SRH University

CyberMACS

Erasmus Mundus Joint Master

CyberMACS
CyberMACS

Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Applied Cybersecurity

The Erasmus Mundus Joint Master (EMJM) supports high-level integrated transnational study programmes at the Master level delivered by an international consortium of higher education institutions (HEIs) from different countries worldwide and, where relevant, other educational and/or non-educational partners with specific expertise and interest in the concerned study areas/professional domains. EMJMs are programmes of excellence and contribute to the integration and internationalisation of the European Higher Education Area.

The SRH Berlin very first Erasmus Mundus titled CyberMACS will enhance the international dimension of higher education through cooperation between institutions in Europe, and through mobility for the best students worldwide. Cybersecurity is an international concern in its nature thus requires an international and cooperative response.

The overall coordination of the project is led by the Kadir Has University. At SRH Berlin the academic coordination lies within the Berlin School of Technology and the administrative coordination is managed by the Global Cooperation Institute.

Project Funding: 5.484.000 € (585.000 € allocated to SRH Berlin)

Project Period: 01.10.2022 - 30.11.2028

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The project

SRH Berlin worked intensively with Kadir Has University (Istanbul, Turkiye) on the project proposal for two years, before successfully obtaining the Erasmus Mundus funding in October 2022. This would not have been possible without the short notice addition of our partner university Ss. Cyril and Methodius University (Skopje, North Macedonia), with whom SRH Berlin is connected by the DAAD project “Higher Education Dialogue with the West Balkan region”.

The project offers five mobility tracks to combine the specialisations and strengths of all partners to obtain the highest possible impact on the students and the staff involved. Students will benefit from the highly international composition of the programme, the excellent academic quality and the skill development oriented set up of the programme, which will qualify students for direct employment in cybersecurity companies or in research.

The prestigious aspect of this Master Programme is not only the collaboration of three HEIs in delivering a joint study programme, but also the chance for students with fewer opportunities to pursue a high-level master’s degree: the European Commission funding includes 15 scholarships of 1.400 € per month for each edition of the programme. This financial support allows the scholarship holders to cover accommodation, travel and living costs during the whole two years of studies and exempts them form paying any study fees.

The total funding amounts to 5.484.000 € for the period 2022-2028, of which 450.000 € is allocated to SRH Berlin. The first intake will be in the Winter semester 2023/24.

The Study Programme

CyberMACS is a two-year joint European full-time master program (120 ECTS) with a focus on "Applied Cybersecurity". It provides a solid background in cybersecurity, with a focus on training future cybersecurity experts to detect, prevent, and manage cyberattacks. During the first year, all students will learn the basics of cybersecurity at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. In the second year, students will specialize in one preferred field, by choosing to go either to SRH Berlin or to Ss. Cyril and Methodius University. In addition, participation in winter/summer courses and an internship are mandatory.

At the end of the two years, students will complete their studies will a double degree Diploma according to their destination in the second year of the Master´s.

 

Academic Project Team

Hasan Dag is a full professor in Management Information Systems and head of CCIP at Kadir Has University and has more than 25 years of experience with H-index 6. Prof. Dag supervised 4 PhD theses, and 16 MSc thesis, published 3 book chapters, 25 SCI papers with 114 citations and more than 50 conference papers on computational aspects of power systems. His specific focus of research is on fast and numerically effective solutions to power systems transient stability problems.

Prof. Dr. Creutzburg completed his studies in mathematics and physics at the University of Rostock in 1976 and his doctorate in Math in 1985. He has been a professor of applied computer science at the Technische Hochschule Brandenburg since 1992 and became head of the IT and Media Forensics Laboratory. Especially through his several years of project work, consulting and expert activities in the field of IT security, multimedia signal processing, IT forensics, he gained extensive experience in the implementation of national and international legal norms as well as recognized standards.

Prof. Dimitrova is Vice Dean for Finance and the Coordinator of the Master studies of Security, Cryptography and Coding. She participated in more than 30 international/national projects (Erasmus+ from the H2020 program, COST actions, bilateral project with the People's Republic of China, etc.). She was a chair of one International Conference and a member of program/scientific committee at more than 40 conferences. She has published over 70 scientific papers.

Ivan Chorbev is a Full Professor and Head of the Software Engineering Department at the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering at UKIM. His main interests and activities include Software engineering, Machine learning, ERP systems, Student information systems, Learning management systems, Assistive technologies, eHealth. He served 7 years for two terms as dean of the faculty as a legal entity with 4000 students and 100 employees. He serves as the member of the Board of Directors in the Business Accelerator UKIM representing the major shareholder - the Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (UKIM).
He has published more than 100 research papers in the area of machine learning, medical data mining, telemedicine, assistive technologies, software engineering, heuristic optimization algorithms, combinatorial optimization, etc. He was involved or coordinated in 20 international and national application and research projects funded by TEMPUS, FP6, H2020, Erasmus, COST, Horizon Europe. He has developed and managed digital platforms and information systems for over two decades.

Project development

After the start of the funding period on October 1st 2022, the partner institutions came together at SRH Berlin for the official Kick-off of the project on November 16 and 17, 2022. In this occasion the Consortium Agreement was signed and the timeline for the preparatory year was discussed.  

Erasmus Mundus CyberMACS: the first cohort is ready to start

SRH Berlin is happy to announce that the selection procedure for the very first edition of the Erasmus Mundus Programme CyberMACS is completed. A Joint Selection Committee consisting of the Academic Coordinators and other faculty members of the Consortium partners (Kadir Has University, SRH Berlin University of Applied Science, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University) conducted structured interviews with 74 shortlisted candidates in February and March 2023 and selected the final 32 candidates.

The response to CyberMACS call for applications was impressive: 731 applicants from 67 different countries, of which 334 were eligible for the 3-stage selection procedure. During this stage the Committee reviewed the administrative, language and academic requirements, before moving to the interview stage.

The high number of leads shows how relevant the topics of cyber security and cryptology are on the international market and the great interest for a Master programme like CyberMACS.

The first cohort, who will be starting the programme in September 2023, consists of 32 students, of which 12 women and 20 men. The nationality ratio required by the European Commission allows for a very heterogeneous cohort: 18 different countries will be represented in this first edition.

The Consortium is extremely satisfied with the results and looking forward to the first CyberMACS intake in September.

Ceremonial signing of the Grant Agreement with Prof. Dr. Rainer Creutzburg, Prof. Dr. Ivan Chorbev, Dr. Thorsten Bagschik (Managing Director SRH Berlin), Prof. Hasan Dag (Vice President Kadir Has University), Prof. Dr. Vesna Dimitrova.
Celebrating the start of the project with the digital participation of the other project colleagues in Istanbul and Skopje.

 

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union ot the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.