2024/25 entry
BA (Hons) Criminology with Foundation Year
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Minimum UCAS points required: TBC
Why study Criminology with Foundation Year at Liverpool John Moores University?
- Opportunity to undertake international fieldwork visits to places such as Ljubljana, Slovenia and Gothenburg, Sweden
- Excellent research-led teaching
- Opens up a diverse range of careers including probation work, youth justice, drug referral schemes, victim support, and police and prison services
About your course
The BA (Hons) Criminology at Liverpool John Moores University is taught by research active experts and offers exciting opportunities for international fieldwork.
This interdisciplinary BA course gives you the chance to look at criminology from the perspective of other disciplines such as geography, history, psychology, political science and sociology giving you a much broader understanding of the subject.
Throughout the course, you will be encouraged to develop your critical thinking skills by questioning what we mean by the terms crime, criminals, punishment and justice.
For example, how are such terms constructed and what are the implications for practice? In the third year, you will have an opportunity to choose option modules to explore crime and criminal justice across a range of issues and specialisms and to locate UK based developments and debates within an international context
Foundation Year
The Foundation Year is ideal if you have the interest and ability to study for a degree, but do not have the qualifications to enter directly onto the Criminology honours degree programme yet.
Once you pass the Foundation Year (level 3) you will progress directly onto the first year of the honours degree. If you are a full-time UK student, you will qualify for student financial support for the full duration of your course (subject to eligibility criteria).
Additional course costs
Residential field trips associated with the optional fieldwork module, at level 6, will include flights and bed and breakfast accommodation costs. Locations may be subject to change.
"There were a wide range of modules and the choice to shape the direction of your degree. The support was excellent with tutors always available to help with prompt feedback."
Fees and funding
There are many ways to fund study for home and international students
Fees
The fees quoted above cover registration, tuition, supervision, assessment and examinations as well as:
- Library membership with access to printed, multimedia and digital resources
- Access to programme-appropriate software
- Library and student IT support
- Free on-campus wifi via eduroam
Additional costs
Although not all of the following are compulsory/relevant, you should keep in mind the costs of:
- accommodation and living expenditure
- books (should you wish to have your own copies)
- printing, photocopying and stationery
- PC/laptop (should you prefer to purchase your own for independent study and online learning activities)
- mobile phone/tablet (to access online services)
- field trips (travel and activity costs)
- placements (travel expenses and living costs)
- student visas (international students only)
- study abroad opportunities (travel costs, accommodation, visas and immunisations)
- academic conferences (travel costs)
- professional-body membership
- graduation (gown hire etc)
Funding
There are many ways to fund study for home and international students. From loans to International Scholarships and subject-specific funding, you'll find all of the information you need on our specialist funding pages.
Employability
The choice of careers open to criminology graduates is diverse and exciting.
Your degree could be useful in a range of fields including:
- policy and administration
- government advice
- the children, young people's and youth justice workforces
- social work, prison and probation services
- research
- academia
- policing
- investigating miscarriages of justice
- media research
- crime documentary and fiction screenwriting/production
- writing and journalism
- teaching
- working in charities and community organisations
Student Futures - Careers, Employability and Enterprise Service
A wide range of opportunities and support is available to you, within and beyond your course, to ensure our students experience a transformation in their career trajectory. Every undergraduate curriculum includes Future Focus during Level 4, an e-learning resource and workshop designed to help you to develop your talents, passion and purpose.
Every student has access to Careers Zone 24/7, LJMU's suite of online Apps, resources and jobs board via the LJMU Student Futures website. There are opportunities for flexible, paid and part-time work through Unitemps, LJMU's in-house recruitment service, and we also offer fully funded Discovery Internships.
One-to-one careers and employability advice is available via our campus-based Careers Zones and we offer a year-round programme of events, including themed careers and employability workshops, employer events and recruitment fairs. Our Start-Up Hub can help you to grow your enterprise skills and to research, plan and start your own business or become a freelancer.
A suite of learning experiences, services and opportunities is available to final year students to help ensure you leave with a great onward plan. You can access LJMU's Careers, Employability and Start-up Services after you graduate and return for one-to-one support for life.
Go abroad
LJMU aims to make international opportunities available to every student. You may be able to study abroad as part of your degree at one of our 100+ partner universities across the world. You could also complete a work placement or apply for one of our prestigious worldwide internship programmes. If you wanted to go abroad for a shorter amount of time, you could attend one of our 1-4 week long summer schools.
Our Go Citizen Scheme can help with costs towards volunteering, individual projects or unpaid placements anywhere in the world. With all of these opportunities at your feet, why wouldn’t you take up the chance to go abroad?
Find out more about the opportunities we have available via our Instagram @ljmuglobalopps or email us at: goabroad@ljmu.ac.uk.
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What you will study on this degree
Please see guidance below on core and option modules for further information on what you will study.
This course is currently undergoing its scheduled programme review, which may impact the advertised modules. Programme review is a standard part of the University’s approach to quality assurance and enhancement, enabling us to ensure that our courses remain up to date and maintain their high standard and relevancy.
Once the review is completed, this course website page will be updated to reflect any approved changes to the advertised course. These approved changes will also be communicated to those who apply for the course to ensure they wish to proceed with their application.
Further guidance on modules
Modules are designated core or optional in accordance with professional body requirements, as applicable, and LJMU’s Academic Framework Regulations. Whilst you are required to study core modules, optional modules provide you with an element of choice. Their availability may vary and will be subject to meeting minimum student numbers.
Where changes to modules are necessary these will be communicated as appropriate.
Level 4
Core modules
Inside the Criminal Justice System
20 credits
This module will introduce you to the roles, agencies and institutions key to the operation of the Criminal Justice System. You will outline the decision-making mechanisms and how the Criminal Justice System operates in practice. Alongside this, you will also consider the range of possible outcomes arising from involvement with the Criminal Justice System and the impacts of this for individuals, groups and communities.
Level 5
Core modules
Contemporary Perspectives in Criminology
20 credits
This module will help you to understand the complexities of contemporary theoretical perspectives in criminology, moving beyond standard ‘textbook’ accounts of crime, deviance and/or social control. Using this knowledge you will be able to evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of contemporary accounts of crime and deviance in relation to their more established counterparts.
Level 6
Optional Modules
Dissertation – Part 1
20 credits
This module will ensure you develop a systematic understanding of the literature relevant to the object of study. You will then use this knowledge to develop a research proposal, complete the ethics form, and write the methodology chapter.
Dissertation – Part 2
20 credits
This module intends to develop your ability to critically evaluate and interrogate a body of knowledge in a manner conforming to the tenets of disciplined, lucid and critical scholarship. During the module, you'll be expected to critically apply the literature and method developed in 6200CRIM during your data collection process. You will use the data (quantitative and/or qualitative) obtained from your research project to critically explore the subject of crime, harm, social divisions, and/or social change.
Teaching and work-related learning
Excellent facilities and learning resources
We adopt an active blended learning approach, meaning you will experience a combination of face-to-face and online learning during your time at LJMU. This enables you to experience a rich and diverse learning experience and engage fully with your studies. Our approach ensures that you can easily access support from your personal tutor, either by meeting them on-campus or via a video call to suit your needs.
Teaching is delivered via a combination of lectures, workshops, seminars, online activities and one-to-one consultations with your tutors. You will also be expected to study independently and conduct your own self-directed research.
Work-related Learning
The degree provides opportunities for you to undertake supervised independent study on a Criminological issue of your choice, enabling the development of a wide variety of transferable skills and abilities essential for your future employability. For example, the Dissertation and Work Placement modules require students to identify an appropriate topic; develop a programme of study and present a clear, coherent and robust piece of written work. While the International Fieldwork module provides students with a unique opportunity to develop and improve these transferable skills within an international context.
Support and guidance
Dedicated personal tutor, plus study skills support
It is often useful to discuss course-related issues on a one-to-one basis and for this reason we will assign you a personal tutor for the duration of your studies at LJMU. Your tutor will also help you put together your personal development plan so that you can monitor progress and set your own targets. Module tutors also provide support in the form of online learning materials, course guides and one-to-one consultations if you need them, and there will be study skills sessions to help you prepare for assessments.
Assessment
Assessment varies depending on the modules you choose, but will usually include a combination of exams and coursework.
We understand that all students have different strengths and preferences when it comes to assessments, so we use a variety of methods to assess your work. These include:
- essays
- exams
- fieldwork projects
- reports
- case studies
- portfolios
- blogs and wikis
- workplace practice
- posters
- presentations (individual and group)
- debates
- reviews and group work
You will normally receive extensive written feedback on your assessments and regular verbal feedback.
All feedback is designed to help you achieve your full potential and get the most out of your studies, so staff will be available to discuss it with you and direct you to further support if you feel you need it.
Course tutors
Our staff are committed to the highest standards of teaching and learning
Dr Stephen Wakeman
Programme leader
My main research interests include drug use and drug policy, addictions, the criminological significance of various types of popular media, and progressive criminological theory (especially regarding its interface with contemporary continental philosophy). I am currently researching the ways in which popular media sources like television, film, comic books and video games have the capacity to shape and redirect criminological debates, as well as writing two monographs: one based on my PhD, the other on the complexities of doing criminological ethnography.
This degree provides opportunities for you to look at Criminology from the perspective of other disciplines such as geography, history, psychology, political science and sociology giving you a much broader understanding of the subject.
Facilities
What you can expect from your School
Based within the John Foster Building, in the Mount Pleasant Campus, the School of Justice Studies is a leading provider of education in Policing Studies, Criminology and Criminal Justice. We provide specific training for policing students wishing to enter the service as a graduate recruit. The John Foster Building has many outstanding facilities, including well-equipped IT Suites, a light-filled Student Common Room and dedicated study areas. At the back of the John Foster Building is the Aldham Robarts Library, where you have access to an exceptional range of materials to support your studies.
The university reserves the right to withdraw or make alterations to a course and facilities if necessary; this may be because such changes are deemed to be beneficial to students, are minor in nature and unlikely to impact negatively upon students or become necessary due to circumstances beyond the control of the university. Where this does happen, the university operates a policy of consultation, advice and support to all enrolled students affected by the proposed change to their course or module.
Further information on the terms and conditions of any offer made, our admissions policy and the complaints and appeals process.