University of Bedfordshire has participated in the Teaching Excellence Framework. These ratings were awarded in 2023, for four years.
Course summary
Our accredited course brings to life this exciting field, exploring how psychology can help us understand the minds of offenders, criminal behaviours and why people commit crimes, with reference to specific crimes. You also focus on crime investigation and what happens in the courtroom in areas such as eyewitness behaviour; detecting deceptive behaviours; and exploring how juries reach their verdicts. In your final year, you develop the advanced skills needed to assess offenders and put in place interventions. Foundation Year In the Foundation year you will study three days per week. The focus will be on academic writing skills and numeracy, plus subject-specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree. It provides a balance between content related to your chosen subject and the range of wider skills required for undergraduate study. This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will be required to pass the foundation year in order to progress to the first year of your degree. This course is ideal for those who do not meet our standard entry requirements or those with a non-standard educational background. It will allow you to graduate with a full undergraduate degree in your chosen subject in four years. Course Accreditation/Industry Endorsement This course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS). Graduating from a BPS-accredited degree with a 2nd-class Honours or above makes you eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) of the Society. Facilities and Specialist Equipment You have access to a range of specialist, industry-standard psychology laboratories and computing environments including:
- Cognitive neuropsychology lab
- Virtual reality lab
- Research cubicles
- Driving simulator
- Eyetrackers
- Physiological data-acquisition system
- EEG
- Podcasting equipment
- Data-analysis software
- Experiment and survey-building software
- Our specialised forensic psychology units have been developed with a panel of industry professionals including from the probation service and police. They help to inform our authentic assessment strategy, which means your assignments reflect real-life tasks.
- Benefit from friendly, approachable staff, small class sizes and easy access to academic support.
- Get to know your peers and academics well by taking part in the School’s many social events, which run throughout the academic year in a dedicated space for psychology students.
- Learn from a highly experienced team who are active in the criminal justice sector, bringing real-life practice to their teaching and research.
- Take up the opportunity to apply your knowledge and new skills on placement such as working with our local probations service.
- Develop your professional research skills working on cutting-edge research projects with our academic staff through our Junior Research Assistant Scheme.
- Our research addresses real-life, day-to-day issues including the accuracy of eyewitnesses in identifying criminals; reading development; cognitive function in long COVID; and prevention of gender-based violence.
- Conduct supervised research on a forensic topic of your choice, and present it to your peers and psychology professionals at our annual Student Research Conference.
- Enjoy field trips to a range of organisations and locations including Luton Crown Court where you will observe real-life cases from the public gallery.
- Hear from guest speakers who share their experience and expertise at special events run by the School.
Modules
Areas of study include:
- Foundations to Psychology
- Introduction to Psychological Research Methods and Data Analysis
- Psychology and Criminal Behaviour
- Psychology in Every Day Life
- Biological and Cognitive Psychology
- Methods of Research in Psychology
- Psychology and Criminal Justice
- Social Processes and Lifespan Development
- Culture and Individual Differences
- Forensic Psychology in Practice
- Forensic Psychology Research Project
- Atypical Child and Adolescent Development: Theories and Applications
- Cognitive Neuropsychology
- Critical Social Psychology
- Occupational and Organisational Psychology
- Problem Solving
- Psychology of Language and Vision
- Psychology of Mental Health
Assessment method
Throughout your degree you will encounter a wide variety of types of assessment collectively designed to suit the variety of individual learning styles. Each assessment will provide the opportunity to offer you feedback to help with your development and inform the completion of your future assessments. There will be an opportunity in each year of your study to develop and refine a number of key academic skills, many of which will be transferable to the workplace. These include team-working, report writing, oral presentations, constructing coherent written arguments, the ability to analyse, synthesise and evaluate complex information from a range of sources, reflective writing as well as personal and professional development planning. Whilst you will be expected to undertake a few examinations, the assessment diet is more heavily weighted in favour of coursework assignments. The teaching reflects the BPS core curriculum with an emphasis on research and research methods as well as the other core areas of a Psychology curriculum. Every effort is made to ensure this information is accurate at the point of publication on the UCAS website. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to our website: https://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/courses/undergraduate/next-year/forensic-psychology/
Professional bodies
Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.
- British Psychological Society
How to apply
31Jan
This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.
Application codes
- Course code:
- C10F
- Institution code:
- B22
- Campus name:
- Luton Campus
- Campus code:
- D
Points of entry
The following entry points are available for this course:
- Foundation
Entry requirements
Qualification requirements
UCAS Tariff - 32 - 48 points
A level - C - B
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Access to HE Diploma
GCSE Maths grade C or 4 or higher. Applicants with other qualifications and/or work experience will be considered. If you would like to check that your qualifications will be accepted please contact the university.
Student Outcomes
Operated by the Office for Students
Employment after 15 months (Most common jobs)
Go onto work and study
The number of student respondents and response rates can be important in interpreting the data – it is important to note your experience may be different from theirs. This data will be based on the subject area rather than the specific course. Read more about this data on the Discover Uni website.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
| England | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Northern Ireland | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Scotland | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Wales | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Channel Islands | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Republic of Ireland | £9250 | Year 1 |
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .
Additional fee information
For information on the 2024 fees please refer to our website, https://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/money/fees/
Provider information
University of Bedfordshire
Park Square
Luton
LU1 3JU