Establishment of a world class Cyber Security Institute in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Will it position KPK as a leader in the field of cybersecurity?
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister, Sardar Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has decided in principle to establish an international standard cybersecurity institute in the provincial capital, Peshawar. This initiative aims to provide cybersecurity education facilities to the youth within the province.
The decision was made during a meeting on Tuesday, chaired by Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur. The meeting was attended by Provincial Minister for Higher Education Meena Khan Afridi, Administrative Secretaries of Higher Education and Science Technology & Information Technology departments, Managing Director of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board, and Director of the National Center for Cybersecurity.
It was decided that the newly conceived cybersecurity institute will be established in an existing government building and will offer Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. degree programs in cybersecurity. This will further be expanded with addition of new disciplines and new specialties in due course of time.
The Chief Minister directed the senior officials of the Higher Education and ST&IT departments to finalize the modalities for the cybersecurity institute and submit viable proposals for formal approval as soon as possible.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister emphasized that establishing a specialized cybersecurity institute of international standards in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is essential. He assured that the provincial government would prioritize and provide all necessary resources for the institute.
He noted that it is crucial to invest in the information technology sector to benefit from its substantial potential and stated that the government plans to extend such cybersecurity institutes to divisional headquarters in the future.
Ali Amin Gandapur reiterated the provincial government's commitment to providing modern information technology education and training to youth, enabling them to secure employment opportunities at both national and international levels. He highlighted the remarkable talent among the province's youth and affirmed that the government would make every effort to provide opportunities in every potential sector.
The decision to establish a specialized cybersecurity institute in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa KPK will have several implications, both positive as well as negative at a time when most of the public sector universities in KPK are facing financial crunch and the government is thinking in terms of reducing the number of universities by clubbing various universities offering identical programs, closing down some underperforming departments and re-allocating them to other universities.
Will the establishment of a specialized cybersecurity institute be able to position KPK as a leader in the field of cybersecurity, is the point of discussion for our next blog post.
