Criminology: The University of Manchester

Course description

Criminology teaching at Manchester has a distinguished history - with courses in crime, policing and criminal justice being offered since the 1970s. Their new single honours program admitted students for the first time in September 2008. The single honours degree is an exciting development and rests on this long and esteemed tradition of criminological research and teaching at the University; the current staff within the Centre for Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies are all actively involved in advancing knowledge in this discipline.

The Criminology course will enable you to understand why crime has become a dominant social problem, how crime and criminal behaviour are related to other social issues, and how they can best research the challenges which face the criminal justice system. It will give you the necessary analytical skills to critically engage both with complex data and the intricate policy debates within the field of criminology. The course will also enable you to develop skills relevant to a variety of key professions concerned with criminal justice and crime reduction, including the police, prisons, offender management, youth justice, and community safety.

Career opportunities

Planning for a career is an important part of studying. All our students are encouraged to consider their future employment early in their University career. In keeping with good educational practice, the course develops the student's powers of critical inquiry, logical thinking and empirical analysis; it will develop a range of key transferable skills, such as computer literacy, numeracy, written and oral communication. In essence, the intellectual rigour of this course will provide you with the depth of knowledge and skills required both for developing a relevant career in the field of criminal justice and for pursuing further study and research. All School of Law students have the opportunity to attend skills training courses that have modules aimed at employment in general and more specialist careers - including criminal justice and crime reduction. Student societies within the School also look at career issues.

The BA in Criminology provides a strong academic base for those considering careers in a range of criminal justice-related professions. For example, the police, the security services, the private security sector, the probation service, the courts services, the prison service and local authority community safety departments.

Entry requirements

• English language: Candidates must show a high standard of written and spoken English. They require GCSE English Language or equivalent such as IELTS 7 or TOEFL 625.
• A level: Grades ABB. General Studies is not included as part of the standard offer. A subject with a very large practical component may be excluded or raise the offer. AS-levels are not accepted in place of A-levels.
• Unit grade information: The University of Manchester welcomes the provision of unit grade information which, like all other available information, will inform the consideration of applications.
• GCSE: A strong performance in all subjects, with an absolute minimum of Grade C in English Language and Mathematics.
• Key Skills qualification: The University warmly welcomes applications from students studying the Key Skills qualification.
• International Baccalaureate: 6,5,5 at Higher Level with an overall score of 33 in the IB Diploma.