Master of Professional Psychology

at Griffith University - Mount Gravatt Campus Australia

When you choose law and criminology at Griffith, you'll be studying among the world’s best. Griffith ranked as the highest Australian university for law in the Academic Rankings of World Universities 2019, which includes both Griffith Law School and the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.  

This double degree is built on practical experience and taught by award-winning teachers and researchers, who will help you work towards your ideal job. You'll be immersed in authentic experiences and graduate with the networks and support to launch your career in law or criminology.

With this degree, you'll be a part of the leading school of criminology in Queensland. You'll learn from internationally recognised experts and industry leaders who bring their authentic and compelling crime experiences to your study.

In your first year, you'll learn about the current trends in crime in Australia and overseas. Academic and professional experts will explain proven ways that crime can be examined, prevented and reduced. You'll participate in courses that include the police, courts and criminal law, forensic psychology and homicide.

In your second and third years, you'll narrow your focus into a key area of criminology and criminal justice based on your interests and desired career. You can choose from elective courses in policing, corrections, working with offenders and victims, counter-terrorism, or crime analysis and investigation.

Industry and expert connections
In your final year, you'll have the option to complete a professional placement and gain practical experience, which helps expose you to potential careers of interest and employers. You may also have the opportunity to study abroad and gain invaluable learning and experience that can increase employment opportunities.

You will also have the opportunity to gain experience in cutting-edge criminological research through the Criminology Undergraduate Research Internship Program. You'll be mentored one-on-one by criminology experts and can select an internship to suit your interests from a diverse range of research projects. Internship opportunities are offered on a competitive basis three times a year and usually last four to six weeks. It's a priceless opportunity only available through Griffith.

In this double degree, you'll develop an understanding of the vital importance of human services within Australia's legal and social systems.

Through the human services component, you'll learn how to build a better future for individuals and families. You'll also be empowered by a greater understanding of the principles of social justice and social inclusion. In the criminology and criminal justice component, you'll learn about the causes of crime and how society responds to them through the justice system.

Industry and expert connections
Your study will include courses about policing, working with offenders and victims, and analysing and preventing crimes. You'll hear from academic and professional experts about how crime can be prevented and reduced.

You'll also undertake a range of courses to prepare you as a human services practitioner to create a more socially just world.  

You'll receive plenty of hands-on experience in your final year of study. Within a genuine human services environment, you'll put theory into practice in a supervised setting. This experience will enhance your skills in the workplace and get you ready to graduate job-ready.

Graduate Outcomes
You may find opportunities in policing and security, intelligence, probation and parole, child protection, crime analysis, courts and justice services, crime prevention and regulatory agencies.

You will be prepared for a career in areas such as law enforcement, working directly with offenders in welfare and counselling roles and in criminological research and policy roles.

Combining law with psychological science will give you a unique skill set that will prepare you for work either in the community sector or in commerce and industry. You will also develop analytical, research and communication skills.

Law Component
Griffith Law School offers a professional legal curriculum that focuses on core areas of legal practice and the legal skills that lawyers must have. You will have the opportunity to choose law electives based on your interests, including clinical courses that emphasise practical legal skills, insights and experience.

You will make connections between law and ethics, legal theory, Indigenous issues, and internationalisation. You will also develop interdisciplinary understandings of law and legal work.

You will take courses that cover areas such as Crime, Contracts, Property, Corporate Law, Torts and Theories of Law.

If you complete the five Canadian Law courses, you will eligible for entry into the legal profession in Canada's common law provinces, when accompanied by a Certificate of Qualification from the National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada.

Psychological Science Component
You will learn how to apply psychological theories to topics such as thinking and perceiving, motivation, stress, health, criminal activity, and group behaviour. You will also learn how to evaluate and understand tests that measure intellectual, behavioural and emotional states. You will develop interpersonal and communication skills and learn about the principles of counselling and core areas of psychology. You will learn how to help people with personal, health, vocational and social difficulties.

The Bachelor of Psychological Science will give you a thorough grounding in clinical, developmental, biological, cognitive, social and organisational psychology.

You will learn how to:

• Apply psychological theories to topics such as thinking and perceiving, motivation, stress, health, criminal activity, and group behaviour;
• Evaluate and understand tests that measure intellectual, behavioural and emotional states;
• Use interpersonal skills and the principles of counselling to help people with personal, health, vocational and social difficulties.

As an International student, you will receive dedicated support from your arrival in Australia through to your departure after graduation. You will be introduced to Griffith through an orientation program, and receive ongoing social, personal and academic support throughout your degree.

Understanding human behaviour and what makes people tick is a crucial skill in the world of criminology and justice. With this double degree, you'll be prepared for a range of crime-related career opportunities with a focus on the psychological side of criminology. You'll also learn about the trends in crime control, along with new tactics and techniques for solving crime.

Industry and expert connections:-
At Griffith, criminology has always had a strong industry connection and a high level of cooperation from police agencies and other crime-related bodies. This double degree continues the tradition with a multitude of opportunities to meet with and hear from industry experts. In your final year, you'll have the option to complete a professional practice placement one day a week in a justice-related workplace.

Graduate Outcomes:-
Combining criminology with psychological science will give you the skills and understanding needed to deal with the human behaviour of crime. You'll find work in probation and parole, community corrections, family services, counselling, child protection, program and policy development, research and administration. There are also opportunities for crime trend analysis and the role of psychology in crime prevention.

The Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Honours) is designed for students who want to hone their knowledge and skills through research.

You'll gain research training at a standard that will prepare you for postgraduate studies in justice administration, criminal justice or criminology. You'll also learn about advanced theoretical concepts and policy debates in contemporary criminology - setting you up to access a career at more than an entry-level position in the criminal justice system.

Your research will help to identify the social issues that lead to crime. You'll also learn to understand what makes criminals tick as well as how to minimise the negative impacts of crime on society.

Industry and expert connections
At Griffith, criminology has always had a strong industry connection and a high level of cooperation from police agencies and other crime related bodies. This Honours degree continues the tradition with a multitude of opportunities to meet with and hear from industry experts.

Graduate Outcomes
This degree sets you to enter the criminal justice system in a broader and usually higher range of rewarding roles such as an analyst or program design consultant - careers where the ability to do independent research is key. It also offers you a great pathway into a PhD, a Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Honours) puts you one step ahead.

Graduates will gain skills in providing professional counselling to assist others in resolving personal or professional problems. Working in the counselling profession involves guiding and empowering people to develop self-understanding and to make changes in their lives in order to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals. They assist people by offering them a structured and focused way of addressing their problems, and work with clients on developing strategies to overcome obstacles and personal challenges that they are facing.

Combining business with psychological science can give you the skills and knowledge needed to work as a specialist providing advice to organisations on management and personnel issues, and helping them develop training programs, set policies, or manage organisational change.

In this specialised double degree, students will learn about the causes of crime and society's response to it, whilst developing a core of IT technical knowledge related to Information Systems and Network Security.

Graduates of the program will have a broad and coherent body of knowledge in the fields of criminology and criminal justice, including an in-depth understanding of various theoretical frameworks underpinning the study of criminal behaviour, victimisation and criminal justice responses to crime, and crime prevention.

Additionally, students will have a broad and coherent body of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) knowledge, with depth in the underlying principles and concepts in ICT problem solving (i.e., how to use modelling methods and processes to understand problems, handle abstraction and design solutions), ICT professional knowledge (i.e., ethics, professionalism, teamwork concepts and issues, interpersonal communication, societal issues/legal issues/privacy, history and status of discipline), technology building (i.e., programming and human-computer interaction), and/or technology resources (i.e., hardware and software fundamentals, data and information management, and networking).