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Social Policy with Criminology

Entry requirements


A level

B,C,C

Applicants can satisfy the requirement for the third A-Level Grade by substituting a combination of alternative qualifications recognised by the University.

Access to HE Diploma

D:12,M:30,P:3

Pass Access Course (120 credits) with an overall mark of 60%.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

You must satisfy the General Entrance Requirements for admission to a first degree course and hold a GCSE pass in English Language at grade C or above (or equivalent). The Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences will accept Essential Skills Level 2 Communication as equivalent to GCSE English Language.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

24

Overall International Baccalaureate profile minimum of 24 points (12 at higher level). Grade 4 in Higher or Subsidiary Level English Language is also required.

104 UCAS Tariff points to include a minimum of four subjects at Higher Level and one subject at Ordinary Level. English Grade H6 or above (HL) or Grade 04 or above (Ordinary Level) if not sitting at Higher Level.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DMM

RQF Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma Award profile of DMM We will also accept smaller BTEC/OCR qualifications (i.e. Diploma or Extended Certificate / Introductory Diploma / Subsidiary Diploma) in combination with A Levels or other acceptable level 3 qualifications. Note: BTEC Level 3 RQF Foundation Diploma, Diploma and Extended Diplomas in Children's Play, Learning and Development are not accepted. BTEC Level 3 RQF National Extended Certificate in Children's Play, Learning and Development is accepted To find out if the qualification you are applying with is a qualification we accept for entry, please check our Qualification Checker - https://www.ulster.ac.uk/study/entrance-requirements/equivalence We will also continue to accept QCF versions of these qualifications although grades asked for may differ. Check what grades you will be asked for by comparing the requirements above with the information under QCF in the Applied General and Tech Level Qualifications section of our Entry Requirements - https://www.ulster.ac.uk/study/entrance-requirements/undergraduate-entry-requirements

Scottish Advanced Higher

C,D,D

Scottish Higher

B,C,C,C,C

UCAS Tariff

104-111

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Criminology

Social policy

In an increasingly uncertain and fast-changing world, questions around human need, welfare, inequality and wealth distribution are to the fore of public discourse and affect all our lives. These debates are at the heart of social policy. In studying this degree, students will explore how concerns such as new social risks and precarity are experienced by individuals and communities and addressed by policy. These significant challenges require students to critically engage with historical perspectives and contrasting conceptual approaches. Students will also be expected to develop their understanding of the complexities of policy making and governance at regional, national and international levels.

Graduates have high employment rates, pursuing careers in the public sector, working in local or central government, helping to formulate policy, or manage key services. Some build careers in the voluntary sector and in campaigning organisations with a focus on social issues; others pursue a career in social research methods, as a research assistant or research officer, working as part of a team.

Graduates are well equipped with the skills to work in other areas such as management and research consultancy. Some proceed to further study, pursuing a PhD or one of a range of MSc degrees including Social Policy, Criminology and Health Promotion. This degree may give exemption from some aspects of study for those seeking professional qualifications in housing and health service management, and is a popular route into the fast-track social work qualification.

The BSc Hons Social Policy with Criminology degree programme provides a special opportunity to engage with social policy and criminology issues in Northern Ireland, particularly in the light of UK devolution developments and their social, political and economic implications. The major component of the course focuses on contemporary problems of poverty, inequality, discrimination, social welfare, service provision and social justice; and critically analyses social policy responses with a view to developing better mechanisms for addressing these problems.

Criminology, as the minor one-third of your degree, will introduce a range of ideas, theories and mainstream concepts of criminology and criminal justice, for example, crime and deviance, victims, sentencing, punishment, policing, terrorism, surveillance, and emergent ideas on state crime. These, coupled with knowledge of legal institutions and structures, will provide you with a wider understanding of criminology and criminal justice systems.

Students will study 6 modules each year: 4 modules at each level in Social Policy, the major subject; and 2 modules at each level in Criminology, the minor subject.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

England
£9,250
per year
EU
£16,320
per year
International
£16,320
per year
Northern Ireland
£4,750
per year
Republic of Ireland
£4,750
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Belfast

Department:

Jordanstown Campus

Read full university profile

What students say


How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Criminology

Sorry, no information to show

This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.


Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

99%
UK students
1%
International students
36%
Male students
64%
Female students
79%
2:1 or above
19%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
B

Social policy

Sorry, no information to show

This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.


Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

99%
UK students
1%
International students
20%
Male students
80%
Female students
66%
2:1 or above
25%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
B

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Sociology

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£15,600
low
Average annual salary
90%
low
Employed or in further education
30%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

16%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
14%
Welfare and housing associate professionals
13%
Other elementary services occupations

We have quite a lot of sociology graduates, although numbers fell last year. But graduates still do pretty well. Most sociology graduates go straight into work when they complete their degrees, and a lot of graduates go into jobs in social professions such as recruitment, education, community and youth work, and housing. An important option for a sociology graduate is social work - and we're short of people willing to take this challenging but rewarding career. Sociology is a flexible degree and you can find graduates from the subject in pretty much every reasonable job — obviously, you don't find many doctors or engineers, but you do find them in finance, the media, healthcare, marketing and even IT. Sociology graduates taking further study often branch out into other qualifications, like teaching, law, psychology, HR and even maths, so don’t think a sociology degree restricts you to just one set of options.

Social policy

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£17,000
low
Average annual salary
96%
med
Employed or in further education
38%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

18%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
14%
Other administrative occupations
13%
Caring personal services

Just over 1,600 students graduated in social policy in 2015, which makes it one of the smaller social studies subjects. This is a popular subject at Masters level — 750 Masters in social policy were awarded last year - and so a lot of the more sought-after jobs in management and research tend to go to social policy graduates with postgraduate degrees. For those who leave university after their first degree, then jobs in social care (especially community and youth work) and education, the police, marketing and human resources and recruitment are popular — along with local government, although there are fewer of those jobs around than in the past. This degree is a bit less reliant on London for jobs than other similar subjects, so if you'd like to work outside the capital, it might be worth considering - although the jobs still tend to be in big cities.

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You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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