POLICING

Professionally licensed

Our Professional Policing degree will prepare you for the challenges of modern policing and related professions. We are professionally licensed by the College of Policing to deliver a pre-join degree in professional policing, based upon the national curriculum for the police constable role. It doesn’t guarantee you entry to a police force when you graduate, but you can apply to your chosen force with this qualification and have shorter on-the-job training if you’re successful.

Reputation for excellence

Our Professional Policing degree will prepare you for the challenges of modern Policing. The Police Service is full of opportunity and varied roles, from Police Constables to Fraud Investigators, and Intelligence Analysts through to Detectives. We have designed this Course with employability at its Core, to expose our graduates to fantastic opportunities in the Criminal Justice System. We are licensed by the College of Policing to deliver the Pre-Join Degree in Professional Policing; which means that your course will cover the National Policing Curriculum. This Course will enable you to learn about the challenging role of Policing, and it will act as a steppingstone for you to be successful in your Policing Career. ​

Producing highly sought-after graduates ready to enter the policing profession is what USW has been doing for more than three decades. ​

Our teaching team includes experienced former police staff who bring a wealth of operational knowledge, having held ranks from Constable to Chief Constable. Alongside operationally-experienced staff are other academics who are at the cutting edge of research into key areas such as community policing, counter terrorism, cybercrime, digital policing, police governance and accountability, radicalisation, misogyny, domestic abuse and sexual violence. ​

Outstanding facilities

Facilities for Policing students at USW are outstanding. We truly believe that you can’t learn everything in the Classroom! This is why we have invested in our facilities, because we know that they’ll help you put your knowledge into practice in realistic settings. The Facilities that students will use on our Course include the Crime Scene House, Mock Court Room and Hydra Minerva. You’ll use the latest technologies that replicate frontline police work and facilities that recreate crime scenes, which will enable you to conduct mock crime investigations. These facilities and activities will enable you to be career ready!

Our Crime Scene House facility provides students with a real-world simulated environment as it contains a number of realistic crime scene simulations – from executing warrant, to dealing with domestic burglaries, to more complex scenes such as homicides and kidnappings.  Our students are provided with amazing opportunities to develop practical skills such as securing and preserving a crime scene, handling and transporting evidence, and being able to identify forensic evidence such as fingerprints, footprints and blood splatter.

We are one of the few universities in the world to have an integrated immersive learning facility – the Hydra Simulation Centre. The Simulation Centre allows you to experience incidents in a safe learning environment, where you can test your ability to make decisions, take action and see the consequences. You can practice dealing with realistic scenarios such as major crime enquiries, which can help to develop your skills in readiness for dealing with critical incidents. This Centre means that USW students use exactly the same system that police forces use to train their staff to be more effective officers.

Collaboration and Employability​

The University of South provides specialist education to Police Officers across 7 forces in England and one in Wales. This makes us the only university to provide police education and training across both England and Wales. The Police Services that we are partnered include South Wales Police, Gwent Police, Dyfed Powys Police, Devon and Cornwall Police, Dorset Police, Gloucestershire Constabulary, Wiltshire Police. Our links with these partnered Forces can enable you to capitalise on our fantastic employability opportunities, which include the chance to join the Special Constabulary and other volunteering roles within Policing and the Criminal Justice System.  ​

We recognise that attending University is an investment for you, and it should be a springboard into your chosen career. We work closely with our industry partners to ensure that our teaching practices and assessments are realistic, authentic, and prepare you for your future career. Furthermore, we have an award-winning careers service which will support you in progressing your employment potential through career coaching and find you graduate jobs, placements and career opportunities.

CRIMINOLOGY

Innovative learning and cutting-edge research

Trying to understand crime and criminality is something of a societal obsession. We live in a world whereby crime is frequently depicted through movies, dramas, documentaries, news and Social media.  Our Courses in Criminology will allow you to asks questions about the causes and consequences of crime.  The Course will enable you to become an expert on Crime and the function of the criminal justice system in England and Wales. There is no doubt that you’ll develop skills for a range of careers – from Policing and Prisons, to Probation and Rehabilitation, as well as roles in fighting fraud in the public and private sector or influencing Government policy.

Our internationally recognised and renowned teaching team, will mean that you will be taught by some of the best in the business. Our criminology students are taught by a team of active researchers with expertise in homicide and violence, youth justice, policing, drug use, crime prevention, Probation and more. Criminology at USW has an established record of excellence in teaching and research, and this is because we ensure that the content you are taught is current, stimulating and informed by our research.​

Careers and Employability ​

Understanding crime and criminality is a complex undertaking. There is a wealth of career opportunities for those interested in preventing crime and offending, and also for those who are responsible for dealing with the fallout. The Criminology Courses at USW offers students the chance to explore specific career-focused pathways, such as Probation, Youth Justice, Psychology. Our Courses provides our graduates with skills, knowledge and opportunities that will improve their graduate opportunities and prospects. ​

There is a strong demand for jobs in the criminal justice and penal sector. For example, His Majesty’s Probation Service (HMPS) has developed a Probation Workforce Strategy to recruit skilled people into Probation Officer roles, the police services in in England and Wales are also currently recruiting, along with other organisation in the Criminal Justice System, such as Prisons and third-sector.  To put it bluntly, the Criminal Justice sector is screaming out for people like you! And that is why we have designed our Courses with over 40 industry partners, so that you will graduate with the skills and knowledge you need for employment. ​

We also support you to find voluntary work placements while you study. These are a great way to get relevant experience on your CV. Opportunities include working with criminal justice agencies, third sector organisations, Welsh Government, Women’s Aid, Youth Service, and the police.​

Beyond the lecture theatre, our degrees will give the opportunity to learn in technology-enhanced and innovative ways, including crime scene simulations and working on real world investigations.

Cold Case Unit

USW is the only university in Wales and the southwest to operate a Cold Case Unit. Our students have the opportunity to gain first-hand experience working on missing person’s investigations and cold cases.​

Working alongside Locate International, students are involved in all aspects of an investigation. Our aim is to develop successful students who can demonstrate leadership in the professions and promote active citizenship in their communities.​

Miscarriage of Justice Project

As part of the Innocence Project, set up in collaboration with other universities, USW students examine real live cases, where potential miscarriages of justice have taken place.​

Under supervision, students review cases where those convicted of crimes claim their innocence and have been unable to receive legal aid or fund lawyers to take on their case. On behalf of clients, students try to establish whether there is any new evidence that would give reasonable grounds for appeal, and they investigate and respond to the questions clients raise in connection to their conviction.​