The award-winning cyber security study offering combines working life partners and a RDI project with studies

At the core of learning at Laurea is the LbD or Learning by Developing model. Its basis is the authenticity of learning, research orientated approach, creativity and partnership. 

How are these ideas implemented in practice? One example of this is provided by the cyber security education module Cybersecurity Work-Life Practices. This was awarded as Laurea's RDI innovation of 2022. In the rationale for the prize, the study entity was especially praised for how it effectively combines the integration of research, development and innovation activity and teaching, as well as fruitful cooperation with Laurea's key partner. 

Principal Lecturer Jyri Rajamäki and Senior Lecturers Pasi Kämppi and Paresh Rathod were responsible for the implementation of the Cybersecurity Work-Life Practices module, which is part of the complementary competence studies of Laurea's English-language Business Information Systems education. 

- Our main goal has been to closely involve working life partners in higher education and to provide students with an interesting and genuine opportunity to learn new things, they state. 

Business partners bring fresh experise to the study unit

The ten-credit module consists of three study units: Cybersecurity Working Life Practices, Cybersecurity Project, and Cybersecurity Hackathon. In the Working Life Practices study unit, business partners in the information security sector are integrally involved, especially Laurea's key partner Nixu and Hoxhunt, which has long cooperated with Business Information Systems education. 

- The division of labour in the study unit is that we at Laurea offer the pedagogical side, and companies provide the latest practical expertise in the field, Senior Lecturer Pasi Kämppi describes. 

- The company's experts have, among other things, held lectures and carried out practical workshops with students. 

The study unit has provided students with valuable knowledge about information security and the expertise required in their work. In turn, this cooperation has offered the companies the opportunity to meet the experts of the future. 

- Many of our students have been employed by Nixu and Hoxhunt through this cooperation. It has been fun to notice that after a couple of years, students who have participated in the study unit may have visited the same study unit, but this time as an expert lecturer, Kämppi laughs. 

Students involved in RDI projects

In the Cybersecurity Project study unit, students have been able to familiarise themselves with cyber security from the perspective of RDI projects. The students' task has been to research and produce new information related to the research topics of the projects. 

During the last few years, Laurea has been involved in several cyber security research and innovation projects funded by the European Commission and other funding bodies.  

- We are putting immense effort to integrate these projects with study offerings. Currently ongoing projects including ECHO, DYNAMO, EU-Hybnet, ARCSAR, ECOLHE, a few to name. The approach benefits our students to develop working-life and innovation skills, says Laurea’s cyber expat Paresh Rathod, who is representing Laurea’s leadership role in the European Cybersecurity Organisation (ECSO) WG.

- A sign of the success of the students is the fact that for several years the study unit has procuded articles published at an international conference), says Principal Lecturer Jyri Rajamäki, who has been involved in several research projects in the Security Management sector.

Long-term cooperation

The third part of the study entity is the hackathon, for which an exercise scenario has been created for the students. In the exercise, the students have, for example, carried out vulnerability testing for a certain website. The observations made during the hackathon have then been used to develop the data security of the website. 

The Cybersecurity Work-Life Practices module has been implemented with Business Information Systems students at Laurea since 2020. Both partners and students have been satisfied with the practical study entity. 

- It is really valuable that we have business partners like Nixu and Hoxhunt who are motivated and committed to long-term cooperation. They see the benefits of cooperation, for example through recruitment and placements and, for their part, bring valuable new learning to our study units, Senior Lecturer Pasi Kämppi elaborates. 

- The students also really appreciate the opportunity to learn and network with experts in the field.

Long-term cooperation is also reflected in RDI projects. Many significant EU projects in cyber security form a continuum, where new projects are built on the basis of the lessons learned from the previous project, often with the same partners.  

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