Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Criminology (Policing and Investigations) (with Placement Year)

at Middlesex University London United Kingdom

Our course combines broad theoretical skills of modern psychology practice with a focus on the neuroscientific explanations and research of human behaviour.

You’ll study in the psychology department which has some of the most high-tech equipment available. In our sector-leading laboratory, you’ll have access to all the facilities you would imagine from a top class lab – psychophysiological monitoring, electroencephalography (EEG), and more. Even in eventualities where we are unable to be in the laboratory or classroom together, we aim to use virtual tools to help you develop key practical skills.

The course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and you’ll have access to membership once you graduate with your psychology and neuroscience degree.

After graduation, you can choose to progress into postgraduate training or pursue a career in law, politics or teaching. Previous graduates have gone on to work with companies like Pro Star Academy, Royal Free Hospital, and more.

Learn in an active environment
Throughout your degree you’ll study the foundations of psychology and neuroscience, broadening your understanding and knowledge of the disciplines. You’ll learn by researching, analysing and processing complex data and real-life case studies.

Designed to give you a deep understanding of psychology, this course sets you up perfectly for further postgraduate training. It also teaches you transferable skills required for a career across a wide range of industries.

During the course you’ll also take part in a work placement so you can test the skills you've built up throughout your modules. This year long placement sets you up to succeed when you go on to your postgraduate career. A wide range of influential and established organisations are involved with the placement course, for example Great Ormond Hospital School, St Georges Hospital, Priory Hospital, Institute of Psychiatry, Institute of Education, University College London, Holloway Prison, and the Metropolitan Police.

Our criminal justice degree approaches the subject from a theoretical, research-informed, and practice-based perspective. This means that during your time studying you’ll gain an understanding of the criminal justice system and the different career paths you might want to pursue after graduation. This could be joining the police or opting to work for support services and charities that focus on policy and reform.

During your studies, you’ll explore the problem of crime, its causes and consequences and to examine in-depth the workings and effectiveness of the criminal justice system. We'll provide an inclusive learning experience that is intellectually engaging, challenging, supportive and respectful of students from all backgrounds.

Beyond the course itself, you’ll get access to some of the leading experts in the field as we have been at the forefront of criminological teaching and research since the 1970s. Studying here will provide you with links to several areas of professional employment, both nationally and internationally, in the criminal justice sector and regulatory bodies, as well as voluntary, health, education, and housing sectors.

This BA is an independent, studio-based programme which looks specifically at illustration as professional practice. Learn to challenge the boundaries of illustration in a creative studio environment with your peers, and discover where you can make a difference in the exciting world of illustration. You will have extensive access to some of the best workshop facilities in the country, including print processes such as etching, lithography, silkscreen, lino and monoprint, as well as a letterpress workshop and digital and traditional photographic studios and darkrooms.

We have an excellent record of success in international competitions. Past students have achieved many D&AD gold awards in a number of categories such as, Graphic Design, Illustration, Animation and Interactive design. We have also been shortlisted in the Macmillan Children’s Book Prize for many years, first prize in the 2012 Observer/Jonathan Cape/Comica Award, joint runner up in the Threadneedle Prize at Mall Galleries, and nominated for the Penguin Book cover prize.

We have strong links with the illustration industry, from publishers, illustration agents, and practising illustrators to graphic and packaging designers, magazine editors, App and Games Design.  As part of the course, you will enter international creative industry competitions and tackle many live briefs. Most recently students have produced a graphic novel and an online graphic novel for two museums and work for the BBC iWonder website and all year groups get to participate in an annual central London exhibition.

Gain specialist illustration skills

We ensure that you graduate from our course with the specialist skills you’ll need to approach agents, set up studios, and produce a website as you start on your career path. Many of our students go on to work in magazine publishing, editorial illustration, advertising, animation, and more. We have strong industry links with art and design employers. Industry partners sponsor final students as well as give visiting lectures while hundreds of agencies and organisations attend the final degree show each year.

Our course is unique in that as soon as possible, we will provide you with an individual workspace that you can treat as your own studio throughout your studies. Previous students have told us that this helped them with feeling creatively fulfilled. As part of your blended learning, you will also have access to our amazing workshops as illustration students often use the printmaking and digital media workshops, laser cutting and photographic studios.

In your second and third year, you'll have the opportunity to enter Creative Industry competitions such as the Macmillan's Children's Book Prize. Past graduates have won many yellow pencils in the D&AD while others have been shortlisted for the Folio Society and Macmillan children’s book prize.

During the foundation year you will learn how computers are used by a broad range of people and organisations as well as acquiring fundamental software development skills and knowledge of hardware. You also gain relevant mathematical and statistical skills and develop useful communication skills.

BEng Computer Systems Engineering

Computer Systems Engineering gives you the specialist skills, knowledge and hands-on experience you need to achieve your career ambitions. In today’s technically advancing world, improvements in electronics, computing and communications has a significant impact on every aspect of our modern lives. With our programme, you will gain the skills necessary to design the computer systems that shape the way we live.

Our flexible product design degree gives you the skills, project experience and professional networks to succeed in the field of product design engineering. With the flexibility to study a three-year BEng, or a four-year MEng, our product design engineering course gives you the skills, practical experience and confidence to develop your creative vision into real working products.

Using industry-standard software and hardware, you’ll learn the ins and outs of product design engineering and physical computing, while you develop the skills you need to combine aesthetic functionality with innovative technology, using the latest industry software and hardware equipped in our labs and workshops.

You’ll also get the work experience, advice, feedback and encouragement you need to start building your professional portfolio – and gain a competitive edge when it comes to launching your career.

Build your practical product design engineering skills

• You’ll enhance your career prospects through our guest lectures and live projects, graduate degree show, and the option of a year long work placement. Our London location gives you access to some of the UK’s most prestigious design companies – and our weekly guest lectures give you the chance to further enhance your industry knowledge and build contacts with some of the industry’s leading design experts.
• From your second year, you’ll have the option to switch to the creative (BA) route or to remain on the more technological (BEng/MEng) path for the remainder of your studies. If you’re applying for our four-year MEng course, you’ll begin work on your master's qualification as soon as you successfully finish your undergraduate study.

You enrol on a four-year course, which includes the one-year foundation course. If you complete this year successfully you progress directly onto our three-year media degree courses listed below. The number of students who progress to degree study are very high - in fact some of these students have gone on to become some of our most successful graduates.

BA Visual Effects

Our visual effects course gives you access to some of the best VFX facilities, studios and workshops in the country. Led by our team of experienced VFX professionals who’ve worked professionally on films including Avatar, Planet of the Apes and Happy Feet, you’ll learn the practical skills you need to succeed in the industry.

Computer Systems Engineering gives you the specialist skills, knowledge and hands-on experience you need to achieve your career ambitions. In today’s technically advancing world, improvements in electronics, computing and communications has a significant impact on every aspect of our modern lives. With our programme, you will gain the skills necessary to design the computer systems that shape the way we live.

The programme focuses on

• Theoretical knowledge skills, provided by a solid background into the theories and principles of computing, mathematics, science and engineering
• Building practical skills by applying these theories and principles in solving real-world technical engineering problems that reflect industry-practice
• Engaging students in the process of learning through various practical project-led learning activities that will stimulate their creativity and the development of leadership, project management, decision making, communication, team working, and critical thinking skills

Telecommunications engineering is a combination of electrical engineering and computer science. It covers the design, installation and maintenance of networks and equipment, allowing for the interconnectivity of devices and people. It's one of the world's most rapidly developing industries and this course has been designed to meet the growing demand for skilled graduates.

This course provides a thorough understanding of modern and future communication systems and offers the opportunity to develop relevant practical and theoretical knowledge necessary to be at the forefront of the rapidly evolving telecommunications sector where the demand for skilled graduates is very high.

Our strong links with industry have allowed us to develop a practically focused course, which is essential to the needs of the rapidly changing telecommunications industry. We work with companies such as Microsoft and Siemens, and we are a Cisco local academy – meaning you will have access to the latest equipment, and can make use of specialist teaching materials and workshops. The department is very active in cutting-edge research and you will be encouraged to learn, explore and work within our award-winning technology centre and telecoms laboratories. The labs are equipped with specialist hardware from National Instruments (NI), including the industry standard NI- USRP reconfigurable radio platform, and software such as MATLAB & Simulink, Cisco Packet Tracer, Riverbed Modeller, and EDX Signal Pro. Access to campus-based facilities will depend on Covid-19 related restrictions in place at the time. In some instances remote access to campus facilities or equivalent online facilities may be used instead.

If you're not already in work, you'll have the option of doing a placement for up to 12 weeks, during which you'll work on your independent final project. We are very closely linked to our alumni students who have been employed in the UK and abroad with companies like BT, Amelco Ltd, Alcatel-Lucent, ZS Associates, Symphony Teleca, and F5 Networks. Placements will be dependent on employer availability taking into account any Covid-19 related restrictions.

Course Highlights

• You will be taught by experts in diverse areas of research with contributions at international conferences and publications in journals
• Middlesex University is an official Cisco Academy and as part of your studies, you'll have the chance to work towards a Cisco CCNA professional certification
• The course is suitable for both recent graduates and IT/Engineering professionals who wish to further their knowledge
• As a student of this course you'll receive a free electronic textbook for every module.

The basis for a wide range of computer-based careers, computer science studies opens up opportunities across all sectors – from software development to systems engineering and everywhere in between. Our course helps you develop the skills, knowledge and experience that will attract employers and help you achieve your computer-based career goals.

You’ll gain an understanding of the key principles of computer science while you develop your programming, system engineering, and project experience skills. You’ll also get the support, encouragement and confidence to put your skills into practice through individual and group projects. Your first year will be entirely project led, ensuring you practice your skills from the very start.

In the past our students have worked on a project with the prestigious Pink Shoe Club , creating prototypes for a unique digital self-assessment tool.

The MA Youth Justice, Community Safety and Applied Criminology degree is designed for people working or seeking to work in the area of crime and criminal justice. It offers a detailed understanding of contemporary issues facing professionals and managers in the criminal justice system and of the changing roles and responsibilities of the agencies and practitioners which make up that system.

Delivered by leading researchers and drawing on the expertise of those currently working in the field, this degree provides both traditional academic provision in the form of lectures, seminars and tutorials and the opportunity to undertake up to a third of the course via work-based learning (for those already working in appropriate contexts) or an internship with an agency such as a Youth Offending Team, a Drug and Alcohol Support Service or a Community Safety Partnership.

• The core elements of the programme are delivered on one evening per week so as to allow for those in work to attend. The remainder of the programme is made up by either studying optional modules available during the daytime or (in the case of one module) via distance learning or by a combination of a long or short dissertation and/or the long or short work-based learning or internship modules.
• This flexibility, both in the choice of content as well as in the mode of delivery/learning, allows students to tailor the course as much as possible to their own needs. This includes the option to study the programme over one year full-time or two years part-time.

Course Highlights

• Study in a highly reputable criminology department with a long history in training the very best criminologists
• The option to complete up to a third of the course through work-based learning or an internship within a criminal justice agency
• Delivery by academic staff who are involved in pioneering research in the field including work on the links between victimisation and offending, 'status dogs' and gangs, online child safety, recent developments in probationary services, mental health and offending, joint enterprise and political violence and terrorism.
• Enjoy teaching that incorporates guest lectures delivered by experts working in the field of offender management, gang life and culture, urban policing, and prisoner care and welfare.