a cybersecurity program. In particular, most programs do not sufficiently cover non-technical components, such as law, policies, or risk management. Also, most programs teach knowledge and skills but do not expose students to…
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