Forensic Investigation (with a Foundation Year)

Learn how to manage crime scenes, analyse crucial evidence and help with real forensic cases on this exciting hands-on course.

Our Forensic Investigation degrees are ideal for those who have a strong interest in criminalistics, forensics, crime scene science and evidence analysis. We will equip you for a career working with the police, a forensic provider or any other investigative or intelligence agency, such as the Home Office, HM Customs and Excise. Our industry standard facilities include a crime scene house, specialist laboratories and equipment to give you practical skills and knowledge for when you graduate.

The Foundation Year option is available for those who may not have the academic profile for direct entry onto the 3-year degree. It will prepare you for the Forensic Investigation degree by studying modules such as Crime in Context and Theories of Criminality.

The Foundation year is taught with the City of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College, so you will be on the Staffordshire University Stoke on Trent campus and the college's campus for the first year.

On successful completion of study, we will issue the following award: BSc (Hons) Forensic Investigation

Course Modules

Please note, we are refreshing our curriculum which means the module structure may be subject to change. These planned changes aim to further develop your professional skills to equip you for the careers of tomorrow.

Modules for our previous intakes have included:

Foundation Year: Academic Skills; Crime in Context; Introduction to Critical Thinking and Argument; Sociology of Crime; Theories of Criminality and an Introduction from Crime Scene to Courtroom
Year One Core: Case Studies in Criminal Justice; Crime Scene Processing; Digital Evidence Processing; Introduction to Forensic Science Techniques; Policing Theory
Year One Optional: Detection and Analysis of Drugs; Missing Persons Investigation

Year Two Core: Advanced Digital Evidence Processing; Bodies of Evidence; Investigative Skills; Marks and Traces; Research Skills and Forensics
Year Two Optional: Chemical and Biological Interactions in Forensics; Forensic Anthropology in the 21st Century; Specialist Scene Investigation; Vehicle Collision Investigation

Year Three Core: Collection and Analysis of Scene Evidence; Expert Witness and the Legal System; Forensic Research Project; Modern Forensics
Year Three Optional: Forensic Field School; Intelligence Led Policing and Major Crime Investigation; Techniques in the Identification of Human Remains

Your course will provide you with opportunities to test your understanding of your subject informally before you complete the formal assessments that count towards your final mark. Each module normally includes practice or ‘formative’ assessments, for which you receive feedback from your tutor. Practice assessments are developmental and any grades you receive for them do not count towards your module mark. There is a formal or ‘summative’ assessment at the end of each module. This includes a range of coursework assessments, such as essays, reports, portfolios, performance, presentations, final year, independent project and written examinations. The grades from formal assessments count towards your module mark.

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

• The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences