UDCRIMFY - BSc (Hons) Criminology (including foundation year)

The preparatory year of the four-year BSc Criminology including Foundation Year helps prepare students with non-traditional qualifications, lower UCAS points and mature students wanting to return to education. It teaches students the academic study skills, digital skills, research techniques and critical thinking that they will need for undergraduate study as well as introducing them to basic ideas, approaches and themes in social sciences and their pathway choice. The foundation year also aims to develop their independent learning, supporting them to become confident and proactive students, able to operate effectively at undergraduate level within a large university.

From level 4 the course is delivered through a range of pedagogic methods including formal lectures, seminars, workshops, project-based research activity and individual tutorials.

The course integrates face-to-face and online learning. All modules use Weblearn facilities making key information available and also providing a convenient place for handbook information, calendars and class announcements. Some modules focus specifically on the development of IT skills. The course will also progressively examine ways of further developing the link between face-to-face and online learning as ideas and technology develop, and as resources permit. The course encourages contact between students and tutors and, in the course of this, encourages active learning. IT and other media are used to encourage collaboration among students.

The preparatory year aims to support and prepare students to become "undergraduate ready". This will be done by equipping them with the necessary knowledge and understanding in social sciences and their pathway choice, the key digital and academic skills in order to communicate their ideas effectively (orally and in writing), using an appropriate academic style, that will allow them to progress onto level 4. It also aims to develop their understanding of different assessments and learning and teaching styles in HE and to build their confidence by experiencing and understanding theories and knowledge through personalisation and reflective learning techniques.

The course aims to:

1. Offer a course relevant to a range of careers in the area of criminal justice and related fields
2. Develop the intellectual skills necessary for the understanding, critical evaluation and application of a range of theoretical approaches to the study of crime, deviance, policing and conceptions of rights and justice
3. Develop students’ competence in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies
4. Develop students’ grasp of the institutional apparatus which regulates and seeks to control socially defined deviant populations
5. Develop students’ awareness of the global as well as the local dimensions of crime
6. Offer the opportunity to develop the above in relation to specialist areas of interest culminating in the production of an in-depth piece of independent research at honours level.

On successful completion of BSc Criminology (from level 4) students will be able to:

1. Deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within Criminology;

2. Devise and sustain arguments, and/or to solve problems, using ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of Criminology;

3. Describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in Criminology, recognising the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge;

4. Manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to Criminology);

5. Apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects;

6. Critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a problem;

7. Communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences;

8. Exercise initiative and personal responsibility, including decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts;

9. Undertake appropriate further training of a professional or equivalent nature

Module Code Module Title

IF3050 Critical Thinking
IF3060 Researching Discrimination
IF3061 Researching Inequality
IF3058 Reflecting on Self and Society
IF3059 Social Issues in Context:Text to Essay
IF3073 Interventions for Change
IF3063 Media Crime and Race
IF3051 Studying London

Learning Outcomes: LO1- LO4

Code
SC4000
SC4003
SC5000
SC6004
SC6P00
SC4001
SC4002
SC5001
SC5002
SC5050
SC6000
SC5051
SC6051
SC6052
SC6050
SC6W50
SS6054
SC6052

Learning Outcomes: LO1 - LO9

Criminology
https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/subject-benchmark-statements/sbs-criminology-14.pdf?sfvrsn=b3e2f781_8

Students will be thoroughly prepared for a range of different assessments to give practice in the types of assessments they will face at higher levels. Examples include research reports, in-class tests, written portfolios, individual oral presentations, group-led seminars, literature reviews and essays. At level 3 these assessments are spread over 8 15 credit modules which allows for early assessment and feedback, giving students a clear sense of progress at the end of semester one.

Students have opportunities in all modules for formative feedback via draft submissions and one to one tutorials, which focuses on strategies to improve their work and reflect on their strengths and weaknesses. Further formative feedback is received through regular short in-class and on-line tests, peer assessment and discussions and tutor oral and written responses.

From levels 4 to 6 students are assessed through a combination of essays, module-specific research projects, seen and unseen examinations and an individual largely self-directed project which includes an assessed oral presentation. At level 4 assessments seek to encourage students to specify and describe theories and institutions. At level 5 assessments require students to extend and critically to evaluate the knowledge they have encountered. Students at this level are also required to produce research reports including data analysis and interpretation. At level 6 assessments test students’ critical knowledge of applied areas of Criminology and their ability to think and research independently.

Students will undertake a work placement at level 6.

There may be opportunities for students to study for part of their degree in another European country. ERASMUS is part of the European Union SOCRATES programme for cooperation in the field of education. Under ERASMUS the university has student exchange agreements with 16 different European countries.

As a condition of progressing from level 3 to 4, students are required to have gained all 120 credits at level 3, that is, achieving the pass mark (40%) on all 8 modules.

At level 3 a Preparatory Certificate may be awarded on completion of any modules totalling 60 credits and a Preparatory Diploma on completion of 120 credits.

Throughout the programme students will be required to reflect on their learning, identify areas of strength and weakness and develop action plans in response to these reflections. This will occur informally through tutor and peer feedback and also formally through reflective writing as part of the assessments and the written and oral response from tutors to this. We expect that through this experience of reflective learning, students will start to understand the value of being proactive, independent learners, ready for their first year of undergraduate study.

At level 4 students begin processes of personal development planning in core modules and start to build up a record of achievements. They are encouraged to reflect in workshop contexts and individually on specifically what they have learned from modules and the ways in which this knowledge may be used in, or applied to, the wider social world. Specific modules focussed on social research methodologies provide a forum in which students reflect upon their practice as social researchers, its ethical dimensions and the ways in which this practice may be applied to solving problems in the context of volunteering activity and/or employment. Self-directed project research at level 6 provides an opportunity for students to consolidate this reflection, bringing together particular substantive areas of interest with methodological issues and considering how this might provide a basis for their further self-development and contribution to the wider social world in the future.

N/A

Past students have gone on to take up careers in the police service, the probation service and other areas of the criminal justice system as well as in victim, prisoner and witness support agencies. The programme is also excellent preparation for further study and a number of students have gone on to complete our MSc Criminology course. The analytic and methodological skills gained on successful completion of the course provide a strong grounding for development within many different careers.

Graduates from our criminology related courses enter a range of careers, such as police officer, special constable, investigating analyst, support worker, senior detective constable, investigating analyst and probation officer. They now work for organisations as diverse as the Metropolitan Police, Ten Intelligence and Mears.

Continuing your studies with us

The School of Social Sciences has a wide range of exciting industry-linked postgraduate courses available on a full-time and part-time basis in criminology, security, diplomacy, international relations, sociology and psychology. The following courses would be ideal for progression after this course:

• Human Rights and International Conflict - MA
• Organised Crime and Global Security - MA
• Woman and Child Abuse - MA
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability - MSc
• Get into law with our Common Professional Exam - GDL

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• at least one A level (or a minimum of 32 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC Subsidiary/National/BTEC Extended Diploma)
• English Language GCSE at grade C (grade 4) or above (or equivalent)

If you are a mature student with significant work experience, you are invited to apply for this course on the basis of the knowledge and skills you have developed through your work.