MSc Digital and Technology Solutions Specialist (Cyber Security Technology) Degree Apprenticeship

Program Overview

The MSc Digital and Technology Solutions Specialist (Cyber Security Technology) Degree Apprenticeship combines academic study with work-based experience to equip learners with the skills and knowledge for a specialist career in cybersecurity. Through a blend of classroom-based and workplace learning, apprentices develop expertise in network and systems security, cyber security fundamentals, and operational security, preparing them for roles that facilitate and influence digital and technology solutions within organizations. The program is accredited by TechSkills and offers a project-based End Point Assessment for comprehensive evaluation of apprentices' skills and knowledge.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

Our MSc Digital and Technology Solutions Specialist (Cyber Security Technology) Degree Apprenticeship has been designed to offer a combination of academic study with work-based experience, helping you to develop the expertise and skills needed for a specialist career in the digital and technology field. You will have the opportunity to apply your learning in a workplace environment and reinforce your studies. You will also be expected to draw heavily upon your workplace in your studies, applying concepts and trying out techniques and tools that you have studied. As an apprentice with us, you will have access to all our learning and development resources as well as specialist software, including the Microsoft Imagine Software Package.

Objectives:

This MSc Digital and Technology Solutions Specialist (Cyber Security Technology) Degree Apprenticeship aims to prepare you as a professional who can facilitate and influence the provisioning of digital and technology solutions, with a focus on technology leadership combined with specialist skills and knowledge within the dynamics of organisations. This course will equip you with knowledge, skills and behaviours through a blend of classroom-based and work-based learning.

Outline:

• The award of MSc requires 180 credits, which are to be completed through four semesters across two academic years (typically 24 calendar months, including End Point Assessment).
• The specific course structure varies for the different specialist pathways.

Year 1 and 2

Compulsory Modules:

• Consultancy and Tech Innovation: This module explores the skills needed to understand, and work in, the complex multi-sourced environment that supports business change.
Focusing on the strategic management of leading-edge technology, you will examine the organisational structure of IT, including systems integrators and consultancy, and gain an overview of the IT consulting world, its principles and practice.
• Team Dynamics and Leadership: This module will cover the structure, development, leadership and management of teams that plan and deliver projects.
It will deal with relations, interactions and communications within and beyond the team. You'll also consider high performance, self-directed, dispersed and virtual teams.
• Managing Innovation and Change: During this module you will explore the nature of innovation and the need for it in the management of a modern organisation.
It will examine the complex process of organisational change as it occurs in specific organisational contexts. The aim of the module is to present the ways in which computer and network systems can be attached and penetrated by exploiting their vulnerabilities. It also aims to introduce different types of security services that have been used to enhance the security of those systems.
• Fundamentals of Cyber Security: During this module you will study and apply fundamental concepts of cyber security, leading to the development of knowledge and skills to protect organisational assets against existing and emerging threats.
In part, the module covers:
• Symmetric and asymmetric encryption
• Steganography
• Principles of cryptanalysis
• Message confidentiality
• Message authentication
• Security protocols (such as IPsec VPNs, SSL/TLS)
• Security in wireless systems
• The application of cryptographic techniques to authentication and identity management.
The focus will be on the analysis, design and implementation of protocols, tools and techniques that achieve these three goals in secure computing:
• Confidentiality
• Integrity
• Availability
The module also includes study of tools and techniques for vulnerability assessment and incident management. In particular, the module will provide opportunities for you to develop knowledge and skills to identify, understand and analyse vulnerabilities, thereby identifying appropriate protection mechanisms. Furthermore, the module will introduce knowledge and skills required to undertake digital forensics tasks including collecting, processing and preserving digital evidence to aid such tasks. The module covers in part the IISP security skill groups:
• C (Security Architecture)
• E (Operational Security Management)
• F (Forensics)
All core modules exercise aspects of J (Professional Skills) - in this case, the students will undertake some group work. New threats are emerging as digital technologies permeate into most aspects of work and social life and in transactions between parties opening potential for fraud, deception and corruption. You will develop an understanding of:
• Information assurance
• Incident management
• Audit
• Business continuity.
The module covers:
• IISP Security Skill Groups D (Information Assurance Methodologies), F.1 (Incident Management), G (Audit Assurance and Review) H (Business Continuity Planning and Management).
• Apprenticeship Project: Towards the end of your apprenticeship, the University will agree a business-related project with you and your employer.
This will be based on your job role and academic content of your course. The agreed project will present a typical business task, appropriate for demonstrating the skills and knowledge on the standard. This module is a pre-gateway to the End Point Assessment (EPA).
• Professional Development: This module aims to capture and develop your portfolio, which will present relevant evidence from real-work projects (excluding Apprenticeship Project).
The portfolio you develop through this module will be used to help you answer questions in the professional discussion part of the End Point Assessment. This work-based module will require you to continuously reflect and identify areas for further development in order to demonstrate that you have applied the knowledge, skills and behaviours in the apprenticeship standard, under the guidance of work mentor and university tutor.

Assessment:

• The course has been designed to offer a strong combination of academic study with vocational application.
We focus on developing your expertise and skills for a professional career in the digital and technology field.
• Throughout the course, you'll be able to apply your learning in the workplace and reinforce your university-based studies.
• Modules are assessed predominantly by coursework assignments, reflecting the work-based orientation of the course.
Although not all assessment can be based on work undertaken in your place of employment, this is the preferred mode where possible.
• At all levels the assessment of modules includes a mix of summative and formative elements.
A key goal is to ensure that assessments support your learning experience.

Teaching:

• The learning and teaching approach for this course draws on the experience of our academic staff in delivering part-time and work-based provision over three years, combined with our expertise in the digital and technology field.
• We promote the principles of scholarship, employability and active learning.
The approach is to combine theory with professional practice. You will be introduced to the key theories and concepts and be able to explore these in relation to examples and real-world case studies drawn from their own professional practice, as well as those provided by the academic staff team.
• You will be encouraged to develop critical scholarship and independent learning, and be actively engaged as you progress through your studies.
The culmination of this is the synoptic project which is a major piece of work that combines your academic studies with professional practice.
• This work-based, business-related project provides substantive evidence to demonstrate your ability to apply your skills and knowledge.
The End Point Assessment (EPA) integrates the project outcomes and presentation into the overall synoptic project assessment. It will take place over around six months, during the final year of the course. It is designed to assess apprentices in a consistent way, irrespective of their workplace.
• A work-based learning adopted in this course provides a student-centred approach, allowing you to identify and act upon your subject knowledge and theory and how they relate to your employment.
• The teaching and learning strategy includes the provision of blended modes of delivery to enhance the active engagement of all students in the learning process.
• Technology expertise is a core element of this course and to our learning and teaching strategy.
You will have access to a wide variety of technologies such as Oracle, R, JAVA, HADOOP and Eclipse. To support the delivery of the course, staff will routinely draw on a range of technological resources e.g. videos wikis webinars screen capture technologies.
• We will ensure that the Virtual Learning Environment (Blackboard) supports you both on and off campus.
We use electronic submission and feedback where appropriate, along with a range of technology solutions to support communication between staff and students.

Careers:

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