We ring Prof Mark Button to hear the latest on offer to the security manager at his institution, the University of Portsmouth, and asked him more generally about the hows and whys of doing further study.
Change is in the pipeline at Portsmouth; the undergraduate and distance learning risk and security management degree – the basic for the ambitious or merely curious private security person for about 30 years – is changing to cyber crime, terrorism and security. Portsmouth hadn’t signed it off yet, but Mark suggests the rejigged course will start on campus in October (the start of the next academic year) and as a distance learning course in 2024. That said, you’ve long been able to take the undergraduate, first degree, a BSc in risk and security, typically sought by someone still in the military at NCO level, or someone already in the security industry at supervisory or junior management level, while the master’s degree, the MSc is for the more senior security manager.
What
In Mark’s time at Portsmouth – and he’s rather a veteran now, as he’s been there since 1997 – he’s risen to professor of criminology (that’s his academic background) and specialised in counter-fraud, in teaching and his publications. If you’re a security manager and taking on fraud (or ‘economic crime’ as it’s also called) because police have vacated investigation of such crime – that’s a whole topic in itself, and the subject of a paper co-authored by Mark last year (see next page) – or money laundering or theft of intellectual property, the various courses at Mark’s Centre for Counter Fraud Studies (part of Portsmouth’s much wider school of criminology and criminal justice department) are a port of call. Like other unis, drill down into the overall school, and you find specialisms (in Portsmouth’s case, the study of missing persons, and forensic interviewing, to name two). If that’s your interest, there’s no need to settle for a more generic course, and thanks to online learning, you can take the course from anywhere.
Who
Who are taking these courses? we asked Mark. He replied with two categories. First, ‘people who aren’t quite in the security industry yet, in the military or the police or some other kind or role, and they are looking to their second career’; they have the experience, say in firearms or doing security in the military, but they want a degree qualification to ‘open the doors’. Mark notes that UK Government security jobs, in particular, are asking for a master’s degree. The second category Mark finds; those already working in security, who want to improve themselves; whether their position, as they’re seeking a more senior role; or as part of an effort to improve the security management function in their organisation.
Distance learning
Portsmouth is one of the unis that uses Moodle (other unis use other online platforms; Bucks New among others for example uses Blackboard). For each topic, or ‘module’, you go online for what you need for your studies – links to journal articles and books, meaning you need never enter a physical library – and online lectures to watch when it suits you. At online seminars, students can interact, much as in the physical seminar room on campus; and you can approach tutors for a leg-up about such skills as writing an essay, if you are out of practice or never stayed in education in your youth to ever do long essays. Mark notes the difference between the 18-year-old student who wants (and gains from) the physical experience of a campus, meeting others and doing sport and joining clubs besides the actual academic study, and ‘distance learning’ by adults.
For the full interview read the May print edition of Professional Security Magazine.
Conference
The Counter Fraud, Cybercrime and Forensic Accounting conference 2023 runs at the university on Wednesday, June 14 and Thursday, June 15. You can join online for the live keynote and plenary sessions, free. You get to hear academics from the UK and overseas, and ‘pracademics’, practitioners such as the former Met Police auditor who got a doctorate after retiring through Portsmouth, Dr Peter Tickner. It’s also the occasion for the launching of the Centre for Cybercrime and Economic Crime. Speakers include Mark Button; Mark Cheeseman, head of the Public Sector Fraud Authority; and Dr Michael Skidmore of the think-tank the Police Foundation.
Portsmouth in brief
The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Portsmouth like at other unis serves mainly under-graduates, but offers master’s degrees including MSc courses in:
– Economic Crime including a module recognised by the counter-fraud association ACFE;
– Forensic Investigation
– Crime Science
– Intelligence.
Typically they’re two years, starting each September, done part-time by distance learning, and you can customise a course by taking modules from related criminal justice courses that appeal to you. Visit www.port.ac.uk/icjs.
