Program Overview

Why choose this course

• This research-led Criminology course will help you develop a critical perspective on contemporary problems relating to crime, deviance and social control, teaching you the methods necessary to conduct and evaluate research in these areas.
• You’ll develop a full range of robust social research skills highly sought after by employers and ideal for developing a career in the public sector, policy development or research, or as a launchpad for further training to work in specialist areas such as forensic investigation or counselling.
• Our broad range of optional modules in your second and third years gives you the flexibility to shape your degree to your interests and develop specialist knowledge in a range of topics.
• You can choose to take one of our award-winning Professional Training placements that will prepare you for work or you can study abroad at one of our partner universities, or a mix of both.

What you will study
Criminology at the University of Surrey is taught within our interdisciplinary School of Social Sciences, which enables students to learn about related topics, such as sociology and media and communication, during their degree and to shape their course to suit their interests through optional modules.

Our Criminology BSc degree focuses on the study of crime, deviance and the criminal justice system. It will develop your understanding of the concepts, theories and principles of criminology and their application across a range of case studies and examples.

Through combining criminological theory with training in professional social research, you’ll graduate from our degree in Criminology with a broad range of communicative, analytical and organisational skills – and the confidence to apply them in your future career.

You’ll study:

• The cause and effect of criminal actions
• The form and outcome of social disorders
• Policing and regulation of public order
• Procedures and techniques of the criminal justice system
• The relationship between behaviours and punishments.

Through combining criminological theory with training in professional social research, you’ll graduate with a broad range of communicative, analytical and organisational skills – and the confidence to apply them in your future career.

Criminology placements
On our four-year BSc (Hons) Criminology course, you’ll enhance your knowledge by taking a Professional Training placement during the third year.

This provides you with an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills gained during your first two years of study in a work environment, while receiving training and carrying out responsible work.

As a result of the placement, we find that our students return to their final year significantly more confident, mature and organised, and with clearer career aspirations.

The process of preparing and applying for placement positions also significantly enhances job-seeking skills, which come into play in the final year and beyond when applying for graduate employment. After graduation, some students take up permanent posts with their professional placement employer.