Criminology and Sociology
Entry requirements
We welcome applications from students who are completing an Access to Higher Education Diploma. We normally look for applicants to have studied a course that is in a similar subject and offers are usually made in line with our published tariff point range.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
GCSE in English Language at grade 4 or C, or higher.
T Level
UCAS Tariff
About this course
- Become proficient at using both sociological and criminological approaches to solve complex problems in real casework on cold cases and case reviews
- Consider in-depth many aspects of human experience, including the sociology of deviance, social activism, and the context of crime
- Learn from a teaching team with wide ranging practitioner experience offering genuine insight into the criminal justice system
- Benefit from interactive and practical teaching approaches that bring theory and practice to life
- Our campus is friendly and compact with a community feel, offering first-class, sustainable facilities for learning and teaching.
Criminology has never been concerned solely with crime. Criminologists have always wanted to define the nature of crime and explain its social causes. Although you learn a lot about both criminology and sociology on our joint honours programme, the unique value of its interdisciplinary approach is that it provides deeper insights into the nature and origin of crime.
Over three years, you learn to apply both sociological and criminological theories to complex problems. You learn about the relationship of social inequalities and divisions to crime and deviance, and analyse the best ways to control crime. These might include new policing methods, but also potential changes to housing, welfare and education policies. Or it might mean developing new strategies for the work of the prison and probation services.
Year 1 is foundational and you are introduced to the key theories, concepts and perspectives within both criminology and sociology. These include Communities, Identities and Crime, and Social Policy.
In Year 2, you can focus on a range of sociological themes, such as human rights, youth studies, race, migration, the environment and climate change, while also studying criminological theory. You also develop an understanding of applied research skills and knowledge.
In Year 3, you explore more specialised aspects and undertake research into a topic of your choice to write a dissertation within either criminology or sociology. But there are also more opportunities to follow up a range of special interests, from Crime and Deviance, to Globalised Crime: Organised Crime and Cyber Crime in criminology, and from Substance Use and Misuse, to Ideology, Conflict and Terrorism, in sociology.
The interdisciplinary approach makes this degree suitable for many professions. You acquire sharp research and analytical skills and a broad social scientific base from which to explore a range of job opportunities. Graduates find careers in health and social care, education, marketing and PR, management and human resources, as well as the public sector, including agencies within the criminal justice system.
Modules
Please see the single honours course pages for modular structure. Usually combined honours study two modules from each subject to make up the four modules per semester (2 semesters) (8 modules per year.) These two modules are usually comprised of the core modules in 1st year and then core and optional modules in 2nd and 3rd year. You will find course specific leaflets as a PDF on our website, these give further details of modular structure for combined and single honours. It is normally possible to transfer to a single honours programme at the end of Year 1.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
University of Winchester
Department of Applied Criminology and Forensic Studies
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.
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)
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.
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
£23k
£25k
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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Course location and department:
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Teaching Excellence Framework (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?
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