About this course
Police officers are the first responders, the investigators, the front line. In an ever-changing world, they're a key partner in the communities they serve, and they all play a pivotal role – from police constable to chief constable.
Sometimes policing can be the blues-and-twos and chasing criminals, and sometimes it can be methodical detective work, investigation, and building a solid case. Policing isn't really a career you just fall into; it can be gritty and complex, but it can be equal parts impactful, rewarding and life changing.
Supported by our academic team of ex-coppers and law enforcement experts, you'll combine knowledge and theory with hands-on learning to be well-prepared for one of the most challenging – and exciting – jobs that modern society has to offer.
Why choose this course?
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Our links with local forces: you'll be able to get hands on through opportunities to become a special constable, or undertake a placement in police control rooms. -
Our teaching team: our academics have over 150 combined years of experience in law enforcement, with many of them being former police officers. -
Guest speakers: we invite guest speakers from forces across the country to come in and support your learning. -
93% of our Professional Policing students believe the course has improved their career prospects (National Student Survey, 2024).
What you’ll study
Throughout your three years with NTU, you'll combine learning about police powers and the criminal justice system, with hands-on experience as you learn to conduct suspect interviews, and get stuck into the forensics at our on-campus Crime Scene Training Facility.
We'll provide the context of policing in the UK, the role of the police and what makes a modern police officer, alongside in-depth explorations of public protection and community policing. You'll also explore how law enforcement operates in the digital world for which you'll achieve associate membership of the Institute of Cyber and Digital Professionals (ICDP).
Towards the end of your studies, you'll be able to apply your knowledge to a research project focusing on an area of policing that interests you. If you choose to become a special constable or volunteer with a local police force during your time with us, you can apply these experiences to your research project.
Core modules
The Role of the Police
This module will provide you with the rationale for the development of the modern police officer, before examining the functions of the contemporary police service alongside other criminal justice agencies and its governance in England and Wales.
The Criminal Justice System and Crime Investigations 1
You will gain an understanding of the structure and operation of the UK criminal justice system and the role of the police within it. You will also get an introduction to crime investigation techniques such as statement taking for victim and witnesses, evidence gathering at crime scenes the and subsequent management of evidence. The module also includes an introduction to investigative interviewing techniques for suspects utilising police models.
Problem Solving and Decision Making
This module provides students with an introduction to problem solving and decision-making techniques and models as utilised within the police service to make effective decisions at police incidents, and to implement effective evidence-based crime reduction techniques and strategies.
Criminology for Policing
This module provides students with an overview of the evolution of criminological theory, and how it applies to and affects policing in the 21st century. The module offers an understanding of criminological models and how they influence the police and the criminal justice system.
Police Powers 1
During this module you'll begin to develop your portfolio of practical work experiences while under the tutorship of Nottinghamshire Police. You'll also develop a foundation of legal knowledge and IT packages such as 'Niche' and 'NCALT'.
Core modules
Public Protection
You'll gain a critical evaluation of the theme of public protection, concentrating on specific areas of legislation. The module will cover areas such as domestic violence, the management of sexual and violent offenders, vulnerable victims, safeguarding of adults and children and the police approach.
Evidence Based Policing
Crime Investigations 2
This module provides students with additional development from Crime Investigation 1 and further seeks to develop knowledge and understanding of crime investigation techniques, crime scene management, forensic awareness.
Police Intelligence and Community Policing, and Evidence-Based Policing
An introduction to the concepts of police intelligence, intelligence handling and interaction with the community, and partner agencies to effectively police by consent. You'll also explore the concept of evidence based policing and how it informs police decision-making, policy and practice.
Police Powers 2
This module provides students with further enhancement of the students’ knowledge and understanding of key pieces of legislation required for the role of a police constable, and apply them to more complex and sensitive situations within policing following successful completion of Police Powers 1.
Core modules
Digital Policing and Counter Terrorism
You'll critically develop your understanding of digital policing concepts and counter terrorism issues. In this module you will learn specifically how to manipulate digital devices and extract evidence for a policing purpose.
Front Line Policing
You'll further develop your existing knowledge from levels 4 and 5 and focus specifically on front line and road policing issues.
Police Powers 3
An understanding of key pieces of legislation required for the role of a police constable and apply them critically to more complex and sensitive situations within policing, whilst building upon knowledge gained from Police Powers 1 and 2.
Research Project
The ‘Research Project’ is worth 40 credits and provides you with the opportunity to apply your knowledge to a large-scale academic project on a specific area of policing which you select. You'll bring together the various skills developed through the BA (Hons) Professional Policing syllabus as well as their research methods skills and apply this to a theoretical policing issue. The module consolidates a large number of transferable skills and are the pinnacle of students attained research skills and abilities as an autonomous learner.
We regularly review and update our course content based on student and employer feedback, ensuring that all of our courses remain current and relevant. This may result in changes to module content or module availability in future years.
Don’t just take our word for it, hear from our students themselves
Hear from our students and staff
How you're taught
To provide you with a first-class learning experience and to guarantee you have an opportunity to make the most of your time at university, you'll receive contact time through a diverse range of delivery methods. Structured teaching will be delivered through a combination of traditional lectures, seminars, workshops and police-delivered training sessions. The smaller group seminars and workshops provide opportunities to develop your problem-solving skills, group working and your analysis, debating and presentation skills. They also give you the chance to get involved in discussions about a wide range of views.
Tutorials with staff
As the relationship between students and tutors is an important one you can expect to have lots of direct contact and support through seminars and one-to-one tutorials. At these sessions, you'll have the opportunity to discuss and gain feedback about your work, ask questions about the projects you're working on and raise any difficulties you are experiencing relating to your work, personal circumstances or your university experience.
Virtual learning environment
You'll use our virtual learning environment, NOW, which is a flexible web-based system that allows you to have 24-hour access to module learning materials and reading lists. It allows you to discuss work with tutors and other students, and submit coursework electronically from anywhere in the world.
Learning from experts
You'll be taught by enthusiastic, engaged and expert staff. The course team have experience in police training, practice and research, providing you with a unique and innovative insight into the world of policing.
How will I be assessed?
During the course, you'll be assessed in a variety of ways, such as: in class mock exams, draft report plans, role-play or practice scenario simulations, individual / group presentations and individual / group case study or practice-based exercise. In your final year, you'll combine this with a dissertation / independent study project. In response to student feedback the University have introduced a policy ensuring marked work is returned to you electronically within three weeks of submission.
How you're assessed
- Year 1 coursework, written and practical
- Year 2 coursework and practical
- Year 3 coursework and practical
Contact hours
Throughout your studies, your teaching will be a mixture of in-person teaching and independent study. You will have around 9-12 hours per week of contact time with our teaching staff, consisting of lectures, seminars, workshops and one-to-one supervision meetings. Approximately 95% of this teaching is in-person, with the remaining time being online drop ins or support sessions. Overall, contact time makes up around 30% of a full-time week, while the remaining 70% of your time will be devoted to independent study.
- Year 1 lectures/seminars/workshops, independent study
- Year 2 lectures/seminars/workshops, independent study
- Year 3 lectures/seminars/workshops, independent study
Careers and employability
Your career development
43 regional forces cover England and Wales, with specialist forces protecting our rail networks, civilian nuclear facilities, defence assets and providing air support. Many of you undertaking this course will be interested in becoming a police officer in one of these areas, and our course is designed to prepare you to do just that.
Equally, your future may not lie in the UK. International students are a core part of our student body, and our course can provide new perspectives that prepare you to start a policing career in another country.
Outside of the traditional policing roles, some of our graduates have also embarked on successful careers in related services such as His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service, the Security Services, or in non-policing law enforcement roles. This is down to the essential skills and knowledge they developed during the course, such as communication and expert problem solving, along with use of information technology to gather, analyse, evaluate, and present data.
Our Employability Team
We have a dedicated Employability team located on the City Campus. The team are well placed to give you specialist guidance and practical help that will really make a difference to your prospects once you do graduate.
Campus and facilities
You’ll mainly be studying in the Chaucer and Newton buildings, at the centre of our vibrant City Campus. As well as a range of classrooms and lecture theatres, the facilities including a mock prison cell, banks of open-access PCs, social spaces for either quiet study or busy group work.
As part of your learning, you’ll also have the opportunity to head over to our Clifton Campus and make use of the Crime Scene Training Facility.
NTU’s City Campus has everything you’ll need to stay busy between lectures. As well as the Boots Library and its beautiful roof garden, there’s our stylish Students’ Union building and two-storey, 100-station gym; a whole host of cafés, bars, restaurants and food outlets for every taste; our much-loved Global Lounge; performance and rehearsal spaces for musicians; and much, much more!
Take a few steps off campus and you’ll find yourself in the heart of Nottingham — one of Britain’s top 10 student cities, and one of Europe’s top 25. It’s stuffed with history, culture, and well-kept secrets to discover at your leisure. Enjoy lush green spaces, galleries, hidden cinemas and vintage shopping by day, and an acclaimed food, drink and social scene by night.
Take our virtual tour to get a real feel for the campus.
Entry requirements
UK students
Standard offer: 104 UCAS Tariff points from up to four qualifications
Contextual offer: 96 UCAS Tariff points from up to four qualifications
To find out what qualifications have tariff points, please use our tariff calculator.
Additional requirements for UK students
Becoming a Special Constable (optional practice placement)
Becoming a Special Constable is something that some of our students decide to do, but is an optional element of the course.
In order to undertake either the special constable or police volunteer streams within the course, you will be subject to further eligibility checks which are separate from/additional to the course entry requirements. In particular, for those wishing to undertake the Special Constable role:
- Candidates will need to satisfy a number of pre-employment checks such as security and financial vetting, biometric and drug testing, and a medical examination;
- Candidates will be required to complete each stage of the recruitment policy such as competency-based questions, an interview and a physical fitness test.
Contextual offers
If you don’t quite meet our entry requirements, we might be able to make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (such as where you live and the school or college you attended), your experiences and your individual circumstances (you may have been in care, for example). This is called a contextual offer, and we get data from UCAS to help make these decisions. We do this because we believe everyone with the potential to succeed at NTU should have the opportunity to do so, no matter what barriers you may face.
Meeting our entry requirements
Hundreds of qualifications in the UK have UCAS Tariff points attached to specific grades, including A-levels, BTECs, T Levels and many more. You can use your grades and points from up to four different qualifications to meet our criteria. Enter your predicted or achieved grades into our Tariff calculator to find out how many points your qualifications are worth.
Other qualifications and experience
NTU welcomes applications from students with non-standard qualifications and learning backgrounds, either for year one entry or for advanced standing beyond the start of a course into year 2 or beyond.
We consider study and/or credit achieved from a similar course at another institution (otherwise known as credit transfer), vocational and professional qualifications, and broader work or life experience.
Our Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer Policy outlines the process and options available for this route. If you wish to apply via Recognition of Prior Learning, please contact the central Admissions and Enquiries Team who will be able to support you through the process.
Getting in touch
If you need more help or information, get in touch through our enquiry form.
International students
Academic entry requirements: 104 UCAS Tariff points from up to four A levels. We accept equivalent qualifications from all over the world. Please check your international entry requirements by country.
English language requirements: See our English language requirements page for requirements for your subject and information on alternative tests and Pre-sessional English.
Additional requirements for international students
Becoming a Special Constable (optional practice placement)
Becoming a Special Constable is something that some of our students decide to do, but is an optional element of the course.
In order to undertake either the special constable or police volunteer streams within the course, you will be subject to further eligibility checks which are separate from/additional to the course entry requirements. In particular, for those wishing to undertake the Special Constable role:
- Candidates will need to satisfy a number of pre-employment checks such as security and financial vetting, biometric and drug testing, and a medical examination;
- Candidates will be required to complete each stage of the recruitment policy such as competency-based questions, an interview and a physical fitness test.
There are restrictions on who can apply to be a Special Constable. Applications can only be accepted if you are a national of a country within the European Economic Area (EEA) or, if not, have leave to enter or remain in the UK for an indefinite period free of restrictions.
Countries included in the EEA are:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
English language requirements
View our English language requirements for all courses, including alternative English language tests and country qualifications accepted by the University.
If you need help achieving the language requirements, we offer a Pre-Sessional English for Academic Purposes course on our City campus which is an intensive preparation course for academic study at NTU.
Other qualifications and experience
If you have the right level of qualifications, you may be able to start your Bachelors degree at NTU in year 2 or year 3. This is called ‘advanced standing’ entry and is decided on a case-by case basis after our assessment of your qualifications and experience.
You can view our Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer Policy which outlines the process and options available, such as recognising experiential learning and credit transfer.
Sign up for emails
Sign up to receive regular emails from the International Office. You'll hear about our news, scholarships and any upcoming events in your country with our expert regional teams.
Getting in touch
If you need advice about studying at NTU as an international student or how to apply, our international webpages are a great place to start. If you have any questions about your study options, your international qualifications, experience, grades or other results, please get in touch through our enquiry form. Our international teams are highly experienced in answering queries from students all over the world.
Policies
We strive to make our admissions procedures as fair and clear as possible. To find out more about how we make offers, visit our admissions policies page.
