University of Salford
UCAS Code: M905 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Entry requirements
112 UCAS tariff points
112 UCAS Points From Access to HE Diploma
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
112 UCAS tariff points
112 UCAS tariff points
T Level
UCAS Tariff
112 UCAS tariff points
About this course
Criminology examines what behaviour is defined as criminal and who has the authority to define it. Often confused with forensic science, criminology focuses on the causes of crime and deviant behaviour, its impact on society, and how the criminal justice system responds, rather than on crime scene analysis, forensics, or criminal investigation.
As a research-led degree, criminology fosters analytical and critical thinking. It explores crime as a social construct and poses important questions such as: What are the individual and societal causes of crime and deviant behaviour? Who is more likely to commit a crime? Does offender rehabilitation work? Who is likely to become a victim of crime? Why are some dangerous behaviours criminalised while others are not? How does media attention impact crime and deviance? Additionally, criminologists investigate crime prevention, the purpose and effectiveness of punishment, and how the criminal justice system can improve its response to crime.
This course uniquely combines criminology with counselling studies, integrating two essential disciplines within the criminal justice system. Counselling plays a crucial role in supporting crime victims, addressing causes of offending, reducing re-offending, seeking restorative justice, and alleviating stress among practitioners. The counselling component of the programme will enhance your understanding of related issues and develop your competence in the person-centred counselling approach. You will gain a broad range of professional skills, including communication, reflective practice, self-awareness, research skills, mindfulness, and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)—all vital for your future career.
Modules
- **Year one:** Contemporary Challenges in Crime and Society, Counselling and Psychotherapeutic Approaches, Criminal Justice and Human Rights, Social Justice in Action, Therapy, Ethics and Human Rights, and Understanding Criminology.
- **Year two:** Theoretical Criminology, Intermediate Counselling Skills - 1, Intermediate Counselling Skills - 2, Research Problems and Methods: Qualitatively Better, and Research Problems and Methods: Making it Count.
- **Year three:** Dissertation, Work: Practice and Reflection, and a range of optional modules including Critical Perspectives on Policing, Critical Victimology, Environmental Justice, Human Rights, Genocide and Resistance, Internet Risk and Security, and Violence in Society. Additional options are the University Wide Language Programme, Crime, Society and Racialisation, Probation and Rehabilitation, Migration and Socio-Legal Dynamics, and Critical Approaches to (Counter) Terrorism. For counselling, you may choose from Counselling and Mental Health, Bereavement and Loss, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Skills, and Expressive Therapies. Criminology options include Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice, Prisons and Punishment, The Criminal Justice Process - Criminology with Counselling, and Violence in Society.
Assessment methods
A variety of assessment methods will be used, including essays, exams, presentations (both group and individual), reports, and an optional dissertation; in addition to traditional assessments, you will also engage with innovative formats such as video blogs, podcasts, and presentations.
The Uni
Peel Park Campus
School of Health and Society
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if the overall teaching satisfaction score here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
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
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Counselling, psychotherapy and occupational therapy
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
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.
Top job areas of graduates
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.
Counselling, psychotherapy and occupational therapy
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.
Top job areas of graduates
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
£20k
£22k
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.
Counselling, psychotherapy and occupational therapy
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£24k
£25k
£28k
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 is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.
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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
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Course location and department:
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.
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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