Cyber attacks increased globally by 44% in 2024, and nearly half of small and medium-sized businesses in Europe experienced a cyber attack in the past two years. Meanwhile, Europe is experiencing a talent shortage of 883,000 cybersecurity professionals. At a time when emerging technologies, like AI and quantum computing, are presenting new opportunities and threats to cybersecurity, there's a clear need for a diverse, skilled and AI savvy workforce. To help, we launched the Google.org Cybersecurity Seminar program in the fall of 2023, committing $15 million to increase access and opportunities for cybersecurity education.

Today, we are announcing 20+ universities that have been selected to receive Google.org support to expand access to cybersecurity education on their campuses. In addition to European universities, we are also proud to share an expansion of the program to include higher education institutions across the Middle East and Africa.

As a part of the program, emerging technology and policy nonprofit Virtual Routes will help the universities tailor their programs and curriculum to best serve the cybersecurity landscape in their local communities. Collectively the universities will enable thousands of students to experience hands-on cybersecurity education through activities like internships, mentorship from cybersecurity professionals, and hackathons. As a part of the program, participants will aim to help protect more than 3,500 local community organizations across their communities — nonprofits, businesses and more — from cyber attacks. Universities will also have access to donated Titan Security Keys and free cybersecurity training, thanks to our partnership with Possible Digital, a leading EU-based GovTech company.

Similar to our Cybersecurity Clinics Fund in the US, these seminars are a win-win: universities are building cybersecurity capacity and resilience in their communities, while training the next generation of cybersecurity talent through invaluable, real-world job experience.

Meet the universities:

• Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
• Drohobych Ivan Franko Pedagogical University
• ESIEA, École supérieure d'informatique, électronique, automatique
• Institut polytechnique de Grenoble
• Khalifa University
• Masaryk University
• Nelson Mandela University
• Riga Technical University
• Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
• Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
• Technical University of Munich
• Transilvania University of Brasov
• University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome
• Università degli Studi di Milano
• University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg Business School
• University of Luxembourg
• University of Malaga
• Vilnius Gediminas Technical University
• Warsaw University of Technology

You can find out more about the program at cyberseminars.withgoogle.com.