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Buckinghamshire New University

UCAS Code: GINT | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)

Entry requirements

UCAS Tariff

88-112

About this course

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2025

Subject

Security policy

Behind every major decision made by governments, military forces, and global corporations lies a detailed process of intelligence gathering, analysis and reporting. This pathway prepares you to operate within this fascinating field and contribute meaningfully to strategic thinking and decision-making on a global scale.
Whether you're intrigued by traditional state-led intelligence or excited by emerging open-source and public-facing data, this course is your launchpad. Ideal for those looking to support government agencies, the Armed Forces, or international organisations, you’ll build the skills to evaluate risks and influence resilience in political, humanitarian, and commercial contexts.

**Why study Global Security with Intelligence Analysis at BNU?**
**Hands on Learning**
Our curriculum centres on active, workshop-based sessions: you’ll analyse real-world data, debate live case studies and run tabletop exercises that mirror the pressures of an intelligence-analysis cell. From day one, you’ll practise briefing decision-makers and using structured techniques to turn raw information into actionable insight.

**Graduate Career ready**
We aim to equip you with a toolkit that employers are looking for from day one. You’ll n to analyse complex risk scenarios, present clear security briefs and make rapid decisions under pressure. With an internship embedded into in your second year, you’ll graduate with both the theoretical grounding and the professional network to hit the ground running. BNU graduates have proven their skills in real settings well before graduation day.

**Dedicated Intelligence Operational Room**
Step into our intelligence, security, and resilience centre, a dedicated space with live open-source intelligence (OSINT) feeds, commercial data subscriptions and secure simulation software. Here you’ll master the tools of the trade, tracking political risk, financial flows, or cyber-threats, in a space that mirrors real world offices.

**Shared First Year**
Your first year brings you together with students from our Aviation and Investigation pathways, giving you a solid grounding in global security theory, structured analytical methods, and cyber-risk fundamentals. This means that at the end of your first year, you will get the opportunity to change your specialisation if you want to.

**What Will I Study?**
You’ll start off study the foundations of global security, information security, and analytical techniques. As you move into the second and third years, you’ll focus on specialist intelligence skills, such as strategic intelligence development, financial intelligence gathering, and advanced analytical methods used across public and private sectors. You'll examine how intelligence is used to manage national and international risks, and how political and commercial contexts shape intelligence operations. The course also places strong emphasis on communication and professional confidence, preparing you to brief stakeholders and present intelligence clearly and persuasively. Your studies will culminate in a major research project in your final year, allowing you to explore a topic that reflects your future ambitions.

**What are my career prospects?**
As a graduate of Global Security with Intelligence Analysis you will be equipped to step straight into roles such as intelligence analyst, policy officer or military or government analyst roles. Recent graduates have gone on to work at GCHQ, commercial cyber-analytics firms, and advise on financial intelligence and corporate risk. Some graduates also choose to progress to postgraduate research at BNU.

Assessment methods

Teaching is designed to be immersive and practical, giving you real insight into the world of intelligence analysis. You’ll work closely with your peers in hands-on workshops and small-group seminars, where you'll work on live case studies, role-play exercises, and group problem-solving. While some large lectures will help set the scene for core concepts, most of your development will take place in active learning environments. Our academic team brings the sector to life with their experience, and you'll hear from guest lecturers who can offer fresh insight on current issues.

You’ll be assessed through professional-style tasks — policy briefs, oral briefings, research reports, and presentations. There are no traditional written exams. As you gain experience, you’ll have more freedom to tailor your work to your own interests. Your final year includes a significant independent project, where you can demonstrate everything you’ve learned through an in-depth, self-led investigation.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,535
per year
England
£9,535
per year
EU
£15,150
per year
International
£15,150
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,535
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,535
per year
Scotland
£9,535
per year
Wales
£9,535
per year

The Uni

Course location:

High Wycombe Campus

Department:

School of Aviation and Security

Read full university profile

What students say

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Social policy

Sorry, no information to show

This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.


Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

99%
UK students
1%
International students
18%
Male students
82%
Female students
45%
2:1 or above
25%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
C

After graduation

The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Social policy

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£27,000
high
Average annual salary
95%
high
Employed or in further education
55%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

19%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
12%
Protective service occupations
11%
Customer service occupations

Just over 1,600 students graduated in social policy in 2015, which makes it one of the smaller social studies subjects. This is a popular subject at Masters level — 750 Masters in social policy were awarded last year - and so a lot of the more sought-after jobs in management and research tend to go to social policy graduates with postgraduate degrees. For those who leave university after their first degree, then jobs in social care (especially community and youth work) and education, the police, marketing and human resources and recruitment are popular — along with local government, although there are fewer of those jobs around than in the past. This degree is a bit less reliant on London for jobs than other similar subjects, so if you'd like to work outside the capital, it might be worth considering - although the jobs still tend to be in big cities.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Social policy

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£25k

£25k

£28k

£28k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

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This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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