The State Board of Education unanimously approved the move with little discussion Wednesday morning.
The UI began an undergraduate program in cybersecurity last year and, according to a press release from the university, enrollment in the program has grown "exponentially." The school is currently on track to launch a doctorate program in the field as well.
Job openings in cybersecurity have increased 160 percent since 2015 in Idaho alone, the release said, yet the UI's program is one of few in the region.
Last year, the UI and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories began a $2.5 million partnership to support the school's cybersecurity program for the next five years.
The university participates in the CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service program, which covers tuition and fees for cybersecurity students and offers stipends of as much as $25,000 for undergraduates and $34,000 for graduate students.
©2021 the Moscow-Pullman Daily News (Moscow, Idaho). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
