Criminology MA

Year of entry: 2025

Course length: 12 months Full-Time | 24 Months Part-time

About the course

The course equips you with the intellectual, critical, and analytical skills needed for understanding and applying criminological theories and concepts in practice. It also provides an in-depth understanding of the interactions between politics, criminology and criminal justice, and the impact of public policy in these areas.

This innovative course is taught by experts from sociological, legal, and psychological backgrounds with real-world experience. You will benefit from research-led teaching, as well as strong links to wider criminal justice professions and industry. The course suits students who are interested in a career straight after the MA. If you are interested in postgraduate research, the MRes Criminology course is more suitable.

See the full course profile on our website >

Discover unique research on emerging criminological frontiers like cybercrime, food crime, modern slavery, predictive policing, and genocide

Learn the intellectual, critical and analytical skills needed to apply criminological concepts in practice

Our graduates are among the most targeted by top UK employers

(High Fliers 2024)

Compulsory Units

Criminal Justice Research & Policy
Evaluating Policy & Practice
Advanced Theoretical Criminology
Research Design
MA Dissertation

Optional Units

PG Crime Mapping: an introduction to GIS and Spatial Analysis
Comparative Criminology
White-Collar and Corporate Crime
Necrocriminology: Human Remains and Mass Violence
Drugs: Markets, Policies and Consumption

These are examples of units offered in 2023/24 and are subject to change.

See the full list of units and find out more on the full course profile >

Where will your degree take you?

Our Criminology degrees allow you to develop a variety of highly transferable skills, including analytical, research, problem-solving and communication skills, which are in high demand for a wide variety of different roles.

Our graduates go on to work for local or central government and criminal justice agencies, in NGOs, and in pressure groups and think tanks, amongst other exciting career paths. Another popular route is academia and research at Manchester or at another top university.

Prerna Meshram

MA Criminology

"When I came across the programme website, I was quite taken aback with the fees, the professors, and the modules the university provided. I was looking for modules such as Understanding Violence, Crime Mapping and Data Analysis across the UK but could not find them anywhere else. I was lucky to find every module I wanted at Manchester and the professor’s expertise is something that motivated me to apply. I loved every aspect of being a student because when I was struggling academically or mentally there was always support available which makes you feel safe and assured."