A Framework for Cybersecurity Education and Certification in Africa, An OER-Enabled Postgraduate Framework

South Africa faces a pressing cybersecurity workforce shortage, with 70% of organizations identifying the skills gap as their greatest cyber risk. This challenge reflects a broader shortage across Africa, where limited access to practical training further constrains cyber-capacity development. Postgraduate programmes are well positioned to respond but are often theory-heavy, certification-light and lack operational exposure. This research proposes an open educational resource (OER)-enabled postgraduate framework tailored for African higher education institutions. The model integrates academic rigor, industry certifications and OERs to bridge capability gaps. Benchmarking against international standards such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity and the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) European Cybersecurity Skills Framework (ECSF) guided the design. The outcome is a scalable, cost-effective framework aimed at producing globally competitive African graduates who combine theoretical depth with practical, industry-ready expertise.