- UCAS course code
- VL53
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Bachelor of Arts (BASS)
BASS Philosophy and Criminology
Duration: 3 or 4 years
Year of entry: 2025
UCAS course code: VL53 / Institution code: M20
- Key features:
Study abroad
Industrial experience
- Typical A-level offer: ABB including specific subjects
- Typical contextual A-level offer: BBC including specific subjects
- Refugee/care-experienced offer: BBC including specific subjects
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 34 points overall with 6,5,5 at HL, including specific subjects
Fees and funding
Fees
Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £26,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.
Policy on additional costs
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).
Scholarships/sponsorships
Scholarships and bursaries, including the Manchester Bursary , are available to eligible home/EU students.
Some undergraduate UK students will receive bursaries of up to £2,000 per year, in addition to the government package of maintenance grants.
You can get information and advice on student finance to help you manage your money.
Course unit details:
Making Sense of Criminological Data
| Unit code | CRIM20441 |
|---|---|
| Credit rating | 20 |
| Unit level | Level 2 |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 1 |
| Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
Data – including crime data - is everywhere today and affects all aspects of everyday life. This being the case, it is important that we possess the ability to make sense of these data, and to use them to draw meaningful conclusions about the world around us. This course is designed to get you working with real-world data related to crime and criminal justice, and gives you new skills and confidence in manipulating, visualising and interpreting it.
Indicative content: (1) Data sets & variables; (2) Describing & visualising single variables; (3) Making comparisons – the basics; (4) Concepts, operationalisation, measurement; (5) Making comparison – research design; (6) Data visualisation; (7) Looking at trends (8) Qualitative methods 1; (9) Qualitative methods 2; (10) Course review & project support.
Aims
The unit aims to (1) introduce students to quantitative and qualitative sources of information on issues of relevance to criminology, social policy, and other social science disciplines; (2) introduce students to the principles underlying statistical and qualitative analysis; (3) develop students’ basic skills in producing, interpreting, writing up, and visualising the results of data analysis; (4) equip students with basic skills using software for data analysis ; (5) provide students with the skills necessary to critically evaluate both academic and media accounts of statistical and qualitative research.
Learning outcomes
On completion of the course, the student will be able to (1) identify some key data sources in criminology and other areas of social policy; (2) demonstrate a critical awareness of key data quality issues and how they are linked to research design decisions; (3) produce, read, and interpret quantitative information in the form of tables and graphs; (4) understand basic exploratory data analysis and principles of good data visualisation; (5) understand the different levels at which social and personal characteristics (variables) are measures and how resulting data are distributed; (6) Become aware of the range of existing qualitative data and basic approaches to their analysis.
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching and learning across course units consists of: (1) preparatory work to be completed prior to teaching sessions, including readings, pre-recorded subject material and online activities; (2) a weekly whole-class lecture or workshop; (3) a tutorial; and (4) one-to-one support via subject specific office hours.
Employability skills
- Other
- (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.
Assessment methods
| Method | Weight |
|---|---|
| Other | 20% |
| Written assignment (inc essay) | 80% |
The course is assessed by means of weekly homework submissions (20%) and a 2500-word project report (worth 80%) .
Feedback methods
Formative feedback (both individual and collective) will be given on tasks and contribution in class. Summative feedback will be given on both assessed components via Blackboard (Grademark).
Recommended reading
Blastland, Michael, and Andrew W. Dilnot (2008) The tiger that isn’t: seeing through a world of numbers. London: Profile books.
Study hours
| Scheduled activity hours | |
|---|---|
| Practical classes & workshops | 20 |
| Seminars | 10 |
| Independent study hours | |
|---|---|
| Independent study | 70 |
Teaching staff
| Staff member | Role |
|---|---|
| Nico Trajtenberg | Unit coordinator |
Additional notes
Across their course units each semester, full-time students are expected to devote a ‘working week’ of around 30-35 hours to study. Accordingly each course unit demands around 10-11 hours of study per week consisting of (i) 3 timetabled teacher-led hours, (ii) 7-8 independent study hours devoted to preparation, required and further reading, and note taking.
Information
Restricted to: BA (Criminology) students for which this subject is compulsory, also available to students across the Faculty of Humanities depending on the availability of places. Students in the criminology pathways of BASS will be given priority.
This course is available to incoming study abroad students university wide.
Pre-requisites: We assume in our teaching that students have previously taken a course on research methods covering basic principles of data collection and research design. Although the course focuses on criminological data the techniques and ideas covered here can be used in other social science contexts. No criminological knowledge is required for taking this course unit.
Timetable
See Law School timetable