Education Outreach Programme
Cultivating partnerships to drive a skilled, inclusive and diverse cybersecurity workforce
Become an Education Outreach Partner 2026 NSE Certification Programme UpdatesThe Fortinet Education Outreach Programme Aims to Reach All Populations
As part of the Fortinet Training Institute, the Education Outreach Programme works with global leaders to drive change on pressing cybersecurity issues. Our partnerships extend to industry, academia, government and non-profits to ensure we are reaching all populations. By providing opportunities for training, certification, and connecting individuals with the Fortinet employer ecosystem, we're working to help close the cybersecurity skills gap.
The Need for Diversity and Inclusion in Cybersecurity
According to the 2023 ICS2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, there is a global cybersecurity workforce gap of almost 4 million people. While the size of the global cybersecurity workforce is still growing and is estimated at 5.5 million, the gap continues to grow as well, up 13% from last year.
Focus on Veterans
The Fortinet Veterans Programme provides cyber security training and certification to veterans and military spouses to help individuals transition from their military careers. Veterans in particular are often considered to already have the right training, mindset and discipline for work in a security context, possessing a defence mentality.
The programme works closely with military and veteran not-for-profit organisations to connect with veterans and military families around the world. These not-for-profits are integral to Fortinet’s effort to help the military community transition to careers in cyber security.
Focus on Women and Minorities
The growth of Fortinet’s Training Institute includes partnerships with organisations focused on women and minorities. According to the 2021 ICS2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, women made up approximately 25% of the study cyber security workforce participants and an ICS2 minority cyber security study indicates minority representation within the cyber security profession is 26%.
Fortinet partners with various organisations to make cyber security training more accessible and provides opportunities at no cost for industry certifications for its member organisations.
Focus on Students
Through the Academic Partner Programme, Fortinet supports nearly 863 institutions in 105 different countries and territories. These academic institutions range from students in K-12 all the way to higher education and research institutions. Through the programme, institutions are given access to Fortinet’s NSE Certification Programme content to integrate into their own curriculum. They also receive exam vouchers to prepare students for a career in cybersecurity and help develop the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.
Learn more about the Academic Partner ProgrammeFocus on K-12 Schools
Fortinet offers a free education-focussed version of its Security Awareness and Training service to all primary and secondary school districts and systems in the U.S., UK, Australia, Canada, and Brazil and is expanding this offer into other countries.
Raising Cyber Awareness in Young Children
Fortinet recently released a children’s book designed to further increase cyber awareness among children from 7 to 12 years. The book Cyber Safe: A Dog’s Guide to Internet Security was co-authored by Renee Tarun, Deputy CISO at Fortinet.
Read tips on keeping children safe online
Free Training for Everyone
To continue developing the world’s cyber workforce, Fortinet has made all of our advanced self-paced courses available free of charge. First introduced in early 2020, the free cybersecurity training courses include more than 30 self-paced, technical courses on critical topics ranging from Secure SD-WAN to Operational Technology to cloud security. To date, there have been more than 1,800,000 registrations for these free courses.
The training courses count towards the ISC2 CPE Submitter Programme and the NSE Certification Programme, which has five proficiency levels with 11 certifications. Each certification level aims to assess specific levels of cybersecurity expertise, from foundation to architect.
Learn moreTraining in Local Languages / Respecting Language and Culture
Fortinet Authorised Training Centres (ATCs) provide a global network of training facilities that deliver expert-level training in local languages. Fortinet has 117 ATCs worldwide and is continuing to expand the locations of the training centre partners to further the reach of NSE training. Fortinet ATCs are currently teaching in more than 150 countries and territories and can deliver training and local cultural support in 26 different languages.
