Learning

The Centre offers Learning Pathways specifically aimed at policing that can be used to support Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Different learning pathways can be planned according to your aims and interests. These pathways can improve your skills and knowledge, impact on your practice, and aid your career progression across ranks, roles and police specialisms.

Free and informal Learning

Free, bite-sized informal online short courses, known as Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are available over the internet to use anywhere, anytime, and by anyone. They are easily accessible via a laptop, tablet or smartphone. These short courses can be used to support CPD by providing more knowledge in a particular area, prepare you for future study, or just to satisfy your personal interest.

Courses

There are a variety of credit-bearing courses that can provide an ideal starting point to develop your study skills, build confidence or improve your knowledge within a specific subject. These are fee-paying academic modules that can be studied on a standalone basis, or can be used as an integral part of an Open University (OU) Degree or Postgraduate Qualification, thus allowing you to try out the OU style of learning and get a taste of your chosen subject.

Undergraduate

Obtaining a Degree can enhance your CPD and allow you to progress to higher levels of study. There are a variety of structured Honours Degrees (BSc or BA) that focus upon a particular subject (e.g., Law, Psychology, Technology, Management and Business). Alternatively, there is an Open Degree qualification that is flexible enough to allow you to choose subject modules to study in a variety of combinations. This degree gives you the opportunity to build a qualification that is unique to you..

Postgraduate

There are a number of Postgraduate Qualifications ranging from Diplomas and Certificates through to Masters Degrees. The topics include Business and Management, Systems Thinking and Technology, including our highly regarded, triple-accredited MBA programme. Our intention is to add more policing-based courses in the future.

MPhil and PhD Research

A PhD is a Doctorate of Philosophy, a prestigious qualification that is based on in-depth research on a particular topic supervised by an academic and resulting in a written thesis of up to 100K words. Completing a PhD demonstrates talent, research excellence and a thirst for knowledge. At various times of the year the Centre for Policing Research and Learning offers PhD studentships to police officers and staff whose force belongs to the Consortium.