MA Criminology
Canterbury, United Kingdom
MA
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
GBP 19,300 *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for EU and International| UK: GBP 10,000
Key Summary
If you want to explore crime and answer difficult questions with innovative solutions, our MA in Criminology is how you can get there. Criminology at Kent takes a 360 approach to investigating all aspects of crime, criminal behaviour, policy and justice systems in both UK and International contexts. You'll learn from a team of scholars and researchers internationally renowned for their world-class teaching and publications, but you don't just need to take our word for it. Criminology at Kent was ranked 3rd in the UK Times Higher Education Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021. This means you'll be kept up to date with all the latest developments in the field by the very people making them.
The atmosphere is informal and friendly and there is a lively and diverse postgraduate community. Regular staff/graduate seminars introduce you to the work of academic staff and research students as well as academic visitors and provide opportunities both for sociability and intellectual stimulation. The large number of academic staff and our favourable staff/student ratios mean that academic staff are readily accessible so you can get the support you need to do your best work.
Scholarship value
The award covers tuition fees, return airfares and living costs for a one-year taught Master's programme.
Deadline
Deadline for Commonwealth application: - 12 December 2024.
Hold an unconditional offer (with the only outstanding condition, international fee deposit) of a programme of study from the University of Kent - 31 January 2025
Criteria
To be eligible to apply for this scholarship, candidates must:
- Hold an undergraduate degree at UK first-class level equivalent.
- Be a citizen of or have been granted refugee status by one of the eligible Commonwealth countries listed or be a British Protected Person.
- Be a permanent resident in one of the eligible Commonwealth countries listed above.
- To be committed to the University of Kent, you can apply for more than one course and/or to more than one University, but you may only accept one offer of a Shared Scholarship.
- Not have studied or worked for one (academic) year or more in a high-income country.
- Be unable to afford to study in the UK without this scholarship.
- Return to their home country as soon as their period of study is complete. In some circumstances, a student may be permitted to remain in the UK if seeing doctoral study and satisfy certain strict conditions.
- Hold an offer by the deadline for a full-time postgraduate taught degree on one of the eligible courses at the University of Kent:
- MSc Artificial Intelligence
- MSc Infectious Diseases
- MSc Cyber Security
- MA International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
- MSc Applied Actuarial Science
- MSc Conservation Science
- MA English and American Literature
Further details
Commonwealth Shared Scholarships, set up by DFID in 1986, represent a unique partnership between the United Kingdom government and UK Universities.
Funded by the UK Department of International Development (DFID), Commonwealth Shared Scholarships enable talented and motivated individuals to gain the knowledge and skills required for sustainable development. They are aimed at those who could not otherwise afford to study in the UK.
These scholarships are offered under six themes:
- Science and technology for development
- Strengthening health systems and capacity
- Promoting global prosperity
- Strengthening global peace, security and governance
- Strengthening resilience and response to crises - Access, inclusion and opportunity.
How to apply
To be considered for the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship you must:
- Make a formal application for a postgraduate degree at the University of Kent commencing September 2025/26. This can be done online here.
- Complete the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) online application process. For information on how to do that and full details of the application process please go directly to the Commonwealth Scholarships webpages.
- Applications will be considered based on Academic Excellence and a completed application.
- The Commonwealth will accept applications until 12th December 2024 (closing at 16:00 GMT).
Stage 1
- Theoretical Criminology
- Design of Social Research
- Critical and Global Criminology
- Dissertation
The programme involves:
- The sociological study of crime and its application to criminal justice and social policy
- the study of issues at the cutting edge of current criminological debate with a strong emphasis on the cultural context of crime
- advanced criminological theory and research methods as applied to crime and criminal justice.
It also offers opportunities for you to develop your career in the areas of criminal justice, policy development and academic research.
We are constantly developing the modules available to you in line with current issues and staff expertise. Each year we announce new choices, for example, we have recently developed a module convened by Dr Erin Sanders-McDonagh which looks at the interplay of urban dynamics and criminological research.
Building on Kent’s success as the region’s leading institution for student employability we place considerable emphasis on you gaining specialist knowledge in your chosen subject alongside core transferable skills. We ensure that you develop the skills and competencies that employers are looking for including: research and analysis; policy development and interpretation; independent thought; writing and presentation as well as time management and leadership skills. You also become fully involved in the professional research culture. A postgraduate degree in the area of Criminology is a particularly valuable qualification that can lead to many exciting opportunities and professions.
Recent graduates have gone on to pursue careers across the criminal justice system, encompassing areas such as counter-terrorism, advocacy, probation, social policy and research. Our graduates have found positions in organisations such as the Civil Service, the Ministry of Justice, various police services and the Probation Service.