This article presents a case study showcasing how uOttawa and Fortinet are working together to prepare students for in-demand cybersecurity careers while addressing the global skills gap.
Cultivating talent with balance of theory and practice
A key goal of the Faculty of Engineering is to train forward thinking engineers and computer scientists at every stage of their lives, from youth outreach programs for children to professional development opportunities for adults. The faculty focuses on cultivating talent with the right balance of theory and practice while fostering entrepreneurial spirit in state-of-the-art design labs and facilities where engineering students can see their ideas come to life.
“Universities sometimes face criticism that students are not prepared for the workforce. At uOttawa, we are mindful of that, and we are narrowing that gap between the theoretical learning of the university and the practical learning that you get on the job. The uOttawa-IBM Cyber Range offers a unique training, learning, and research environment where students can practice comprehensive cybersecurity crisis management in a realistic, immersive way using industry technologies like Fortinet virtualized firewalls in a cloud. As a result, students are more engaged and interested as they learn, and the skills they acquire are more immediately applicable in a work environment." said Dr. Guy-Vincent Jourdan, Professor, Faculty of Engineering, uOttawa.
Providing students with pathways to cybersecurity careers
uOttawa’s Faculty of Engineering boasts a 97% employment rate among its graduates. Ensuring that students have access to industry training certification is a key component to cybersecurity employment success for graduates.
“The uOttawa and Fortinet partnership offers students a pathway to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the workforce confidently after graduation”. said Rob Rashotte, Vice President, Fortinet Training Institute. “Over two hundred of their students have received the required training to get Network Security Expert (NSE) certifications since 2021. We are extremely pleased to work with uOttawa, providing technologies, training and ongoing support for outreach initiatives.” According to the 2024 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report, 91% of respondents said that they prefer to hire candidates with industry certifications.”
Asmaa Hailane, a doctoral student working under Professor Jourdan, helped create and teaches the uOttawa Network Security course which is based on the Fortinet Certified Professional (FCP) curriculum.
“The collaboration with Fortinet bridges the gap between academia and industry. Fortinet offers the certification and helps students in the post academic journey - not just for employment with Fortinet, said Ms. Hailane. “It’s a great collaboration that increases engagement with students. Students are more excited to learn with leading technology and hands-on exercises that mimic the real-world.”
Pouria Mortezaagha, who earned a Master of Systems Science and Engineering with Microprogram in Cybersecurity echoed that view. “I found the course to be highly informative, offering a solid foundation in network security principles with practical insights on Fortinet's tools. The hands-on labs were especially helpful in understanding real-world application, and the course content was well-structured to guide users through both fundamental and advanced topics.”
The Fortinet FortiGate Administrator course is available to fourth year (SEG 4300) and graduate students (GNG 5300). Approximately 40 to 50 students register for each session. According to Instructor Hailane, the course opens the door to cybersecurity for engineering students. “I had software engineering students that successfully completed the course, and it helped them secure employment in the cybersecurity industry,” said Hailane.
Making cybersecurity training and career opportunities accessible to all
The university has also worked closely with Fortinet on other related initiatives and envisions more collaboration in the future. Fortinet has engaged with uOttawa students about various career pathways that are available to them and has provided guidance on interview skills.
“Fortinet is very active in outreach. For example, it has developed an entire online teacher training program and curriculum for Kindergarten to grade 12. This aligns to our mandate at the Faculty of engineering”, said Jourdan. “Developing content for people that have not reached the university level is also in our DNA. We really like this idea and there’s great alignment with Fortinet in this endeavour.”
“We are enthusiastic to continue exploring new opportunities to work collaboratively with uOttawa that will expand access to security training and certifications to ensure we’re addressing the cybersecurity skills gap,” said Rashotte.
“As a university, we can tackle these challenges and opportunities differently. [...] It’s a win-win scenario that helps academia and industry.”
Dr. Guy-Vincent Jourdan
— Professor, Faculty of Engineering, uOttawa
Future collaborations help prepare for market shifts
AI is an area that is transforming the cybersecurity market and an organization's entire cybersecurity posture.
uOttawa has a team of researchers and PhD students that are using AI models to solve problems that would have been addressed differently only five years ago.
“As a university, we can tackle these challenges and opportunities differently. Vendors can’t allocate resources for three or five years to work on a problem with no guarantee of revenue. This is however something that can be done in the context of a PhD program, but it is important to define the problem being researched in collaboration with our industry partners to ensure that we are tackling the most impactful questions.” said Jourdan. “We have built a collaborative relationship with Fortinet, and I envision future research work in this area. Fortinet provides the question and then we get to work on the research. It’s a win-win scenario that helps academia and industry.”
Read the full case study on Fortinet’s website (PDF, 810 KB).