BA (Hons) Criminology offers an exciting opportunity to study the cutting-edge discipline of criminology in the vibrant city of Manchester. It is aimed at students who want to study crime from a critical perspective, investigating the causes, patterns, consequences and responses in a social context.

The first year introduces you to the building blocks of criminology: key concepts and theories explaining crime, key institutions of the criminal justice system, crime policy, law and practice. You will receive training in a wide range of research methods during the first two years, to become equipped to undertake your own independent research project in the final year.

Our large, multi-disciplinary department believes in offering extensive optionality to study specific areas of criminology in depth. Throughout the degree, there is an emphasis on developing skills and experiences that are relevant to professional careers, including work experience, study-abroad schemes, and independent project work. In your final year, you have the option of moving onto the BSc route, which means receiving extensive quantitative methods training and graduating with a BSc title. You may also have the opportunity to spend an extra year expanding your horizons studying with one of our partner universities overseas.

Placement options

With support from the dedicated placement team, you can research and apply for a wide range of roles available both in the UK and abroad.

While the emphasis is on the student to secure a position, the placement team will provide links to employers through presentations, events, and fairs, and provide a specialist programme of guidance on recruitment procedures including CV and interview preparation, as well as work readiness and working overseas.

Opportunities may exist in the established agencies of the criminal justice system (for example, the police, prisons and probation services or in the private sector companies that have undertaken the provision of criminal justice services). There is also the potential to work in areas such as probation work, housing, family care and other roles in social services. Other graduates have gone into administrative and managerial jobs in local or national government, or have roles within the voluntary sector.

There is also the opportunity to engage in further study and professional training, for example some of our graduates go on to study at postgraduate level with our range of masters programmes. Our courses are informed by experts in their field, from MSc Applied Quantitative Methods, which is based at one of only 18 Q-Step Centre’s in the UK, and MA Applied Criminology, taught by former justice practitioners and research experts; to the Master in Public Administration and MSc Evaluation and Policy Analysis, which are both led by academics from the Policy Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU).