Beginning this fall, the University of New Hampshire will offer a sixth online master’s degree in cybersecurity policy and risk management (CPRM). The newest addition to UNH Online, this program blends cybersecurity strategy and policy with preparedness, incident response, recovery, and resilience – the heart of the security studies discipline.
With the ubiquity of computer systems and electronic communications, and the societal and organizational reliance on such systems, cybersecurity has become a critical business process and a growing legal responsibility. There is a global shortage of cybersecurity professionals and the demand is growing exponentially. Surveys estimate that by 2020, there will be more than 1.5 million cybersecurity positions left unfilled. The need is not only for technical specialists, but also for security managers who can develop cybersecurity plans that support a variety of organizational missions, business priorities, and governmental regulatory concerns.
The interdisciplinary CPRM program will develop graduates who can create security-enhancing policies and resilience processes and integrate them within an organization in business and the public sector. Students may have backgrounds in business, finance, law, homeland defense and security, retail, public administration, health care, insurance, and other technical and engineering disciplines.
The program is led by full-time UNH faculty with experience in critical infrastructure protection and cybersecurity, supported by academic and industry experts from various fields. Instructors combine both professional and academic aspects of security, which helps students better apply their academic experience to their career goals.
Graduates can complete this 30-credit degree over the course of 12 months, 100 percent online. Courses are asynchronous so students can participate, view lectures, complete assignments, and access materials at any time, on their own schedules. Applications are now being accepted for the fall semester which begins in mid-August.
UNH Online fosters the growth of online courses and programs at the University of New Hampshire in order to make the high-quality courses offered by UNH more convenient and accessible throughout New Hampshire and the region. In addition to the new CPRM program, UNH Online offers five graduate certificates, two masters of law degrees, and a doctoral degree in nursing practice.
The University of New Hampshire is a flagship research university that inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top ranked programs in business, engineering, law, liberal arts and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. UNH’s research portfolio includes partnerships with NASA, NOAA, NSF and NIH, receiving more than $100 million in competitive external funding every year to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea and space.
