Criminology and Criminal Psychology
MSc
Postgraduate
September 2025
Overview
The MSc in Criminal Investigation develops your knowledge of key aspects of contemporary criminal investigation.
We live in a world where issues in criminal investigation take centre stage in the media - just think of cases like that of Sarah Everard or Liam Allen. Throughout this course, you will be able to gain a thorough understanding of best practice and challenges of known but also lesser-known topics, through a combined academic and practitioner perspective.
This course is suitable for current professionals who would like to deepen their understanding or update their knowledge as well as for those just embarking on a career within criminal investigation. We have always had very high student satisfaction across all our different criminal investigation provision and continue to develop courses further to ensure you are provided with the most up-to-date knowledge.
You'll cover key legal, social and political issues as well as contemporary issues within criminal investigation, and police investigative response to public protection. Your dissertation then enables you to research a criminal investigation topic of your choice and you will be supervised by an expert in the area.
We have a track record of criminal investigation education and research spanning over two decades, and have the expertise that you need to really appreciate the complexities and intricacies of criminal investigation in the contemporary era.
Why study MSc Criminal Investigation?
- This course prepares you for a career in policing, and can also enable you to gain employment or or advance your career in other public and private sector investigative roles.
- You will be taught by academics, as well as professionals from varied backgrounds.
- As part of the course, you will be able to make full use of our new facilities, including our Hydra Suite.
- Upon successful completion of the course, you can continue your studies with us – we provide supervision within the criminal investigation area at a PhD level.
- Study within the School of Law, Policing and Social Sciences which will enable you to gain a well-rounded understanding of criminal justice from a variety of perspectives.
As a Crown Prosecution Service lawyer, I wanted to find out more about the complex nature of criminal investigation. Being able to research around child abuse survivor interviewing at a postgraduate level really opened my eyes to how academia and practice need to work in unison. I can only recommend embarking on your postgraduate study in criminal investigation.
Susanna Mitchell, Senior Crown Prosecutor
Entry requirements
Our standard offer for accepting students onto this programme is a good honours degree (2.2 or above). Applicants from a range of undergraduate subjects will be considered.
This is in addition to a brief personal statement outlining interest and areas of specialism being considered, as well as a complete CV. The University has a well-established Accreditation of Prior Certificated Learning (APCL) and Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) structure in operation. Students without previous qualifications may be accepted as part of this process.
If you are unsure whether your qualifications are appropriate you can contact our postgraduate admissions team.
If English is not your first language you require an IELTS overall score of 6.0 with no element below 5.5 for most standard undergraduate and postgraduate courses. There are some exceptions and if the IELTS requirement differs it will be specified on the course page.
Module information
Core/optional modules
*Modules subject to approval
How you’ll learn
You will be taught via a variety of methods. This includes lecture -style input surrounding key theories and issues, as well as interactive, seminar-based discussions to deepen your understanding and be engaged in your own learning. The vast majority of input is face-to-face at our Canterbury campus with some online learning relating to the research methods module. On average, you should expect ten hours per week to be contact hours (e.g. lectures, seminars, tutorials).
It is key that you engage and take charge of your own learning during your MSc course. We expect, on average, that you will spend approximately 4-5 hours per each contact hour studying independently. This include ensuring you understand materials presented, engaging with provided reading, tasks, and other guided learning, as well as ensure that you take initiative to look beyond materials provided to you.
If you are studying this MSc as a full-time student, you should see it as a full-time job with the same commitment requirements. Whilst furthering your academic knowledge can be more flexible, it is important that you do account for it being the equivalent of any other full-time position.
You will be taught by a variety of academics, professionals and other relevant persons. Staff within the school have postgraduate qualifications, including PhD qualifications and professionals from across the sector have vast amount of experience and accreditation relevant to their profession. You might also be taught by current PhD students who can introduce you to their area of research.
How you’ll be assessed
You’ll be assessed through a variety of strategies throughout the course which will include written assessments encouraging you to develop your critical, analytical and problem-solving skills – you will need to utilise high level evidence, alongside case studies and reports.
Your future career
If you are a current working professional, this course will enable you to further your current career and may be useful when seeking promotion. Equally, you might be in a transitional period in your career and seeking to explore other areas of criminal or social justice, where criminal investigation knowledge might be key (e.g. missing persons, Independent Office for Police Conduct, Criminal Cases Review Commission, and more).
If you are not a current working professional, and are just now embarking on your career, this course provides you with a wealth of opportunities within the public, private and third sectors. A career in the police, as well as oversight agencies or private sector departments dealing with sections of criminal investigation are all feasible options for your future.
You can also choose to continue your studies with us – we provide supervision within the criminal investigation area at a PhD level.
Related courses
Fees
Government loans are available for some postgraduate Master’s courses. Loans are subject to both personal and course eligibility criteria.
The rules around course eligibility mean that in some cases it may depend on how you are studying (full-time or part-time) as to whether you can apply for a postgraduate loan. To check whether your course is eligible, you can email the Student Fees Team or call 01227 923 456.
Tuition fees for this course
| UK | Overseas | |
| Full-time | £9,545 | £15,500 |
20% Alumni Discount
We offer alumni discounts on CCCU Postgraduate Taught, PGCE Primary and Secondary, and Master's by Research courses for eligible students.
Find out if you're eligible for the discount.
Important Information on Tuition Fees
Tuition fees for all courses which last more than one academic year are payable on an annual basis, except where stated.
There will be an annual inflationary increase in tuition fees for this course where the course lasts more than one academic year. For further information read the Tuition fee statements and continuing fee information.