Jump-start your career in the criminal justice sector with our specialist Policing and Criminology degree in Chelmsford.

Course highlights

Learn from staff with real-world experience: a significant part of your teaching will be delivered by active and former policing and criminal justice practitioners.

Get hands-on with the latest case studies and research, interactive sessions, opportunities for field trips and a one-year work placement.

Our links to local and national organisations, including police forces, will help you find work placements and engage with professionals.

Attend events organised by our International Policing and Public Protection Research Institute.

Our record £11million research grant from Research England puts us at the forefront of initiating cultural change in uniformed services.

Prepare for your career: build a portfolio and CV, hear from key criminal justice professionals, and attend employment fairs.

Explore the English legal and criminal justice systems, including the police, courts, prisons, probation, and youth justice system.

Youll discover the origins, ethos, and legal and ethical frameworks of the system, and complex issues such as media representation, public attitudes and the impact of crime on victims and offenders.

Youll also pick up key skills like research methods and investigative psychology, and take an in-depth look at recruitment processes in the sector - ensuring youre ready for professional life when you graduate.

Careers

Well help you work towards your career goals from day one. Through our relationship with regional police forces and practitioners, youll have opportunities to engage with professionals from the criminal justice sector through guest lectures (including those organised by our International Policing and Public Protection Research Institute), workshop events, study trips and research projects.

Well support you to get involved in justice causes and campaigns, charities and voluntary work that contributes to civic duty so you can gain relevant experience in the criminal justice system. Youll also boost your CV as you become proficient in critical analysis, research and communication.

You could also develop a specialism or start a career in research by taking part in our academic shadowing scheme or Cambridgeshire County Councils violence prevention analysis programmes.

What can you do with a Policing and Criminology degree?

Youll be well-equipped for a career in a number of public services, such as the probation service, prison service, police, the Home Office, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Court Service, youth offending teams and crime reduction partnerships.

The multidisciplinary nature of this course, and its focus on employability and transferable skills, can also open doors for you elsewhere, for example in adult guidance work, charity work, counselling, local government, political analysis, and legal careers.

Where have other Policing and Criminology graduates worked?

Our graduates go on to work in the police force, probation, prisons and youth justice, as well as the Border Force, the military, security, charities and NGOs, local government, and the public sector more generally. Others are using their skills in areas such as policy, PR, communication and the media.

STUDY OPTIONS

4 years with foundation year

4 years with placement