Graduate Apprenticeships Cyber Security (MSc)

Designed in partnership with industry, our fully accredited National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) MSc Cyber Security Graduate Apprenticeship gives employers the opportunity for their IT professionals to gain a masters degree over 18 months, whilst still working. Neither the employer, or learner, are required to contribute towards tuition fees.

Through a combination of work-based, online and face to face tuition, employees will learn the latest cyber security strategies, theories and techniques, with a focus on integrating their knowledge directly back into the workplace.

On successful completion of the programme, participants will be awarded an MSc in Cyber Security from the University of Strathclyde.

You may also be interested in our BSc (Hons) IT Software Development Graduate Apprenticeship.

What is a Graduate Apprenticeship?

Fully funded by the Scottish Government through Scottish Funding Council and SAAS, Graduate Apprenticeships develop your workforce by combining the latest academic learning with experience in the workplace. Find out more about funding eligibility.

Our MSc in Cyber Security will develop your employee’s cyber security skills to better protect your company, customers and employees from security threats.

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Employer Benefits

  • enhance the effectiveness of your IT professionals by equipping them with the latest academic knowledge in the field of cyber security, which can be applied directly to your organisation from the start of the programme
  • increase your organisation’s productivity and competitive advantage with minimal disruption to core activities
  • employees receive a bespoke learning experience, including individualised learning plans relevant to their workplace, with support from academics in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, personal learning advisers and work-based mentors
  • dedicated University of Strathclyde delivery team who listen, understand and engage with employers to provide their IT professionals with a fully integrated academic and workplace based masters qualification
  • retain high quality staff through supporting their personal and professional development

Employer Requirements

First and foremost, MSc Cyber Security graduate apprentices are employees, who’ll continue to spend 80% of their time working for their employer. There is no restriction on the size of any organisation that can employ a graduate apprentice.

Employers must:

  • ensure graduate apprentices have a role that involves cyber security
  • allocate a work-based mentor who can offer the graduate apprentice support for the duration of the programme
  • agree study arrangements with the graduate apprentice
  • ensure that graduate apprentices have sufficient time and opportunity to work on their studies and related assessment within their working hours. This must equate to one day per week, although this could be spread over a working week.

We strongly advise that employers agree protected time for graduate apprentices to support their study.

As an employer, you are not required to pay tuition fees for employees to undertake the MSc Cyber Security graduate apprenticeship. You may however incur costs for additional employee expenses, such as travel to on-campus learning days or textbooks to support learning. These should be agreed directly with the employee.

As employees progress through the graduate apprenticeship, employers can choose to receive updates on their progress, such as module grades and progress in developing their work-based learning portfolio.

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Employee Requirements

Employees must:

  • be employed in a role with an aspect of cyber security, for a minimum of 21 hours a week. Furloughed staff are also eligible.
  • live and work in Scotland for the duration of the programme
  • have the agreement of their employer to undertake the MSc Cyber Security graduate
    apprenticeship

Each applicant is assessed for admission on a case by case basis. They will typically have a 2:1 BSc Honours degree in Computer Science or a related discipline. We also welcome enquiries from applicants with non-traditional qualifications and/or relevant work experience.

Employees will be required to attend classes on campus for one day every three weeks. The dates for all classes across the academic year will be supplied in advance to support planning work and learning commitments. In addition, graduate apprentices will undertake around 15 hours of flexible learning per week, through our award-winning Virtual Learning Environment, complemented with learning directly in the work place supported by our team of dedicated learning advisers.

Read our student guidance for the MSc Cyber Security graduate apprenticeship for more information about the content of the programme and support from the University.

How to apply

Employers can nominate existing employees or newly recruited candidates who will then be considered for admission to the programme. One, or multiple employees, can be nominated. There is no limit to the number of places per employer.

In the first instance, employers should contact us with an expression of interest for employees to be considered for the MSc Cyber Security graduate apprenticeship, indicating the number of places being sought on the programme. 

We are also happy to work directly with employers to streamline the recruitment process for new graduate apprentices.

Contact us

If you’re an employer considering how our MSc Cyber Security graduate apprenticeship can benefit your organisation, please contact us. We’d be delighted to help.

Dr Sotirios Terzis
MSc Cyber Security Programme Director
cis-cyber@strath.ac.uk