MA Criminology

Fees for entry in 2027 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2026 were as follows:

• MA (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £14,700
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £28,900

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students .
• Learn more about - fees and finance for international students .
• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

This course introduces students to key theoretical perspectives in criminology and develops a detailed, critical understanding of them. It encourages students to develop a contextualised understanding of the most significant positions and debates in crime and criminal justice research.

Indicative content: (1) Crime & the urban; (2) Anomie & strain; (3) Learning to commit crime?; (4) Crime and everyday life; (5) Control theory; (6) Labelling theory; (7) Gendered theories; (8) Critical criminology.

The unit aims to introduce students to key theoretical perspectives in criminology and to develop a detailed, critical understanding of them.

On completion of the unit, the student will have gained (1) a good grounding in the various theoretical approaches to criminological theory and an understanding of how some of these different strands are, at times, in conflict with other approaches; (2) the ability to critically assess the organizing concepts and substantive claims of key theoretical perspectives within criminology; (3) an appreciation of the conceptual dualisms associated with multi-level (e.g. micro/macro) approaches to explanation; (4) an understanding of the social, cultural and political contexts that impact upon theory formation ; (5) an awareness of how theories can be applied to various crime ‘problems’ – old and new.

Teaching methods will be flexible and allow us to adapt to changing conditions, however, the common intention across units is to provide a blended offer of the best in online and on-campus teaching that includes: (1) a workshop used for a range of discursive exercises; (2) high quality learning materials; (3) 1:1 support via a subject-specific contact hour.

Employability skills: In addition to subject-specific knowledge and understanding, Criminology units foster highly employable skills such as the ability to (i) analyse, critique and (re-)formulate a problem or issue; (ii) rapidly and thoroughly review/rate argument and evidence from targeted bibliographic searches; (iii) plan, structure and present arguments in a variety of written formats and to a strict word limit, (iv) express ideas verbally and organise work effectively in small teams for a variety of written and oral tasks; (v) obtain, manipulate and (re-)present different forms of data; (vi) manage time effectively; (vii) reflect on and improve performance through feedback.

Formative feedback (both individual and collective) will be given on (1) on tasks and contribution in class, (2) developing essay plans. Detailed summative feedback will be given on the submitted essay via Blackboard (Grademark).

Lilly, R., Cullen, F., and Ball, R., (any edition from 2000 to 2019) Criminological theory: context and consequences. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Assessment methods: This unit is summatively assessed by a 3000 word essay (worth 80% of the overall mark) plus a group presentation (worth 20%).

Study hours: Across their course units each semester, full-time students are expected to devote a ‘working week’ of 30-35 hours to study. Accordingly each course unit demands 9-10 hours of study per week consisting of (i)  teacher-led activities and sessions, (ii) preparation, required and further reading.

Part-time students study the same number of weekly hours per unit but take fewer units per semester.