The United States Naval Academy academic dean and provost Andrew Phillips wants cybersecurity accredited as a major.

According to Navy Times, Phillips would like to see the major added “by the time the academy’s first cybersecurity students graduate in 2016.”

The academy is organizing a grassroots effort with other colleges and universities interested in creating accreditation criteria in consultation with ABET, a leading nonprofit accrediting agency for the disciplines of applied science, computing and engineering. Phillips said about 60 people from around the nation met to discuss cybersecurity accreditation during an ABET meeting in Arlington, Va., in July, and follow-up meetings are planned.

… There currently are no ABET-accredited college degrees in cybersecurity. Accreditation by ABET is a way for academic institutions to demonstrate that their programs are performing at a level required by the professions they serve.

“Our goal is to try to get criteria in place in two years, which aligns with our graduating class of 2016,” Phillips recently told Navy Times.

A total of 30 students from the class of 2016 are majoring in cyber operations, with that number doubled for the class of 2017, Navy Times reported.