Program Overview

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Criminology & Sociology

BA (Hons)

Attendance

• Full-time
• Part-time

Campus

• Preston Campus

Start

• September 2025

Duration

• 3 years

UCAS Code

• LM39

Delivery

• In-person

Foundation year available

Our Criminology and Sociology degree offers an exciting opportunity to get involved in a fast-growing academic area in which new topics of study are opening up for criminological and sociological investigation every day. On this course, you will explore both the nature of crime and of modern society through a wide range of modules.

Why study with us

• We offer option modules on our Criminology courses, so you can tailor your degree to your interests.
• Social Sciences is ranked 4th in the UK with 90% student satisfaction. (National Student Survey 2022).
• The many progression routes presented on our Criminology and Sociology course allows you to customise your journey to your career aspirations.

What you'll do

• Explore and critically assess the way society perceives, defines and manages crime - and graduate fully prepared for a career in public or community-based services.
• The University is part of a worldwide exchange network, which includes countries such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, and the USA.
• You can undertake an optional elective in Year 1 or Year 2 from the Centre of Volunteering and Community Leadership at the University. Many second and third-year students undertake voluntary work outside of their degree.

Modules

Year 1

• Compulsory modules
  • Looking Beyond Crime and Criminology
  • Skills, Research and Employability
  • Crime and Morality
  • Criminal Justice in Action
  • Sociological Ways of Thinking
  • Media and Culture

Year 2

• Compulsory modules
  • Research Methods and Theory 1
  • Research Methods and Theory 2
  • Understanding Policing and Security
  • The Sociology of Religion
  • Violent Times? Violence, Conflict and Culture
• Optional modules
  • Violence Against Women and Girls
  • Drugs, Crime and Society
  • Work Placement

Year 3

• Compulsory modules
  • Dissertation
  • Diversity, Crime and Justice
  • Crimes of the Powerful
• Optional modules
  • Prison and Society
  • Policy Interpretations: Comparative Perspectives
  • Sociology of Childhood
  • Culture of Violence: Gendered Violence and Society

Entry requirements

• Minimum qualifications
  • UCAS: 104-112 points at A2
  • BTEC Extended Diploma: DMM
  • BTEC Diploma: DD-DD*
  • Pass Access Course: 104-112 UCAS Points
  • International Baccalaureate Diploma: Pass including 104-112 points from Higher Level Subjects
  • T Level: M
  • IELTS: 6.0 with no component lower than 5.5
  • GCSEs: 5 at grade C/4 including Maths and English or equivalent

Fees and funding

• 2025/26
  • UK: £9,535 per year (full-time), £1,587 per 20 credits (part-time)
  • International: £17,325 per year (full-time)

Learning and assessment

• Modules are delivered by various methods, from traditional large group lectures to classes with small group work and occasional use of audio and audio-visual material for discussion and analysis.
• Lectures are supported by smaller seminar groups where you can discuss issues arising from the lecture programme.
• You are required to undertake preparatory reading and other research for seminars.
• All modules use an online system known as Blackboard – this is an easily accessible storage point for course materials, including PowerPoint presentations, readings, references or weblinks associated with the module.

Industry links

• In order to give you an 'insider perspective', our Criminology and Sociology degree enjoys a programme of guest lectures from speakers within the groups and communities you will be studying.
• We have recently hosted guest speakers from the traveller community, a prison governor, the local Hindu community, a disability activist, and an entire punk band, who discussed youth culture.

Further information

• You can undertake an elective in Year 1 or Year 2 from the Centre of Volunteering here at the University; this is entirely optional.
• One such elective is ‘Guns and Gangs’, and there are others which will train you in mentoring or leadership, or creating social projects and programmes and fundraising within different communities.
• Many second and third-year students undertake voluntary work outside of their degree, joining youth offending teams, women’s refuges, children’s charities, and community policing projects etc.
• The School very much encourages this kind of work experience as it vastly improves employment prospects.

Future careers

• Our Criminology and Sociology graduates have joined the UK Border Agency, Greater Manchester Police (GMP), local prisons, drug schemes, educational institutions, and youth offending teams.
• There are also many postgraduate opportunities available, including master’s programmes, MPhils, and PhDs, due to the wide variety of areas touched on in the course of the degree.
• Through the Centre for Volunteering and Community Leadership, you will also have the opportunity to volunteer in a social setting.
• In the past, students have worked with the Children's Society, Women's Refuge, and Community Police volunteers.