If all goes according to plan, FAMU could offer a both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Cybersecurity (CyS), through the Department of Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) beginning in the Fall of 2020.
The new degrees are being designed to satisfy ABET accreditation criteria for Cybersecurity. There is a global workforce shortage of nearly 3 million cybersecurity professionals. The industry has an average medium salary of $95,500 per year, with an annual 28% growth rate, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Over 270 FAMU students have been enrolled in the university’s Cybersecurity courses since 2017. The university expects to start the b.s. degree program off with 12 majors and grow to 46 majors by year five. In the Master’s program, projected enrollment in year one is three majors growing to 25 by year five.
Besides the high demand for new cybersecurity professionals, FAMU expects the new offering to provide a boost to its performance based funding numbers particularly by boosting the avg salary for graduates, help attract community college transfers, and boost graduates in areas of strategic emphasis both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.