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Criminology and Sociology

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,C

BBC in three A levels

Access to HE Diploma

M:15

112 UCAS points in any Access to HE Diploma including Distinction in at least 15 Level 3 credits

GCSE/National 4/National 5

You will also need: an English language qualification

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

29

554 in three Higher Levels or 29 points

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DMM

DMM in any BTEC Extended Diploma / National Extended Diploma

T Level

M

Merit in any T level

UCAS Tariff

112

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

About this course


This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Other options

4 years | Sandwich including industrial placement | 2024

4 years | Sandwich with time abroad | 2024

Subjects

Criminology

Sociology

Criminology and Sociology at Keele covers the core, grounding concepts of Sociology whilst exploring the various areas of the criminal justice system including policing, prisons, and rehabilitation. Keele was at the forefront of offering a named Bachelor's degree in Criminology in the UK and has many years experience of teaching Criminology to undergraduate students. In Criminology and Sociology we are committed to innovative, imaginative, and problem-solving approaches, you will be encouraged to become an independent and critical thinker.

**Why choose this course?**
- Global Top 300 for Social Sciences (Times Higher Education World University Subject Rankings, 2022)

- Keele was the first UK university to offer a named undergraduate degree in Criminology

- Option to study abroad to experience a different culture and society at a partner university

- Sociology is taught by specialists in areas such as migration, cultural studies, consumer culture, family, anthropological perspectives, and environmental sociology

- Criminology explores specialisms such as policing, prisons, drugs and alcohol dependency, youth justice, probation and transnational crime

This combined honours degree allows you to consider major global challenges through both a sociological and criminological lens.

Within the Sociology element of the programme, you will gain insight into various aspects of the social world and how these areas influence the social challenges faced by individuals. You will explore topics such as ethnicity, class, migration, and feminism, and consider the historical explanations and developments for these areas in the contemporary world. You will investigate how these topics promote inclusion in society or create social divisions based on different opinions and experiences. This will encourage you to have an analytical approach to different theories and explanations and develop fair arguments based on data and your individual critical viewpoint.

Within Criminology you will explore what crime is and how it is defined by the law and public opinion. You will build your awareness of a range of different perspectives and explore why it is important to think about crime, its impacts and how it could be prevented in future.

You will research the theoretical explanations to understand the motivations for criminal behaviour and the subsequent investigation process. You will consider the many factors that may influence a person to commit crime such as socio demographic issues, peer groups and culture. You will evaluate how these influencing factors may differ internationally, for example, what is perceived to be a crime and the way it is controlled and dealt with by authorities across the globe.

**About Keele**

Keele University was established in 1949 by the former Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Founded to meet the needs of a changing world, Keele has always had a pioneering vision to be a different kind of university.

We excel in both teaching and research, with some of the most satisfied students in England, and research that is changing lives for the better at a regional, national and global level.

Our beautiful 600-acre campus is one of the biggest in Britain – but all the most important services and facilities are on your doorstep, with accommodation, teaching spaces, facilities including a medical centre, sports centre and pharmacy, and a range of shops, eateries and entertainment venues – including the Students’ Union – clustered around the centre.

Modules

For a list of indicative modules please visit the course page on the Keele University website.

The Uni


Course location:

Keele University

Department:

Keele (Central)

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

72%
Criminology
72%
Sociology

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Sociology

Teaching and learning

77%
Staff make the subject interesting
84%
Staff are good at explaining things
78%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
66%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

78%
Library resources
85%
IT resources
81%
Course specific equipment and facilities
60%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

98%
UK students
2%
International students
21%
Male students
79%
Female students
72%
2:1 or above
13%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
B
C

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Sociology

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£18,000
med
Average annual salary
99%
high
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

20%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
12%
Childcare and related personal services
8%
Caring personal services

We have quite a lot of sociology graduates, although numbers fell last year. But graduates still do pretty well. Most sociology graduates go straight into work when they complete their degrees, and a lot of graduates go into jobs in social professions such as recruitment, education, community and youth work, and housing. An important option for a sociology graduate is social work - and we're short of people willing to take this challenging but rewarding career. Sociology is a flexible degree and you can find graduates from the subject in pretty much every reasonable job — obviously, you don't find many doctors or engineers, but you do find them in finance, the media, healthcare, marketing and even IT. Sociology graduates taking further study often branch out into other qualifications, like teaching, law, psychology, HR and even maths, so don’t think a sociology degree restricts you to just one set of options.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Sociology

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£19k

£19k

£22k

£22k

£23k

£23k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here