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University Partnerships

Close partnerships with academic institutions are fundamental to both
the Institute and the wider security sector. The promotion and take-up of
advanced qualifications in security are central to the professionalisation
of our discipline. They are essential to the development of career
pathways by aligning education with sector requirements, to the
recruitment of well-qualified security personnel from a variety
of backgrounds, and to capacity-building within the professional
community in areas ranging from the mentoring of individual personnel
to knowledge creation and thought leadership. We also significantly
value and benefit from the academics attracted into our membership,
speaking at our learning events, and sharing their expertise as our
volunteers, and fully recognise the importance of the ‘triple helix’ model
of government-industry-academia interactions: an established, universal
framework for the development of an innovative, knowledge-based
society.

University affiliations are a substantial and ever-growing dimension
of the Security Institute’s work. Since its formation, the Institute has
championed qualifications as one of the key routes to membership and
the upgrading of membership status through our Validation process.
The Institute has long had academic representation on the board of
directors, and formal partnerships with academic institutions since
the Certificate and Diploma courses were accredited at Levels 3 and 5
in 2010. Following this milestone, distance learning degree providers
(Buckinghamshire New University and the Universities of Leicester,
Portsmouth and South Wales) began awarding credit exemptions
to holders of the Diploma and promoting and sponsoring student
membership of the Institute. The Institute also celebrates academic
excellence annually through its Academic Achievement Award in honour
of Wilf Knight, awarded to the best dissertation among entries specially
selected by each participating institution.

Recent years have seen the Institute establish important new
partnerships in advanced leadership and management education.
Following a successful collaboration with Northumbria University to
embed security modules in its MBA programme, over the last two years
we have been working closely with Cranfield University to establish a
new MSc in Business and Strategic Leadership for the Security Sector,
which admitted its first students in September. Both courses are
available as Level 7 degree apprenticeships, significantly reducing the
cost to participants. The last year has also seen an important extension
of our partnership with Buckinghamshire New University in the
development of a new Drones Special Interest Group, drawing on the
experts behind its master’s programme in aviation security. We actively
welcome expressions of interest from further institutions in initiating new
projects, and hope to have more exciting developments to report over
the coming years.

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