Information Assurance Building Educational Capacity

Abstract : This report is the fourth in a series describing the efforts by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), and in particular those of its CERT Program to increase the capacity of institutions of higher education to offer information assurance (IA) and information security (IS) courses. Other goals are to expand existing IA and IS offerings and to include IA and IS topics and perspectives in other courses. For each participating institution, these efforts are aligned with the focus of its involved academic department, current curriculum, and accreditation requirements. The report describes SEI activities for accomplishing its goals: participating in faculty capacity building programs funded by the National Science Foundation; creating and transitioning courseware, materials, and a newly created survivability and information assurance curriculum; and collaborating with key regional educational institutions. This report also presents four approaches the SEI has developed for its educational outreach in IA. The SEI applies these approaches as it works with all institutions of higher education, with a particular focus on minority-serving institutions and community colleges in the United States.