Education Master of Science in Policing accreditation renewed Written on Thursday, August 14, 2025 The Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) has renewed the accreditation of the Netherlands Police Academy’s Master of Science in Policing (MScP) for a further six-year period. This means the NVAO confirms that the programme fully meets the requirements of a university master’s degree programme. The NVAO’s review panel gave the master’s programme a positive assessment on all criteria. ‘The word “excellence” was mentioned frequently in the review,’ according to Daphne Abels, Team Head of Higher Police Education at the Police Academy. ‘It is pretty unusual for a degree programme to receive such a good assessment. And they also pointed out that many other master’s programmes could take this one as an example. So of course we’re incredibly proud about that!’ Collaboration The Police Academy offers the MScP in collaboration with Canterbury Christ Church University in the United Kingdom. In its over twenty years’ existence, the programme has constantly received positive assessments. Over the past few years, DHPol, the German Police University, has also been involved in the degree programme. For this Police Academy programme, we collaborate closely with the lecturers and researchers of our Knowledge and Research sector. Approximately ten to twelve police officers enrol in the MScP each year. Daphne: ‘We have created a very good joint degree programme. And it’s actually quite challenging to do this in collaboration with a university in the UK. It requires a lot of coordination and proper student care.’ Compliments and points for attention During its visit, the NVAO review panel inspected every component of the degree programme. Beforehand, the panel was sent all the required documents, such as a completed self-evaluation form, which the Police Academy used to critically assess its own programme. On the day of the review, the panel interviewed the managers of the programme, as well as teachers, examiners, alumni, police professionals, and students. They toured the campus to assess the study facilities. In addition to the compliments, the overall assessment of the programme also included a number of points for attention. These included, for instance, developments in relation to ethical testing and the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), but also ways to prevent students dropping out without completing the programme. Enabling ‘Police officers take this master’s programme part time, alongside their work,’ says Daphne. How much time they’re given for their studies depends on their manager. But it can sometimes be difficult to combine work and study. We’ve noticed that for that reason some people never finish the programme, which is a waste of the investment until then. We try to inform everyone as clearly as possible about what the programme entails, for instance that it will take at least 2.5 years.’ ‘It’s also a matter of enabling them to do it. The police organisation needs people who have taken higher degrees. This is one of the reasons we are offering this master’s programme. But if managers fail to enable officers to take this master’s, the organisation may miss out on talent.’ Strategic thinking ‘Of course you can send students to another university, but during this programme they learn about policing, which is our core business,’ Daphne states. ‘This degree programme teaches you to think strategically about police-related issues, but also to reflect, for instance, on what exactly the strategic issues are in relation to the position of the police.’ ‘The programme is very well-suited for officers who have the potential to hold strategic positions in the police organisation. They will develop a more comprehensive view of policing and learn to approach their own profession from an academic perspective, in a context that is relevant for policing in practice. Many of the issues involved are of all time, but the programme also addresses future-oriented themes in an international context.’