Course summary

Our degree courses with Foundation year offer the opportunity to prepare you for advanced study before you progress onto a full honours degree at the University of Westminster. Whether you do not feel ready for degree-level study, don’t have the right qualifications, want to change your subject specialism or return to study after an absence from education, we aim to encourage a broad range of students to undertake our Foundation year in order to progress onto their full honours degree with us.

The Foundation year is designed to give you the opportunity to explore new ideas, opening up new perspectives on the key debates within your chosen field. Core modules accelerate your academic and professional development and you will also take modules from areas closely related to your chosen field, giving you the chance to develop a cross-disciplinary perspective on your course.

On successful completion of the Foundation year, you will be able to move on to study for the Criminology BA Honours degree.

With crime frequently in the news and always an important issue, criminology has never been more relevant. The Criminology BA Honours aims to enthuse, inspire and equip you with the skills for a successful career in today's competitive job market.

Criminology draws on a wide range of human and social science disciplines, and the course has been designed to develop your knowledge and understanding of criminology as an interdisciplinary subject area. It will also equip you with the transferable and cognitive skills necessary for lifelong personal and professional development.

Westminster's criminologists are concerned with who commits crimes and how offenders should be punished, but at the heart of criminology are fundamental questions about how 'crime' is defined, how criminal law is made, and how definitions of crime and justice vary historically and cross-culturally.

Where better to study this fascinating discipline than in the heart of the UK's policing and criminal justice systems? Contemporary concerns are reflected as the subject engages with globalisation and culture across theoretical, qualitative and empirical domains.

Our graduates go on to develop careers in a wide range of sectors including the police and policing-support organisations, the National Probation Service, local government and crime prevention.

The course investigates the impact of power, societal structures and inequalities on processes and patterns of criminalisation, crime, harm, victimisation and criminal justice, as well as on knowledge production within criminology. Core and optional subjects cover an extensive range of topics, including processes of criminalisation and victimisation; the social, legal and cultural meanings of crime; the causes and organisation of crime and deviance at all levels; understanding crime in relation to class, gender, race and ethnicity, religious faith, and sexuality; and the practical and political processes of preventing and managing crime.

We make use of Westminster’s central London location to facilitate off-site learning, with visits to the High Court of Justice, theatres and a prison. In Year 3, you'll have the opportunity to take part in a field trip, which, for example, in 2023 took students to the Baltic states, visiting criminal justice institutions.

Top reasons to study with us

• Work experience opportunities – our work experience module in Year 3 will allow you to gain valuable practical experience. Many of our students find placements in a range of criminal justice agencies
• Field trips – In Year 3, you'll have the opportunity to take part in a field trip, which, for example, in 2023 took students to the Baltic states. You'll also be able to take part in field walks around London including visits to theatres, prisons and the High Court of Justice
• Award-winning leadership – former course leader David Manlow was awarded the British Society of Criminology award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (2016) for his design and implementation of the curriculum, which provides the basis for the course studied today

Course structure

Teaching and learning methods include lectures, seminars, independent study, and off-site learning such as visits and field walks which make use of Westminster's central London location.

Assessment methods may include essays, debates, criminal justice policy analysis, individual and group presentations, exams, statistical analyses, and your dissertation.

The following subjects are indicative of what you will study on this course.