The professionalisation of the British civil service in recent years has entailed a greater demand for accredited programmes at all levels – from starter qualifications for those working in specialist roles to master's level for senior executives. The National School, for example, offers a master's degree in Organisational Learning and Development, accredited by Kingston University, and the MSc in Human Resource Management and Development, designed with Nottingham Trent University Business School. Staff at the National School teach a module in the master's in Public Administration run by Warwick Business School. In partnership with the Universities of Chester and Portsmouth, the National School offers the Foundation Degree in Government – these work-based degrees permit students to translate their years of experience into a qualification and develop their careers. Foundation degrees have a successful track record in the public sector of improving organisational performance and are named in the Leitch report as one of the ways forward in higher education.

The civil service can also benefit from partnerships with universities in coming up with new ideas. The Sunningdale Institute at the National School, for example, is a virtual academy of leading thinkers on management, organisation and governance. The Institute links fresh, high-level thinking with practical advice on the issues facing a modern public service. Fellows of the Institute can operate in the role of ‘critical friend’, by peer-reviewing reports or advising on methodology, and so respond to the biggest challenge for any administration: how to integrate innovative thinking within its work.