Criminology and Law (with Foundation Year) - BA(Hons)

In a Year 0 (Foundation Year), the content is designed to develop your academic skills. It also raises awareness of the relevance law, economics, accounting, plus business and management, will play in your future professional lives.

You are encouraged to develop as reflective learners and will gain an understanding of the attributes that graduates of UWE Bristol attain, such as being self-reliant, enterprising, future-facing, collaborative and globally responsible citizens.

Much of the scheduled class time will be spent in rooms equipped for technology-supported work in groups.Teaching methods will be engaging, as staff use the latest techniques and technologies to enhance the learning experience.

The four modules will have three hours of teaching each week (12 hours of scheduled class time in total). On four occasions during the year, the whole 12 hours will be spent team-working on a joint project. One of the weeks will result in an exhibition of assessed group posters and another will produce individual personal development plans.

Year 0 (Foundation Year)

• Becoming a Professional
• Introduction to Organisations, Enterprise and Management
• Economics and Accounting for the Real World
• Introduction to Law in a Social, Business and Global Context

You will study the Foundation Year alongside students from other business and law courses and so you may transfer to another course in one of these areas at the end of a successful Foundation Year. The normal expectation is that you must pass all Year 0 modules before progressing to Year 1. Students seeking transfer to BA(Hons) Business (Team Entrepreneurship) would be required to pass an interview process. Transfer to BSc(Hons) Economics (as distinct from BA(Hons) Economics) would require an A-level in Mathematics.

Year 1

You will study the following compulsory modules:

Law

• Foundations for Law
• Criminal Law

Criminology

• Introduction to Criminological Theory
• Introduction to Criminal Justice

After Year 1 you can continue to study the modules listed below for a degree in Criminology and Law. Alternatively, you can select a module pathway which will enable you to major in Law and graduate with an LLB(Hons) Law with Criminology or Criminology and graduate with a BA(hons) Criminology and Law.

Year 2

You will study the following compulsory modules:

• Criminological Research and Investigation

Plus two optional Law modules from the list below:

Optional Law modules

• Civil Liberties
• Forensic Evidence
• Sexual Offences and Offending: Criminal Justice Responses
• Law of Torts
• Land Law
• Migration Law and Policy

You will also select from the following optional Criminology modules, depending on credit requirements:

• Criminal Psychology
• Youth Crime, Youth Justice
• Drugs Crime and Society
• Trangression
• Policing and Society
• Psychoanalysis and The Sociology of Racism
• The Sociology of Madness and Mental Disorders
• Self, Stigma and Spoilt Identity
• Policing and Prisons

Final year

You will study the following compulory module:

• Critical Criminology

Plus two optional Law modules from the list below OR one if a Study Year Abroad (SYA) or Placement Year has been completed:

Optional Law modules

• European Union Law
• Criminal Justice
• Comparative Constitutional Law
• Dissertation
• Law of Evidence
• European Human Rights
• Family Breakdown
• Gender and the Law
• Medicine and the Law
• Sexuality and the Law
• Law Project

You will also select from the following optional Criminology modules, depending on credit requirements:

• Comparative and Transnational Criminology
• Protest, Policing and Public Order
• Real and Virtual Worlds: The Sociology of Cyberspace
• Representations of Crime and Deviance
• Terrorism
• The Family, Community and Crime
• Criminology Project
• Social Psychology of Violence and Crime
• Victims and Victimology

The University continually enhances our offer by responding to feedback from our students and other stakeholders, ensuring the curriculum is kept up to date and our graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need for the real world. This may result in changes to the course. If changes to your course are approved, we will inform you.

We offer a student centred learning experience supporting you to develop the skills you will need to study law and to continue to have a successful career based on your legal studies. Our modules take different approaches to learning ranging from the traditional to the highly innovative allowing you to make an informed choice of modules so that you can select the learning experience which best supports your learning style.

On your first day at UWE Bristol you will meet your personal academic tutor, who will support you in your academic studies at UWE Bristol throughout your degree.

We see engagement with learning as a key feature of your success and we want you to succeed. The role of the personal academic tutor in supporting your academic aspirations is a key feature of the course. This support continues throughout your degree through three core modules which aim to support your personal development.

For more details see our full glossary of learning and teaching terms.

During each year of your taught degree you will have 12 hours of teaching each week with a lecturer. If you undertake a dissertation or take the Law in Action module, you will receive nine hours of contact in a classroom setting, as well as further individual contact with the member of staff supervising the module.

In years 1 and 2 you will receive one hour of peer assisted learning (PAL) each week. All students can access the Academic Success Centre (ASC) for workshops and to arrange one-to-one sessions with tutors.

Assessments vary across the course, including problem and essay questions, examinations, research based assessments, reflection on skills acquisition, report writing, portfolio submission and presentations.

For more details see our full glossary of assessment terms.