Exploring the Interdependence Between Higher Education, Cybersecurity, and National Security; Implications for National Sovereignty and Policy Development

Higher education system in any economy whether developing or industrialized is one of the major pillars on which national security stands because, among other factors, it ensures the continuous availability of professionals in critical areas of national security and general development needed from policymaking to execution. In the same vein, national security entails preserving the academia from whom policies, technologies and other beneficial ideologies have emerged, some of which are directly instrumental for (and are indeed indicators of) a country’s strength and continuous success. Cyber security is crucial to every aspect of the economy; it has become one of the highly sought after fields in the discipline of Information and Communication Technology. As a field of research within the academia, it also sustains the educational system directly and through related industries in a chain of complex interdependence, especially for tertiary education. Cyber security also supports e-commerce, nuclear security and warfare, banking, aviation etc. Any breach or failure in a country’s cyber security could cause a breach in the integrity of any of the above-mentioned aspects (and even more) in far-reaching ways, which could negatively impact the sovereignty of a country. A syllogistic connection exists between higher education, cyber security and national security. This connection, albeit direct seemingly, exists in such a manner that the inadequacies in one of these socio-economic aspects could threaten the functionalities and operations of the others in several ways, especially national security. Numerous attempts made both internally and externally to steal classified information, hijack databases/operational systems and data theft has spawned the need for understanding this phenomenon. This paper explores these connections, underlying factors and provides a dialectic explanation therewith. Keywords: Cyber Security, Functionalism, Higher Education, And National Security, Information.