Editor
Dinesh Raj chevron_right
Check Point Software Technologies has signed a partnership with Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore to build its cybersecurity coursework into a diploma programme, a move aimed at the region's widening shortage of security professionals.
The agreement, set out in a memorandum of understanding with the polytechnic's School of InfoComm Technology, folds Check Point's SecureAcademy curriculum into the Diploma in Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics. From the April 2026 semester, about 100 students will be the first to take an enhanced Network Security module built around the Check Point Certified System Administrator (CCSA) certification.
The timing tracks a sharp rise in demand. Check Point cites industry data putting the Asia-Pacific shortfall at more than 3.4 million cybersecurity professionals. In Singapore, it points to a 57 percent year-on-year jump in cybersecurity job postings, the largest in three years, with specialised roles such as security architects and analysts seeing demand climb more than 250 percent as companies push further into artificial intelligence.
By embedding the CCSA certification into the diploma, the programme moves students past theory into hands-on work with firewall technologies, VPNs, malware protection, security monitoring, network architecture and encryption. Graduates leave with a credential that enterprises recognise, which is the point of putting a vendor certification inside a public diploma.
Check Point is providing a grant it values at S$60,000. It covers:
- CCSA courseware and access to more than 10 certification courses
- Enterprise software licences for the hands-on lab environments
- An 85 percent discount on exam fees, cutting the cost from S$300 to S$45 per student
- Training for Ngee Ann lecturers, run by Check Point staff
- Virtual events that connect students to the wider security community
"Through strategic partnerships with global cybersecurity leaders, we deliver an industry-aligned education that gives our students a distinctive edge," said Dr Joel Yang, Director of the School of InfoComm Technology at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. He said the goal is learning environments that mirror how security teams actually work, so students build both the skills and the confidence to protect enterprise systems.
Rebecca Law, Country Manager for Check Point in Singapore, framed the tie-up as a route from classroom to industry, with graduates leaving fluent in the tools enterprises use and holding recognised certifications before they enter the workforce. Check Point has said it may expand the Ngee Ann curriculum over time.
SecureAcademy is Check Point's academic programme for higher-learning institutions, which fold its security tools into existing courses to lift students' knowledge of the field. The company says its technology protects more than 100,000 organisations worldwide.
For readers in Malaysia, the programme itself is a Singapore initiative with no local enrolment on offer. Its relevance is the trend behind it: the same talent gap and the same drive to certify job-ready graduates run right across the region, and vendor-backed curricula are becoming a common way to close it.
