Bachelor of Science in Criminological Sciences

Choosing the Criminology programme means opting for a challenging theoretical study programme, which is a far cry from training to become a police officer or a crime scene investigator (CSI). Instead, you will learn to reflect on criminological phenomena at a policy level. The multidisciplinary Criminology programme combines the study of sociology, criminal law, historical criticism, and psychology in order to understand criminal behaviour.

Bachelor's Programme
3 year 180 credits
Faculty of Law and Criminology
Dutch
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About the programme
Programme summary
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Off to a good start
Postgraduate studies

What

Nowadays virtually every newspaper or newsfeed contains references to some type of ‘criminal’ behaviour. The Criminology programme studies these forms of behaviour, as well as the processes leading up to and following it.

A criminologist studies a broad scope of transgressive and socially deviant behaviour. This includes organised crime, as well as various less visible forms such as economic, tax, and environmental crimes.

In so doing, criminology not only focuses on perpetrators, but also on public responses, the fate of crime victims, the social origin of criminal law, the functioning of the police, the prosecutor’s office, the magistracy and administration.

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For whom

Choosing the Criminology programme means opting for a challenging theoretical study programme, which is a far cry from training to become a police officer or a crime scene investigator (CSI). Instead, you will learn to reflect on criminological phenomena at a policy level.

Admission into the programme is not subject to specific prior knowledge. Our programme does require, however, an innate interest in human behaviour in conflict situations, in criminological phenomena, and in various types of deviant behaviour displayed by individuals as well as by groups.

Your approach to this field of study stems from a broad interest in different disciplines (such as psychology, sociology, criminal law, historical criticism, and history). You have a genuine interest in current events and in the national and international context in which criminality occurs.

You want to understand the processes that make human behaviour either punishable, or not. What reactions do criminality and deviant behaviour elicit, and what role does social control have to play? You want to look for the causes and explanations of deviant behaviour, criminality, feelings of insecurity, and nuisance. You are interested in the role of prevention and welfare work, and in the enforcement of criminal law.

To all these phenomena, you want to apply a theoretical and conceptual approach based on insights gained from academic research and international specialist literature (in English and in French). The methodological and statistical course units will teach you how to collect and process data. Such quantitative research goes hand in hand with statistics, so a sound knowledge of mathematics is a must!

Structure

  • Bachelor

The Bachelor's curriculum contains a number of general as well as methodological, criminological, and legal course units. Specific course units focus on points of interest in criminal policy. The Contemporary Criminology Project focuses on problem-solving thought and entrepreneurship. Both individually and in groups, you will develop a sustainable business model related to a real-life criminological problem. A second module is devoted to preparation for work placement, which takes place in the Master's programme. From the second year onwards, we offer a number of English-taught course units. This contributes to the further internationalisation of our study programme. Also from the second year onwards, you take on a number of electives, with a choice from programme-specific course units (methodological or legal course units), language course units, and discipline-specific jargon, and from other Ghent University Bachelor's programmes, such as Economics, Political Science, History, Communication Sciences, Psychology, Educational Sciences (including course units preparing for the Master of Science in Teaching).

  • Master

The Master's curriculum contains a 300-hour work placement. It is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge, skills, and professional attitude. In addition, the curriculum includes a number of course units on policy and you can take on four electives, including two English-taught special issues. For the remaining two electives you can choose from a programme-specific list or from other Ghent University Master's programmes. The Master's programme culminates in a Master’s dissertation dissertation.

A Bachelor’s degree in Criminology also gives access to other Master programmes than the ones mentioned here. Please take a look at the tab “Postgraduate Studies”.

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Labour Market

Criminology graduates have a wide range of interesting job opportunities in a large variety of sectors. They usually find employment at government agencies and non-profit organisations. In addition to the more traditional employment opportunities (police forces, penal institutions, and counselling), new job opportunities have arisen in the past few decades. Working for the government, for example, now includes positions as prevention officers or as victim support liaison officers, or positions in houses of justice, and in alternative sanctions. Additional job opportunities in the profit sector are on the rise: in the (private) security sector, for example, there is an increasing demand for criminologists in various management positions. In the financial sector, criminologists are often employed in positions dealing with fiscal compliance.
Take a look at our faculty website for career testimonials by Criminology graduates (in Dutch).