Welcome to a unique collaborative, undergraduate programme offering a variety of learning opportunities and qualifications to members of the Police Service in Scotland.

The ACPOS Professional Development Programme is the first collaborative undergraduate programme in Scotland which offers a variety of learning opportunities and qualifications to members of the police service. 

Uniquely, the development of this programme has involved ACPOS, the Scottish Police College, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Scottish universities working together as partners in developing this exciting programme for professional development which utilises the full facilities of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF).

Police Officers and staff are able to enter into formal study at varying levels from SCQF level 7 (comparable to HNC), to level 10 (honours degree).  The programme will ultimately coincide with a postgraduate programme of police qualifications from the Scottish Institute for Police Research and International Police Qualifications, developed in association with SQA for the international police market.

The Scottish Police College (SPC) delivers basic training for new recruits to the service through to strategic level events for Chief Officers.  The college also provides and supports specialist training for Detectives, Intelligence Officers, Road Policing Officers, Community Policing and Crime Prevention Officers and training for leaders at every level in the police service.  These courses are either accredited through a partner University or credit rated with SQA. 

Access

Courses facilitated via on-line learning use the Scottish Open Learning User System (SOLUS) which enables students and staff to access not only material but also course information and joining instructions. Information is available from each of the four college training divisions Crime Management, Leadership and Management, Probationer Training and Road Policing as well as Training and Educational Standards.  Further information can be found at www.tulliallan.police.uk, and clicking on the SOLUS logo.

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF)

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) helps people understand and compare different qualifications in Scotland, the qualifications range from level 1-12, 12 being the highest.  The qualifications available to the Police Service are shown on the next two pages, at the moment qualifications are available up to and including level 11 with projected pathway into level 12.

Credit points are used to indicate the volume of learning required to achieve a qualification.  One SCQF credit point represents a notional 10 learning hours.  SQA Qualifications are developed using SCQF level and credit points.