A raft of East Midlands-based universities have agreed to promote the Cyber PATH student recruitment initiative which began this month, as we look to welcome the brightest students whose ambition is to help shore up the nation’s defences against cyber crime.

The universities who have agreed to promote our recruitment programme are: the University of Leicester, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University, De Montfort University in Leicester, Derby University, the University of Lincoln and the University of Northampton.

Each university will support the Cyber PATH recruitment programme throughout its duration, which began on October 1 and ends on November 15. They will also encourage students to join an online webinar on October 18 specifically about the benefits of the Cyber PATH programme and what they can expect from it should they join.

Cyber PATH is an elite talent pipeline for the next generation of specialists in cyber resilience; it's an excellent way for students to engage in the commercial aspects of the sector and gain vital experience whilst helping SMEs with their cyber resilience, and it’s a great avenue for us to use as it gives us access to students who will go on to deliver our affordable cyber security services.

Developed by the National Cyber Resilience Centre Group (NCRCG) in partnership with the regional Cyber Resilience Centre (CRC) network, of which the EMCRC is part of, Cyber PATH is a programme open to students in full-time higher education who want to help shore up the nation’s defences against cybercrime and gain vital experience in a commercial setting.

The programme gives young people the opportunity to work alongside senior Security Practitioners to deliver affordable and high-quality cyber resilience services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across each region in England and Wales.

As well as making cyber operations safer and more secure in smaller organisations, students are equipped with the essential skills, knowledge and on-the-job training they need to succeed in the workplace upon graduation.

Cybercrime is fluid and requires us to constantly refresh our thinking which is why Cyber PATH embraces diversity of thought in its cadre of students. The programme welcomes the brightest young students with the necessary learning, skillsets and intellectual ability best suited to addressing this changing landscape of crime.

Essentially, once trained on the Cyber PATH programme, students go on to work for Cyber PATH, earning money delivering our services to SMEs whilst studying. The students are allocated jobs in each region, including the East Midlands, so essentially by working for Cyber PATH they are also working with us to deliver services to SMEs in the region.

The recruitment drive runs from October 1 to November 15, 2023.

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