Monash, CyberCX launch three-year CyberAI degree as AI changes threat landscape

The course will equip graduates with technical skills and real-world experience to boost sovereign cyber capability.

A new three-year Bachelor of CyberAI (Industry Co-Lab) degree has been launched by Monash University, with CyberCX co-designing and co-delivering the new course.

The degree is designed to equip graduates with technical skills and industry experience to tackle emerging threats and help strengthen Australia's sovereign cybersecurity capability.

Monash University vice-chancellor and president, professor Sharon Pickering, said the CyberAI degree will prepare graduates with the specialised skills and industry experience to help Australia build a secure, resilient and AI-ready digital future.

“This degree will see Australian students learning from leading researchers and industry professionals as they apply cutting edge knowledge directly into the cybersecurity industry,” said Pickering.

Available to domestic students from Semester 1 2027, the three-year degree will prepare graduates to work at the intersection of cybersecurity and AI, helping address the talent shortage in one of the technology sector’s fastest-growing fields.

Monash has also introduced a new Bachelor of AI and Bachelor Agentic Software Engineering degrees, and the ‘AI for Everyone’ elective unit available to all students across Monash.

The first year of the CyberAI degree will focus on developing foundational capabilities in secure systems, cybersecurity operations and AI-enabled technologies. It will also teach students how to design and manage solutions in partner organisations with real-world environments.

A key feature of the CyberAI degree is the industry immersion model, where students will be connected with partner organisations for industry-immersed learning during the second and third year of the course. This includes supervised, curriculum-aligned activities with CyberCX.

Students will also receive support from the CyberCX Academy through preparation seminars and dedicated feedback on their applications to give them the best possible success to start their cyber AI career.

The course will provide an online Secure AI Lab learning environment jointly developed by Monash and CyberCX, and emphasise responsible and secure AI practice, including ethics, privacy, governance and risk management.

CyberCX will also create a pathway for Monash Cyber AI students into the CyberCX Academy, with up to 15 positions available each year subject to suitability and workforce needs.

The new course is intended to support the Government’s National AI Plan by helping to build a pipeline of graduates with the expertise to protect AI systems from threats and misuse and respond to cyber attacks at speed.

“Developing skilled talent has never been more important in cybersecurity with the rapid adoption of frontier AI models accelerating the cyber challenges facing our industry and economy,” said CyberCX CEO John Paitaridis.

Paitaridis cited Accenture research, showing that almost half of all cybersecurity roles remain unfulfilled globally due to skills gaps.

“Filling these roles through the training of an AI-ready cyber workforce is our best defence as we face a deteriorating cyber threat landscape,” he said.