Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity Operations and Infrastructure Defence
Uganda is digitising public services, payments and identity faster than it is producing people who can defend the infrastructure underneath them, and the shortage is most acute not in policy but in hands on defensive operations: the engineers who harden a network, run a security operations centre, ...
Employment thesis
What this programme is designed to produce
Forward publishes the destination of every programme before you enrol. If the thesis stops holding, the programme is reviewed and, where necessary, retired. Next review: 2032.
Roles
- Security operations analyst
- incident responder
- network and infrastructure defence engineer
- security engineer
- penetration tester and red team operator
- detection engineer
- cloud security engineer
- security automation engineer
- digital forensics analyst
- security consultant
Employer types
- Banks
- insurers and mobile money operators
- telecommunications operators
- managed security service providers
- government digital
- identity and defence agencies
- critical infrastructure operators
- regional and global technology firms
- audit and consulting firms
- international organisations
- the graduate's own venture, incubated through the Forward Venture Studio
Target outcomes we hold ourselves to
- This programme targets the upper decile of graduate technology compensation in East Africa and is explicitly designed for remote employment by international employers at international rates. Progression routes include the MSc in Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics and doctoral study.
Compulsory · The Forward Core
How the Core works →Every Forward programme, including this one, carries the same five cross-cutting requirements. They are graded, not optional.
- AI Fluency
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Ethics and African Context
- Human-Advantage Skills
- Enterprise
Includes 12 months paid work-integrated learning
Students complete COP 190 Workplace Immersion in the Year 1 recess term, COP 290 Co-operative Education Placement I (six months, paid, assessed) and COP 390 Co-operative Education Placement II (six months, paid, assessed), totalling not fewer than twelve months. Placement hosts are contracted by the Co-operative Education Office. The employer completes a structured capability assessment carrying 40 to 50 per cent of the placement mark and signs the capability claims that enter the Capability Passport. Online students are placed with accredited hosts in their own city or country under remote academic supervision, or have their existing employment accredited as the placement site under Part D4. Read the co-op commitment
Am I eligible?
Check yourself against the published requirements
7 questions written specifically for Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity Operations and Infrastructure Defence. Every answer is checked against a requirement Forward has published, and the result tells you which page that requirement comes from. Indicative only, the admissions office decides on your full file.
What is the highest qualification you hold or are completing?
Curriculum structure
The same degree, in both pathways
Every Forward programme is published in both pathways: Path One, the term plan of two six-month terms, and Path Two, the block sequence of twelve four-week blocks. Same competencies, same assessments, same award. Toggle to see this programme in each.
Path One term plan shown
Path One · The Term Model
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 101 | AI Fluency I: How Intelligent Systems Work Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| BCID 110 | Networks and Protocols Performance | 5 | 2-2-4 |
| BCID 111 | Systems and Operating System Security Objective | 4 | 3-2-0 |
| BCID 112 | Programming for Security Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BCID 113 | Foundations of Cryptography Both | 4 | 2-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 102 | Quantitative Reasoning and Evidence Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| BCID 130 | Threat Landscape and Adversary Behaviour Performance | 5 | 2-2-4 |
| BCID 131 | Secure Systems Administration Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BCID 132 | Web and Application Security Objective | 4 | 3-2-0 |
| BCID 133 | Defensive Architecture and Network Hardening Both | 4 | 2-2-2 |
| COP 190 | Workplace Immersion (4 weeks, recessterm) Performance | 0 | 0-0-0 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 201 | Ethics, Society and the African Context Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| BCID 210 | Security Operations and Monitoring I Performance | 5 | 2-2-4 |
| BCID 211 | Digital Forensics and Incident Analysis Both | 4 | 2-2-2 |
| BCID 212 | Detection Engineering and Threat Hunting Performance | 4 | 2-2-4 |
| BCID 213 | Offensive Security and Authorised Testing Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 202 | Human Advantage: Argument, Writing and Teams Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| COP 290 | Co-operative Education Placement I (6 months) Performance | 10 | 0-0-0 |
| BCID 230 | Cloud and Platform Security Performance | 6 | 3-2-4 |
| BCID 231 | Security Operations and Monitoring II Both | 2 | 1-0-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 301 | AI Fluency II: Building, Evaluating and Auditing Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| BCID 310 | Incident Command and Crisis Response Performance | 6 | 3-2-4 |
| BCID 311 | Identity, Access and Zero Trust Engineering Performance | 5 | 2-2-4 |
| BCID 312 | Malware Analysis and Reverse Engineering Performance | 5 | 2-2-4 |
| BCID 313 | Security Automation and Infrastructure as Code Both | 2 | 1-0-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 302 | Enterprise, Employability and Financial Literacy Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| COP 390 | Co-operative Education Placement II (6 months) Performance | 10 | 0-0-0 |
| BCID 330 | Governance, Risk and Compliance Performance | 5 | 2-2-4 |
| BCID 331 | Cyber Law, Evidence and the Data Protection Act Both | 3 | 1-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 401 | AI Fluency III: Domain Deployment, Governance and Assurance Both | 3 | 1-2-0 |
| BCID 410 | Critical Infrastructure and Operational Technology Security Performance | 6 | 3-2-4 |
| BCID 411 | AI for Defence and Adversarial Machine Learning Performance | 5 | 2-2-4 |
| BCID 412 | Advanced Red and Blue Team Operations Both | 4 | 2-2-2 |
| BCID 413 | Security Specialisation Elective I Objective | 4 | 3-2-0 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 402 | Capability Portfolio and Day One Preparation Both | 3 | 1-2-0 |
| BCID 430 | Security Capstone: Defend a Real Client Environment Performance | 9 | 0-2-16 |
| BCID 431 | Threat Intelligence and Attribution Both | 4 | 2-2-2 |
| BCID 432 | Security Specialisation Elective II Objective | 3 | 2-2-0 |
| BCID 433 | Professional Practice and Security Leadership Objective | 3 | 2-2-0 |
Total credit units: 176
Curriculum source
Forward University Curriculum Compendium
Assessment
Assessment follows Part E without variation. Across the programme the aggregate weighting is 35 per cent continuous assessment and built artefacts, 25 per cent authentic performance including practical examination and oral defence, 30 per cent external practitioner assessment in the final year, and not more than 40 per cent written examination in any single course. The capstone is client verified and the Day One Assessment contributes 5 per cent of the final year mark. Assessment principles. Assessment is authentic, criterion referenced and, for every capability claim above Level 2, verified by someone other than the teaching lecturer. There is no compensation between competencies: a student must master each one, and a marginal performance in one cannot be offset by strength in another. Feedback is returned quickly, within seven days of a block closing in the Block Sequence, so that it can inform the next unit. A student who does not yet meet the standard is given a further, structured attempt under Part E rather than being carried forward, which protects the value of the award while supporting progression. Reasonable adjustments for disability are made under Part D without altering the competency standard.
Work-integrated learning
Students complete COP 190 Workplace Immersion in the Year 1 recess term, COP 290 Co-operative Education Placement I (six months, paid, assessed) and COP 390 Co-operative Education Placement II (six months, paid, assessed), totalling not fewer than twelve months. Placement hosts are contracted by the Co-operative Education Office. The employer completes a structured capability assessment carrying 40 to 50 per cent of the placement mark and signs the capability claims that enter the Capability Passport. Online students are placed with accredited hosts in their own city or country under remote academic supervision, or have their existing employment accredited as the placement site under Part D4.
Your week at Forward
A typical week on Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity Operations and Infrastructure Defence
Path One, the Term Model: your own pace across a six-month term, one live session a week, short flexible lessons, and assessment on demand.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Curriculum explorer
Drill into the degree, step by step
Choose a study path, then a year, then a term or block, then a course. Credit totals add up as you go, and every course shows what comes before it and what it unlocks.
Step 1, choose a year
Step 2, choose a term
TERM 1 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY YEAR 1, SEMESTER 1 | YEAR 1 | 22
Year 1 · this step is worth 22 CU
Cumulative
22
Programme total
176
22 CU of 176 CU completed by the end of this step (13%)
Step 3, choose a course
Pick a course to see the detail
Credits, assessment, prerequisites and what each course unlocks later.
The twelve Forward capabilities
What this programme develops in you
Every Forward degree develops the same twelve cross-cutting capabilities. The profile below is the level this programme is designed to develop and verify by graduation, on the four-level scale in Part B2 of the Curriculum Compendium. Every claim above Level 2 is verified by someone other than the teaching lecturer.
- C1Intelligent Systems Fluency CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C2Quantitative and Evidential ReasoningLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C3Ethical and Contextual JudgementLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C4Communication and PersuasionLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C5Disciplinary Mastery CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C6Technical Production and Craft CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C7Problem Framing and Systems Thinking CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C8Collaboration and Multidisciplinary TeamingLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C9Enterprise, Value and Commercial LiteracyLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C10Professional Conduct and Workplace PerformanceLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C11Learning to Learn and Adaptive CapacityLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C12Stewardship and Public ContributionLevel 3 of 4, Independent
Critical capabilities for this programme: Intelligent Systems Fluency · Disciplinary Mastery · Technical Production and Craft · Problem Framing and Systems Thinking. A graduate cannot pass out of this programme below the stated level on any capability marked critical.
Programme Learning Outcomes
What you will be able to do
Each outcome is assessed, and each is tagged with the Forward capabilities it is verified against.
- PLO 1Design, harden and C0 defend an enterprise network and its endpoints against a realistic adversary, and justify each control against the threat it addresses.
- PLO 2Build and operate a C0, C5, C6 security operations capability: logging, detection engineering, alerting, triage and measured coverage.
- PLO 3Command a live incident end to end: containment, eradication, recover and the report a board would act on.
- PLO 4Conduct authorise offensive testing within a strict legal and ethical framework, and report findings so that they are remediated.
- PLO 5Secure cloud an platform infrastructur including identi configuration and supply chain, to a defensible baseline.
- PLO 6Conduct a defensible digital forens investigation that would survive scrutiny, stating the limits of what can be concluded.
- PLO 7Quantify an communicate security risk to a non technica audience and defend a prioritised remediation budget.
- PLO 8Apply Ugandan an regional law and the Data Protection an Privacy Act to security operations and evidence handling.
- PLO 9Automate defensive tasks and integrate assistance into operations while retaining human decision authority.
- PLO 10Acquire and demonstrate a new security capability in this fast moving field without formal instruction, evidenced in t Capability Passport.
Why this programme exists
Uganda is digitising public services, payments and identity faster than it is producing people who can defend the infrastructure underneath them, and the shortage is most acute not in policy but in hands on defensive operations: the engineers who harden a network, run a security operations centre, respond to a live intrusion and rebuild a compromised system. The region's degree programmes teach security as a set of lectures and a written examination, and produce graduates who have never defended anything. This programme is built the other way round. From Year 1 the student defends real systems on a monitored range, and every year terminates in an operational capability that an employer's security team would recognise. It is deliberately distinct from the School's digital trust degree: this is the operations and infrastructure track, weighted towards the blue team, the network and the incident.
Admission requirements
Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education with two principal passes including Mathematics, and at least a subsidiary pass in Physics, Computer Studies, Economics or another quantitative subject; plus Uganda Certificate of Education with five passes including Mathematics and English. Applicants additionally sit a structured logical reasoning and problem framing task at admission, scored against Capabilities C2 and C7. Equivalent international qualifications are assessed against this profile. All applicants must demonstrate competence in English, the language of instruction, through their qualifications or an approved proficiency test under Part A. International and non standard qualifications are assessed for equivalence against the profile above under the Credential Portability provisions, so that a suitably prepared applicant may enter from anywhere in the world. Selection considers the whole application, including the structured admission task, and is conducted without discrimination under the University's admissions policy. Alternative pathways: Foundation Year, diploma entry with advanced standing, mature age entry and recognition of prior learning, all governed by Part A5 and Part G. Online applicants additionally complete the compulsory Digital Readiness orientation under Part D6.
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