Page 13 - Perspective 2022 - 11.9.22

ISRAEL NEEDS A NEW MODEL
OF ‘ACADEMIA PLUS’
With graduates experiencing a shortage of high-quality
positions, and industry experiencing a shortage of
qualified applicants, where exactly does the rubber meet
the road?
To start, it is essential that the government, along with
industry, develop long-term partnerships with academia
in the quest to strengthen Israel’s education-workforce
connection.
The Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) has advanced
the objective of bridging the aforementioned academia-
industry gap through the Cyber Elite program, which
provides outstanding Orthodox and Haredi graduates of
software engineering and computer science degrees with
intensive cyber security training, and simultaneous work
in R&D positions in the cyber industry, infusing Israel’s
high-tech and defense industries with a much-needed
new source of highly skilled employees. Most importantly,
Cyber Elite functions as a bridge between higher education
and industry by empowering students with the practical
experience that they need to fill more senior positions
upon graduation.
JCT created Cyber Elite during the 2017-18 academic
year in partnership with the Cyber Education Center, the
National Cyber Directorate of the Prime Minister’s Office,
the Jerusalem Development Authority, and leading cyber
companies. By directly involving industry in the partnership, Israeli workforce.
we ensured that this training program would respond to
specific industry needs. And indeed, the program’s first
cohort trained and placed its 31 participants – 15 women
and 16 men – in cyber security research and development
positions in defense and commercial cyber companies.
Cyber Elite’s success was recognized by the Israel
Innovation Authority, which affirmed the program’s
significance by awarding JCT with a grant for two new
Cyber Elite cohorts for the academic years of 2021-22
and 2022-23.
The program’s more advanced curriculum includes
topics like malware analysis, penetration testing,
network security, vulnerabilities, and exploitations, with
training provided by industry experts and former military
intelligence personnel. Participants of the current Cyber
Elite 2.0 cohort – 19 men and 17 women – spend two days
per week on JCT’s campuses for men and women. For an
additional three days each week, they work in research
and development positions at 18 leading cyber security
companies and cyber units of multinational companies,
including Check Point, Cymotive, Intel, CYE, ARMO, Israel
Aerospace Industries/Elta Systems, Rafael Advanced
Defense Systems, and Cellebrite.
Academic degrees, especially in engineering, remain a
crucial element in the road towards employment and
combine the theoretical with the practical. But students
also need hands-on training in advanced programs, like they
receive in Cyber Elite, in order to enter and truly succeed
in the workforce. Additionally, designing programs for an
institution’s most outstanding graduates represents the
most effective pathway to producing qualified employees
that meet the industry’s most pressing needs.
By cultivating and maximizing Israel’s home-grown
talent, the government, academia, and industry can work
harmoniously to create systemic change in the Orthodox
and ultra-Orthodox sectors and fill pressing gaps in the
Orlee Guttman is director of strategic partnerships, director
of the Cyber Elite program, and co-founder of the LevTech
Entrepreneurship Center at JCT.
Adapted from an op-ed that originally appeared in Israel
Hayom.
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