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SSC301
Discovering Your Inner Academic
30 credits
In this module, students will learn the core academic and organisational skills required to succeed at university. They will benefit from a range of skill development sessions and subject-specific seminars, allowing them to practice applying the delivered academic skills in the context of their field of study.
100% Coursework
SSC302
Individual Project
30 credits
Students will undertake, with supervision, an individual project related to their degree programme. Staff will guide students through the process of defining, planning, and setting up their project. As part of the module, students will gain research and time management skills that will support their successful progression through their degree programme.
100% Coursework
SSC303
Crime and Deviance
30 credits
This module will introduce students to the main institutions and processes of the legal system and criminal justice in England and Wales, while developing key transferable skills related to the study and practice of law and criminal justice.
100% Coursework
SSC304
Human Rights and Social Justice
30 credits
Through the lens of human rights and social justice is module will introduce students to a foundational sociological understanding of the structure and organisation of society; and to the main institutions of domestic and international government, and the theories and concepts used by political science to study them.
100% Coursework
LAW4007
Legal Systems and Skills
20 credits
An overview of the English Legal System with reference to the criminal and civil legal processes and procedure. An introduction to the relationship between English law and procedure in a wider international context. To introduce an understanding of the requisite legal, transferrable and practical skills that underpin the study of law, including basic issues of ethical and professional conduct.
100% Coursework
LAW4008
Public Law
20 credits
This module focuses on Constitutional and Administrative Law, examining fundamental theories and principles, and their application and practice within the British constitution.
100% Coursework
LAW4009
European Union Law
20 credits
This module focuses on the law of the European Union, exploring aspects such as, for example, its institutional infra-structure, legal sources, preliminary rulings, key principles and means of enforcement
100% Coursework
LAW4010
Contract Law
20 credits
An introduction to the law of contract through study of the essential elements in contract formation. This module then considers the nature and relative significance of contractual terms.
100% Examinations
LAW4011
Tort Law
20 credits
The Law of Tort is concerned with the creation and imposition of civil rights obligations on people generally. It is focused on the legal protection of a number of key rights, such as the right to bodily integrity, reputation, enjoyment of property and privacy amongst others.
100% Examinations
LAW4012
Criminal Law
20 credits
This module provides examination of core principles and concepts of criminal law, an introduction to modes of participation, and analysis of selected offences and defences. This module will include two 2-hour talks that introduce our School and programme level employability related opportunities and support, including details of the optional placement year.
100% Coursework
LAW5001
Dispute Resolution Skills
20 credits
This module focuses on the development of transferable skills based on real-life scenarios with an emphasis on enhancing employability. It revolves around dispute resolution exercises helping 'clients' to resolve disputes. It is designed to enhance practical lawyering skills. It also includes relevant elements of practice and procedure, such as analysis of the merits of a claim or defence and preparing a case for trial as well as selected pre-action considerations and trial procedures.
50% Coursework
50% Practicals
SSC500
Stage 2 Professional Development, Placement Preparation and Identifying Opportunities
0 credits
This module is for students in the School of Society and Culture who are interested in undertaking an optional placement in the third year of their programme. It supports students in their search, application, and preparation for the placement, including developing interview techniques and effective application materials (e.g. CVs , portfolios, and cover letters).
LAW5017
Property Law
20 credits
The module examines principles and the law, together with elements of practice, relating to freehold and leasehold property and associated rights and interests.
100% Examinations
LAW5002
Family Law
20 credits
This module will examine the principles of family law from both theoretical and practical perspectives.
100% Coursework
LAW5003
Human Rights
20 credits
This module provides an in-depth analysis of the law relating to human rights with reference to national, regional and international law principles. It examines the development and scope of fundamental rights in both theory and practice, and the legitimate limits and restrictions on rights in the interests of balancing conflicting interests in democratic societies.
100% Coursework
LAW5005
Cybercrime
20 credits
This module provides in depth examination of core principles and concepts of criminal law, an introduction to modes of participation, and detailed analysis of selected offences and defences.
100% Coursework
LAW5006
Employment Law
20 credits
This module provides students with knowledge of a specialist area of law, namely Employment Law, whilst also continuing to offer development of transferable and practical legal skills.
100% Coursework
LAW5007
Immigration Law
20 credits
This module focuses on the key and topical issues in Immigration, Nationality and Refugee law in the UK. The UK’s system of immigration control is fully considered and there is some emphasis on the application of decision making to those entering the UK both for immigration purposes and as refugees. There is consideration of the global and European context and of the influence of policy, politics and the media in the field.
100% Coursework
LAW5008
Community Legal Engagement (Street Law)
20 credits
A module in which students apply knowledge and develop practical and transferable skills. This may be in the Street Law Clinic but some students may choose to volunteer with one of the Law Clinic’s community partner organisations or find their own volunteer placement.
100% Coursework
CRM5003MX
Harm in the 21st Century
20 credits
This module explores the global challenges of harmful behaviours and activities in contemporary society by considering specific areas of concern for criminologists. By drawing on real-world examples in everyday life, the module examines how social problems and issues have arisen due to processes of globalisation that have changed the social, political and economic landscape of the 21st century.
100% Coursework
CRM5009MX
Crime, Harm and Culture
20 credits
The module aims to provide students with a critical appreciation of harm and crime by exploring relevant issues from film, television, music, fiction literature and art. By applying a criminological lens to different forms of popular culture, students will be able to examine a variety of media forms in terms of its content and its contemporary political, social and economic context using different theories and concepts.
100% Coursework
ENG5002MX
Gothic Fictions: Villains, Virgins and Vampires
20 credits
This module looks at eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels to trace the variety and scope of literary contributions to the Gothic. It begins by discussing the origins of the Gothic novel, then moves to the heyday of the genre in the revolutionary 1790s, on to authors writing in the early and mid-nineteenth century, through to the decadence of the 1890s.
100% Coursework
ENG5017MX
Writing Genre Fiction
20 credits
This module takes students into in-depth engagement with prose fiction writing in various genres, with possibilities including fantasy, science-fiction, period/historical, young adult fiction, horror, comedy, romance, crime, and thriller. The module is taught through lecture, seminars, and workshops where students are asked to submit and feedback to peers and tutors on a regular basis.
100% Coursework
LAW5015
EU Trade Law
20 credits
This module offers the opportunity to expand knowledge and understanding of EU Law in the context of the regulation of certain aspects of trade.
100% Coursework
LAW5018
Equality and the Law
20 credits
This module will consider how Equality Law has developed over the last century and introduce students to key principles and debates in this area. To promote inclusion, the module will look at Equality Law in a social, political, and legal context. In respect of the latter, there will be a key focus on discrimination in the workplace. The module will also consider how we enforce equality rights (including the challenges for enforcement), and how they may evolve in the future.
100% Coursework
LAW5019MX
Law in Context: Commerce and Intellectual Property
20 credits
This module focuses on the work of commercial lawyers in practice in helping businesses to trade. It analyses a range of contractual agreements dealing with the manufacture, sale, supply and distribution of goods, assets and services in general and intellectual property in particular.
100% Coursework
PER5008MX
Play and Games for Performance
20 credits
This module will introduce students to practical methods for designing games and play structures for participatory performances that invite audiences to become actively involved in the work. In addition to learning new tools for designing and facilitating play, students will be prompted to consider playfulness from a theoretical perspective, recognising the connection between the play of mimesis and theatrical performance.
100% Coursework
PIR5013MX
Politics Beyond Parliaments
20 credits
This module analyses the role of civil society and the public sphere in democratic governance and in democratization from a variety of theoretical perspectives.
100% Coursework
PIR5014MX
Voter Behaviour and Effective Election Campaigning
20 credits
This module undertakes an advanced examination of contemporary trends and developments in theories of electoral behaviour globally; then more specifically the relationship between electoral rules, electoral systems and election outcomes; the evolution of campaign techniques, and the role, mechanics, and accuracy of opinion polls in modern electoral politics. These global understandings are applied directly to the case of British politics.
100% Coursework
SSC600
School of Society and Culture Placement Year
Students have the opportunity to gain work experience that will set them apart in the job market when they graduate by undertaking an optional flexible placement year. The placement must be a minimum of 24-weeks (which can be split between a maximum of two different placement providers) and up to a maximum of 48-weeks over the course of the academic year. The placement is flexible and can be undertaken virtually, part or full time and either paid or voluntary. This year allows them to apply and hone the knowledge and skills acquired from the previous years of their programme in the real world.
LAW6000
Dissertation
40 credits
The production of a substantial dissertation (10,000 words) on a legal or legally related area with content and form determined by the student. For the LLB Law and Criminology the dissertation will be set in context.
100% Coursework
LAW6001
Work-Based Learning
40 credits
A 40 credit module in which students develop intellectual, practical, transferable and ethical skills in a work-based learning context. The placement may be in or for any work-based organisation, though many of these will be law related. Students may be placed within one of the Law School’s Law Clinic projects or within a Law Clinic partner organisation or they may choose to find the whole or part of their work experience independently.
100% Coursework
LAW6002
Work-Based Action Research
20 credits
A module in which students apply legal skills (including research) and knowledge by undertaking practical legal research as part of their work-based learning.
100% Coursework
LAW6003
Criminal Law and Practice
20 credits
This module will build on the principles taught in Criminal Law, and introduces students to the practical/professional application of criminal litigation; it will look at the criminal justice process from investigation and the decision to charge; detention and interrogation, and introduce the substantive law and rules around criminal evidence; funding criminal legal services; through to the criminal litigation process; and sentencing and appeals.
70% Coursework
30% Examinations
LAW6004
Family Law
20 credits
This module will examine the principles of family law from both theoretical and practical perspectives.
100% Coursework
LAW6005
Human Rights
20 credits
This module provides an in-depth analysis of the law relating to human rights with reference to national, regional and international law principles. It examines the development and scope of fundamental rights in both theory and practice, and the legitimate limits and restrictions on rights in the interests of balancing conflicting interests in democratic societies.
100% Coursework
LAW6006
Trusts and Practice
20 credits
The module examines equitable principles and the law relating to trusts and estates. The module supports the development of a practical understanding of the law sitting behind wills and the administration of trusts and estates.
70% Coursework
30% Examinations
LAW6007
Business Law and Practice
20 credits
This module considers the “life” of business organisations, how they operate and how they are governed. It critically assesses the concepts and principles of corporate law as well as key elements of practice and procedure in how they operate and are governed. The module builds upon elements of contract law and applies them in a commercial setting.
70% Coursework
30% Examinations
LAW6008
Cybercrime
20 credits
This module provides in depth examination of core principles and concepts of criminal law, an introduction to modes of participation, and detailed analysis of selected offences and defences.
100% Coursework
LAW6009
Employment Law
20 credits
This module provides students with knowledge of a specialist area of law, namely Employment Law, whilst also continuing to offer development of transferable and practical legal skills.
100% Coursework
LAW6010
Immigration Law
20 credits
This module focuses on the key and topical issues in Immigration, Nationality and Refugee law in the UK. The UK’s system of immigration control is fully considered and there is some emphasis on the application of decision making to those entering the UK both for immigration purposes and as refugees. There is consideration of the global and European context and of the influence of policy, politics and the media in the field.
100% Coursework
ENG6003
Advanced Short Story Workshop
In this module we will examine a range of contemporary short story writing and relevant theory as a way for students to learn how to compose their own short fiction. Class time will be divided between discussion of short fiction and theory, writing exercises and peer workshops of student work. The workshops will be substantially informed by staff research practice.
ANT5006MX
Decolonising the Social Sciences
20 credits
This module responds to contemporary calls to decolonise the social sciences. It reads the history of social science through the lens of post-colonial and indigenous studies. How have non-western voices been marginalised and silenced by academia? What does academia look from the perspective of the subaltern? Can the social sciences shed their colonial robes, or are they doomed to remain racialised and exclusionary disciplines? We explore these questions in regard to emerging disciplines aimed at constructing better and more inclusive futures, including 'indigenous criminology', 'participatory ethnography', and the 'anthropology of the otherwise'.
100% Coursework
ANT5008MX
Brave New Worlds: Ethnography of/on Online and Digital Worlds
20 credits
This module teaches students how to use ethnographic methods to make sense of the internet, which we now increasingly inhabit. Students learn how to navigate and analyse platforms such as Facebook or TikTok. They study how these technologies transform our relationships, identities, and ideas of truth. The module also examines the socio-cultural and ethical aspects of digital worlds (e.g. Second life).
100% Coursework
ANT6008MX
Coastal Cultures: Marine Anthropology in the age of climate change and mass extinction.
20 credits
Using ethnography, we analyse how coastal communities use the sea – not only as a source of livelihood, but as a key ingredient in the construction of their identity and place in world. Drawing on a range of cases from across the world – from Polynesian sorcerers, to Japanese whale mourners, to Cornish surfers – we study how coastal communities are responding to climate change, sea level rise, pollution, and extinction.
100% Coursework
ARH5008MX
Painting Sex and Power
20 credits
The module examines the link between the perception of sexuality and power in a variety of media, and from diverse historical and geographic contexts. Critical approaches from gender studies will be combined with visual analysis in order to contextualize the biased and stereotypical nature of the imagery.
100% Coursework
ARH5002MX
Imagery in Online and Offline Worlds: Film, Television and Video Games
20 credits
This module provides students with a comprehensive understanding of current approaches towards mass media and visual culture. Particular emphasis will be put on medium-specificity, content analysis and audience studies.
100% Coursework
ARH6002MX
Questions in Contemporary Art
20 credits
The module introduces and examines selected questions raised in the last three decades in contemporary art. Case studies drawn from art history, critical and cultural theory, and where appropriate related disciplines, will be examined.
100% Coursework
ENG5010MX
Writing Creative Nonfiction: Autobiography, Travel Writing, Reportage
20 credits
This module introduces students to the key concepts and issues in contemporary works of creative nonfiction, or 'life writing'. Included in our readings will be works of memoir and autobiography, travel writing, personal essays and reportage. The module is entirely taught in workshops where we experiment with producing our own works of creative nonfiction and learning to refine them, as well as critically evaluate and contextualise them.
100% Coursework
HIS5004MX
Global Cold War: Politics, Culture and Society
20 credits
This module is an introduction to major themes in the political, social and cultural history of the modern world with special focus on the 20th century and the Cold War.
100% Coursework
HIS5007MX
Eighteenth-Century Empires
20 credits
This module is designed to explore the ‘long eighteenth century’ with a broad geographical focus, encompassing, but not limited to the Atlantic Isles, Atlantic world, formal and informal empire, and trading connections. It takes in the slave trade and impact of slavery globally, studies voyages of exploration, examines the scientific and political enlightenment, and wider cultural and social impacts of imperialism.
100% Coursework
HIS5009MX
Middle Kingdoms: Themes in Early Modern Asia
20 credits
This module introduces the history of early modern Japan (c.16th-19th centuries). At one level, it explores key questions shaping the histories of the late Sengoku (‘Warring States’) and Tokugawa Japan. Building on these questions, it then situates the Japanese experience in a trans-regional perspective with reference to early modern China, Korea, Ryukyu, as well as Europe.
Explore this module100% Coursework
HIS5014MX
Dunkirk to D Day: The Second World War in Europe
20 credits
The module examines the Second World War in Europe and the Atlantic Ocean from 1940 to late 1944.
Explore this module100% Coursework
HIS6002MX
Piracy and Privateering, c.1560-1816
20 credits
This module explores piracy and privateering activity in the seas around the British Isles and further afield from the reign of Queen Elizabeth to the end of the second Barbary War in 1816. This course focuses on the social history of piracy and privateering, the organisation of pirate society, and the economic impact of piracy and privateering.
Explore this module100% Coursework
HIS6006MX
America, the United Nations and International Relations 1945 to the present
20 credits
This module provides a detailed examination of the relationship between the United States of America and the United Nations in the management of international relations from 1945 to the present.
Explore this module100% Coursework
CRM6010MX
Green Criminology
20 credits
This module will address theoretical perspectives, methodological issues, and empirical research related to the field of green criminology, including applied concerns, such as policy and social/political praxis, through a range of concepts, topics, and themes that are central to green criminology.
100% Coursework
CRM5007MX
Contemporary Issues in Criminology
20 credits
This module focuses upon a contemporary criminological or criminal justice-related issue that has received attention in the media and in official reports but may not be well covered yet in an established academic literature. The purpose of the module is for students to collect data on the issue and to subject it to a criminological analysis appropriate to the topic.
100% Coursework
CRM5008MX
Security and Policing Today: Debates and Issues
20 credits
This module provides students with a contemporary overview of debates and issues in policing and security environments that inform practice and development in the field. The module examines how modern policing and security function, the impact of professionalization on all aspects of policing tasks and the tensions and benefits attained from multi-agency working. The module considers policing legitimacy, the ethics of crime control and associated engagement with the diversity of contemporary society, competing community interests and professional practice.
70% Coursework
30% Tests
CRM6011MX
Security Management
20 credits
This module provides students with a critical insight into the professional domain of security management. It provides an overview of the theories, policies, procedures and practices that underpin the work of the security manager, and focuses upon a career-relevant knowledge and understanding of this significant area of expertise.
70% Coursework
30% Tests
PIR6007MX
Global Environmental Politics
20 credits
This module examines the problem of environmental degradation and its implications for our global political economy. It discusses the major debates in political thought around the primary causes of environmental degradation. The module outlines the major attempts to build international regimes for global environmental governance, and the difficulties and obstacles that such attempts have encountered. A range of ideas, critiques, policy proposals, innovations in governance, and templates for political activism within the environmental movement are critically evaluated.
100% Coursework
PIR5009MX
Refugee Studies
20 credits
This module focuses on the political, economic and social context of forced migration and considers the complex and varied nature of global refugee populations. It analyses responses at international, national and regional level and engages with a range of challenging questions around international co-operation, the framework of international protection, humanitarianism and the causes of displacement.
100% Coursework
PIR5011MX
Global Development
20 credits
This module embraces both theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding development issues and policies, at international and multilateral scale. The approach incorporates historical, economic, political and social perspectives. The module considers issues faced by international development agencies, as well as the impact on populations in the developing world to illustrate and provide context for the discussion of various developmental concerns.
100% Coursework
PIR6008MX
Voter Behaviour and Effective Election Campaigning
20 credits
This module undertakes an advanced examination of contemporary trends and developments in theories of electoral behaviour globally; then more specifically the relationship between electoral rules, electoral systems and election outcomes; the evolution of campaign techniques, and the role, mechanics, and accuracy of opinion polls in modern electoral politics. These global understandings are applied directly to the case of British politics.
100% Coursework
SOC5005MX
Globalisation and Social Justice
20 credits
This module investigates the key debates of globalisation and critically evaluates, in terms of its economic, political, socio-cultural and legal dimensions, the causes and consequences of a globalising world. It furthermore explores a range of international social justice issues to examine the relationships (causative and ameliorative) between policies and (in)justice
60% Coursework
40% Practicals
SOC5006MX
Gender, Sex and Sexuality
20 credits
This module introduces students to the sociology of gender, sex and sexuality. It interrogates these concepts with particular reference to identity, activism, social justice and social change. It develops an understanding of the similarities, differences and intersections between gender, sex, sexuality and other social signifiers of difference/diversity including ‘race’, ethnicity, dis/ability, class and age.
100% Coursework
SOC6004MX
Health, Medical Power and Social Justice
20 credits
This module considers a range of issues concerning health, illness and medical power in contemporary society. The module seeks to develop an understanding of the impact of ‘medicalisation’ on everyday life, as well as the importance of social divisions, such as age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. There will be a focus on a range of sociological perspectives on health with an opportunity to focus upon areas of particular interest.
100% Coursework
CRM6011MX
Security Management
20 credits
This module provides students with a critical insight into the professional domain of security management. It provides an overview of the theories, policies, procedures and practices that underpin the work of the security manager, and focuses upon a career-relevant knowledge and understanding of this significant area of expertise.
70% Coursework
30% Tests
CRM5008MX
Security and Policing Today: Debates and Issues
20 credits
This module provides students with a contemporary overview of debates and issues in policing and security environments that inform practice and development in the field. The module examines how modern policing and security function, the impact of professionalization on all aspects of policing tasks and the tensions and benefits attained from multi-agency working. The module considers policing legitimacy, the ethics of crime control and associated engagement with the diversity of contemporary society, competing community interests and professional practice.
70% Coursework
30% Tests
CRM5006MX
Forensic Criminology: Social Investigations
This module focuses on how social science can contribute to criminal investigations. This involvesforensically investigating the backgrounds and experiences of individuals involved in criminal or deviantbehaviour. The sociology of the police who are tasked to conduct investigations is also analysed. Students will be encouraged to apply criminological techniques and theory to scenario-based examples which will focus on victims, offenders and the police, and their positions in society.
UCAS tariff
32 - 48
Contextual offers: Typically, the contextual offer for this course is 8 points below the advertised tariff. A contextual offer is an offer to study at university that takes into account individual circumstances that are beyond your control, and that can potentially impact your learning and your exam results, or your confidence in applying to university.
Student | 2024-2025 | 2025-2026 * |
---|---|---|
Home | £9,250 | £9,250 |
International | £17,100 | £17,600 |
Part time (Home) | £770 | £770 |
* UK Government announcement on tuition fees
On Monday 4 November 2024 the UK Government announced a proposal to increase tuition fees for home undergraduate students from £9,250 to £9,535 per annum from September 2025 onwards. The University of Plymouth intends to apply this new fee from September 2025. However, implementation of this increase will be subject to Parliamentary procedure. The University will give further details to both prospective and current students as soon as more information becomes available.
To reward outstanding achievement the University of Plymouth offers scholarship schemes to help towards funding your studies.
Through mock case scenarios, you have the ability to practise a variety of legal roles in this space. The room has been authentically configured and furnished to simulate a real court environment.
The Foulston Room gives our students hands-on, real-world experience of the court room. Setting foot in this Grade II listed building, walking up its grand staircase and into a historic room that looks and feels just like a real court is thrilling! With interactive teaching, court room simulation and ‘mooting’, our students get to experience what it is really like to represent clients in court. It is the perfect space to grow confidence and develop craft, and it’s the best possible preparation for future success in their legal careers.
Dr John Matthews
Interim Head of School
Whilst working in the law clinic, we had the opportunity to help those who needed it, and have been able to make a positive impact in difficult times. It was also a huge factor in helping me stand out when applying for jobs.
Learn more about the diverse range of successful career pathways our LLB (Hons) graduates take after completing the course
Jennifer Smith
Jennifer shares her journey since graduation and how studying at Plymouth shaped her career as a Pupil Barrister specialising in law.
Dhanisha Falguni Chandrakant Bharadia
Fundraiser and volunteer Dhanisha has big plans for her future in environmental law.
Ciaran Cronnelly
Ciaran volunteered while studying at the University of Plymouth to launch his career as a politician and strategic change consultant.