“It is Essential Students are Cyber Security Savvy” Richard Sittlington – Curriculum Manager in Computing

At SERC we are very proud of our staff and the professsional experience they bring to the College – including up-to-date knowledge of skills needed in industry and business. We've been catching up with a few of our computing lecturers and this  week we hear from Richard Sittlington.

Richard tells us:  "I have been an IT Lecturer in SERC for 11 years and have taught on several programmes during that time. I am currently teaching on Level 3 and Level 5 courses.

"My main areas of expertise are IT Infrastructure and Cyber Security. The last few years I have been studying Cyber Security and I completed a Master’s in Advanced Security and Digital Forensics in 2019 with Napier University. During my studies I was a competitor at the Cyber 9/12 challenge in Geneva. Since then I have completed Instructor Training in Cisco Cyber Operations and recently passed my EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker exam. Successfully obtaining this qualification makes SERC an Academic Partner with the EC-Council.

"The College has also been recognised with a Silver Cyber Security Status Award from the CyberFirst Schools Initiative (run by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ). We are the first College of Further Education in NI to have achieved Silver Cyber Security Status.

"The Award recognises our dedication to inspiring the next generation of cyber security experts and allows us to demonstrate the range of work we do to engage students in this area. This includes participation in competitions, specialist training sessions, organising guest speakers and project-based learning which is integral to all programmes.

"The past year has proven how much we have all depended on IT and digital communications both for learning and working in all sectors, and with that comes greater need for cyber security experts. There is a huge skills gap in this area so it is exciting to be part of the highly skilled, experienced and qualified lecturing team equipping our students with the skills and knowledge for further study and employment.

"Studying, for example, a Level 3 in IT at SERC is not the same as doing it elsewhere. At SERC students follow the more challenging modules and they have access to industry standard hardware and software which means robust preparation for a career in the IT industry." 

Click here to find out about the full range of IT courses at SERC. Apply now for courses commencing September 2021.