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Criminology

BA (Hons)

Typical offer for 2025
Duration
UCAS code

Suitable for applications.

Overview

This programme prepares you for a career in the criminal justice sector - in the criminal justice system or in the wider field of offending behaviour.

You’ll benefit from high quality criminology teaching, and also build a strong understanding of the social psychology behind criminal justice and offending behaviour.

This degree offers students an invaluable experience of developing their professional and employability skills through our work placement module in the final year.

On graduation you’ll have a wide range of career opportunities open to you, as well as the ability to undertake further study in areas such as law or psychology.

Entry requirements

Typical offer - 96 UCAS tariff points.

 

A levels

CCC - there are no subject specific requirements.

T levels

Pass - Overall grading Pass (C or above in the Core) with no specific subject requirements.

BTEC Extended Diploma

MMM — there are no specific subject requirements.

Applicants on Access Programmes

Meet UCAS Tariff of 96 — there are no specific subject requirements.

International Baccalaureate Requirements

96 UCAS tariff points to include at least 64 points from 2 HL subjects. Plus HL 3 or SL 4 in English Language and Literature A or English B.

Plus minimum of

GCSE English at grade C or 4 (equivalents accepted).

English language requirements

Minimum IELTS at 6.0 or the equivalent.

If you do not meet the IELTS requirement, and you have a UKVI approved IELTS, you can take a University of Bradford pre-sessional English course. See the Language Centre for more details. For further information on English Language requirements please see the dedicated international entry requirements page.

Foundation Year entry

If you are a UK student and do not meet the entry requirements for this course, our Foundation Year has a route to Criminology BA (Hons).

Foundation Year entry requirements

72 UCAS points or equivalent plus an English Language qualification equivalent to GCSE Grade 4.

Study and progression requirements

Pass each module and achieve a programme average of at least 40%.

You will study the relevant core modules plus five optional modules.

If you are an international student and do not meet the entry requirements for direct entry onto this course, you may be interested in our International College.

Transferring from another university

If you are currently studying at another university and would like to transfer to the University of Bradford, this course accepts students into the second or third year. This is called advanced entry.

Applications for advanced entry will be considered on a case-by-case basis and must include an official transcript (not a screenshot of a portal), all module descriptors, and relevant qualifications. Module descriptors must include learning outcomes.

Applications must be submitted through UCAS and the required documents emailed along with your UCAS Personal ID no later than 31 August prior to the course starting in September. Relevant documents should be emailed to admissions@bradford.ac.uk

What you will study

All module information is for 2023 entry, and is subject to change.

Learning and assessment

The programme adopts a range of teaching methods in order to provide a varied experience, allowing all students to learn appropriately.

Some modules take place on the wider faculty arena, bringing students into contact with students of other disciplines. In your first year, you will typically be in lectures, workshops and seminar groups with other students from your degree programme. You will also have individual and group tutorials with your Personal Tutor to develop your learning skills and style. In your second year, you will experience teaching styles similar to those in year one but also encouraging you to apply your developing skills to constructing research approaches and projects. In your final year you will apply those skills to more independent work on a dissertation and in a work placement as well as applying the knowledge acquired in previous years to two specialist crime modules.

Assessment varies by module. Assessment methods include individual and group presentations, essays, reports and examinations. Students are offered opportunities to present formative assessment in all modules where this is feasible. The assessment diet is incremental: a maximum of 2,000 words or the equivalent per module in the first year, graduating in length to offer the opportunity for a major piece of academic work and a work-related academic analysis in your final year.

Our facilities

Take a 360 degree tour of our facilities.

Fees, finance and scholarships

Tuition fee 2025

  • UK: £9,250
  • International: £20,538

Additional costs

There may be additional costs that you may incur as a student. Though these are not essential to your programme of study you need to be aware of them as a student of the University. A list of the sort of costs you might expect can be found on our fees and finance section.

Financial support

See our fees and financial support section.

Scholarships

Every year we award numerous non-repayable scholarships to UK, EU and international students on the basis of academic excellence, personal circumstances or economic hardship. For full details, visit our scholarships section.

Career prospects

Graduates will leave with critical thinking, analytical and communications skills and will be highly attractive within and outside the criminal justice sector. 

Career support

The University is committed to helping students develop and enhance employability and this is an integral part of many programmes. Specialist support is available throughout the course from Career and Employability Services including help to find part-time work while studying, placements, vacation work and graduate vacancies. Students are encouraged to access this support at an early stage and to use the extensive resources on the Careers website.

Discussing options with specialist advisers helps to clarify plans through exploring options and refining skills of job-hunting. In most of our programmes there is direct input by Career Development Advisers into the curriculum or through specially arranged workshops.

Study support

You'll be assigned a Personal Academic Tutor who has regular and weekly ‘drop-in’ slots available. Appointments outside of these hours can also be arranged.

You'll also be assigned a personal tutor to supervise your dissertation.

Research

Our academic expertise in the field of Sociology and Crime ensures that programme content and delivery is research-led, contemporary and robustly informed.

We have an experienced, highly-qualified and strongly research-active teaching team. The programme will be taught by existing experienced staff with strong research records who have published widely in sociology, social policy, criminal justice and vocational and professional subjects such as education and social work.

Formal lectures facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and understanding at the early stages of the course. As it progresses, the main emphasis is on self-directed research and evaluation of related literature; students will be supported in these by individual supervisors. These aspects further develop the research-informed nature of the curriculum.

The dissertation module provides a major opportunity to demonstrate competence in the execution of desktop and/or empirical research and autonomy in data-handling and critical interpretation in a research context. The ability to deal with complex issues and solve problems will be enhanced by effective reflective practice.

This is the current course information. Modules and course details may change, subject to the University's programme approval, monitoring and review procedures. The University reserves the right to alter or withdraw courses, services and facilities as described on our website without notice and to amend Ordinances, Regulations, fees and charges at any time. Students should enquire as to the up-to-date position when applying for their course of study.