External summary

The MSc in Global Crime, Justice and Security is designed to equip students with an advanced, cross-disciplinary knowledge of the legal, political and policy issues in relation to crime, justice and security in a global context.  It aims to enable students to analyse and evaluate alternative explanations for international and transnational developments in crime and responses to crime.  This programme prepares students for specialised academic or practical work on the issues canvassed in core and optional courses.

Educational aims of programme

This programme aims:

• To provide students with a recognised, advanced level exit qualification equipping them for work in a variety of policy-relevant positions, relevant legal institutions or further advanced level study.
• To foster an in depth understanding of relevant theoretical approaches and associated concepts in the study of crime, justice and security in a global context.
• To encourage openness to different scholarly approaches within law and social and political science to questions of crime, justice and security in a global context.
• To provide students with the academic skills required to analyse the activity of domestic courts and government, international and supranational legal and political institutions and NGOs in the field of crime, justice and security.
• To provide students with the academic skills required to analyse the activity of domestic courts and government, international and supranational legal and policy institutions and NGOs in the field of crime, justice and security.
• To provide students with critical skills for the analysis of law and policy in the field of global crime, justice and security.
• To give students and understanding of the origins of policy in the field of crime, justice and security and of the factors shaping its development
• To train students in comparative methodology.

Programme outcomes: Knowledge and understanding

By the end of the programme, all students will be expected:

• To know and understand explanatory theories, concepts, institutions and issues in crime, justice and security in a global context.
• To have specialist in depth knowledge of specific areas and issues in global crime, justice and security.
• To know contemporary debates in a range of academic literature on global crime, justice and security.
• To be able to apply concepts and theories to describe, explain and evaluate developments in global crime, justice and security.
• To be able to draw on a range of disciplinary backgrounds in understanding crime, justice and security in a global context

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in research and enquiry

By the end of the programme, all students would be expected to:

• Locate relevant information through IT and library resources;
• Use key social scientific and legal databases
• To collect and synthesise large amounts of empirical and theoretical material from a variety of sources
• To analyse, use and assess empirical evidence in support of explanatory and normative claims
• Retrieve and analyse data on social, political and legal phenomena relating to crime, justice and security in a global context.

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in personal and intellectual autonomy

By the end of the programme, all students would be expected to:

• Exercise informed independent thought and critical judgement
• Critically evaluate political discourse on global crime, justice and security
• Present research and other scholarly work to others

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in communication

By the end of the programme, all students would be expected to:

• Articulate, sustain and defend a line of argument
• Summarise and communicate information and ideas orally and in writing
• Participate effectively in seminars, workshops and discussions

Programme outcomes: Graduate attributes - Skills and abilities in personal effectiveness

By the end of the programme, all students would be expected to:

• Think clearly and produce work under pressure
• Work independently and to seek advice when this is appropriate;
• Understand and interpret legal source materials.

Programme outcomes: Technical/practical skills

By the end of the programme, all students would be expected to:

• locate materials through the library and electronic databases;
• use official websites of international organisations and other actors to find relevant materials; and
• to use standard computing software

Programme structure and features

Courses and credits

The students will be required to complete a total of 180 credits in order to achieve the LLM (120 credits for course work, 60 credits for the dissertation).

Students must select a minimum of 80 credits and a maximum of 120 credits from the core courses. The remaining course work credits (0-40) must then be obtained from other available SCQF level 11 courses in law.  It may be possible, with the permission of the Programme Director, to take one 20 credit course from outside the School of Law.

The DPT for this programme contains all the up to date information with which courses are running in each year.

Modes of study / Dates

The programme will be available as a full-time or part-time programme.  The part-time route is 24 months, commencing in September.

Part-time students normally complete two-thirds (80 credits) of the required course credits in their first year of study. The remaining one-third (40 credits) of course credits and the dissertation are undertaken in the second year.

Exit awards / progression

Progression to the dissertation and award of the LLM degree will be decided, in line with University Taught Postgraduate Assessment Regulations and other guidance, by a Board of Examiners administered in the School of Law and composed of staff teaching on the degree.

Specifically, the normal conditions for progression and exit awards are as follows:

In order to progress to the masters dissertation candidates must:

• attain at least 80 credits with a pass at masters level or more in each of the separate elements and
• be awarded an aggregate pass at masters level for the 120 credits of study examined at the point of decision for progression and
• have no course work mark below 40% in any 40-credit course, and no more than one course mark below 40% in any 20-credit course.

Students who do not meet the criteria for progression but who receive a pass at diploma level or more in 80 credits and an aggregate pass at diploma level for the 120 credits of study are eligible to receive the Diploma in Advanced Legal Studies.

In order to be awarded a Master’s degree candidates must:

• have satisfied the requirements for progression, as laid out above, and
• attain 60 credits, by achieving a pass at masters level for the dissertation

Any student who meets criteria for progression but who then does not pass the dissertation is eligible to receive the Diploma in Advanced Legal Studies.

Approach to teaching and learning

The learning process is didactic, seminar-based and research-focused. Candidates will also be required to design and write a dissertation of up to 10,000 words on an approved topic within the field. The dissertation requires a more independent and less structured form of study than the taught courses. For the dissertation the student will have a supervisor from whom they can expect guidance and support, but the purpose of the dissertation is to allow them to independently design and conduct a piece of research and analysis.

The degree will be awarded on the basis of a student’s performance in both taught courses and the dissertation.

Promoting social responsibility, sustainability and equality and diversity

Social responsibility

All postgraduate programmes in the Edinburgh Law School seek to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in a complex, multilayered and in parts, fast-changing area of the law which is continuously interacting with issues of policy and public interest. By enabling and encouraging students to become critically aware and to develop autonomous views and arguments on these issues, through innovative techniques and a strong emphasis on reflection and critical analysis, this programme is capable of embedding the University’ core objective of increasing awareness of social responsibility questions in its specific area.

Sustainability and equality and diversity

All postgraduate programmes in the Edinburgh Law School seek to deploy a variety of teaching techniques ranging from face-to-face seminar contact to one-to-one dissertation supervision to the utilisation of electronic and online library, communication and research resources.  The overarching goal is to ensure flexibility, autonomy and self-reliance in students’ learning while at the same time preserving and enhancing high teaching and learning standards: it is envisaged that this blended approach to teaching and learning will secure strong results in terms of the sustainability and good use of resources in the delivery of the programme; it will also ensure that a diverse student audience will be able to attain its learning outcomes by taking the utmost advantage of the teaching and learning opportunities offered.

Teaching and learning methods and strategies

• The range of teaching and learning methods used on the programme, including opportunities for feedback

          All courses on the programme are taught in seminar discussion groups.  Class sizes range from 5-25 students and seminars generally last for two hours.  Students are expected to prepare for these seminars in advance by reading the materials prescribed in class hand-outs and by reflecting upon the issues which will be critically discussed in the seminar.  Seminars may include large group discussions, small group work exercises and group and/or individual presentations.  Interaction with course staff, course organisers and fellow students throughout seminars, in which active participation is a prerequisite, ensures that students get ongoing feedback on their contributions to the class and opportunities to reflect on their learning. 

The programme also includes a supervised dissertation to which students progress after satisfactorily completing the taught courses.  All students are allocated an individual supervisor with relevant academic experience in their chosen area of study.  Supervision is designed to assist students in identifying and refining an appropriate academic research project, to support their programme of research activity, and to empower them to take lead responsibility for their research.  Students receive ongoing feedback and must reflect on their progress through their one to one supervision meetings. 

• Facilities (e.g. library; IT or any other distinctive facilities provided within the School)

          The University of Edinburgh library has one of the largest and most important collections in Britain. It has some two million items including the latest publications, key texts, and rare books. The Edinburgh Law School has its own library within Old College, well stocked in most important fields of law. The library of the Europa Institute, housed alongside the Law Library, is an outstanding European Documentation Centre. Within walking distance from the Law School is the National Library of Scotland which also possesses an important legal collection accessible to postgraduate students.

Postgraduate students have access to the extensive computing facilities provided by the Law School. The School maintains a number of computer labs, all of which are available for the exclusive use of postgraduate students. Wireless network access is available across the Law School including within the Law Library and Lecture Theatres. Postgraduate students have extensive access to online legal research facilities including electronic journals, LexisNexis and Westlaw. Additional computing facilities (including a laptop loan service for flexibility of learning) are available in the University's Main Library and via the University's Computing Services.

The School is proud to boast a Moot Court Room, which is installed with IT and audio facilities, giving all students who participate in mooting competitions and exercises a flavour of practice in a real court situation.

Assessment methods and strategies

There will be some variation amongst the courses as to the modes of assessment as differing courses in the LLM programme will test different competencies and aptitudes.  In full year courses (40 credits), assessment will normally be by two written essays with the first having a lesser weight. One semester courses (20 credits) are assessed either by one essay that counts for 100% of the grade or by a combination of essay and another form of assessment (such as a take-home exercise, a presentation (both solo and group), an annotated bibliography, a poster, a response to a policy consultation, a moot, or an assessment completed in class).

The School provides targeted, timely and useful feedback to students on their performance in a number of ways:

• through direct comment by staff members in seminars;
• through supervision meetings on the dissertation;
• through written comments provided to students during the course of the academic session on formative assessment, such assessment designed to assist students in improving their essay and examination technique;
• through individual written feedback provided to students on summative coursework such as essays and the dissertation;
• through informal meetings that students can arrange with course organisers, or other members of the teaching team, where additional support or advice on how to improve their learning strategies and practice is required.

The School is always looking to improve the quality and helpfulness of its feedback to students, and takes seriously the comments on feedback provided anonymously in class questionnaires and via the annual Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey.

Student feedback and evaluation is a valued input to curriculum and programme review and development within the school and students are asked to complete evaluation forms on each course they take.  Student representatives are elected at the start of every year and represent the study body throughout the period of the programme of study.  As postgraduates, students have access to the resources and facilities of the Institute of Academic Development (IAD) at the University.  IAD offer a range of workshops and training sessions including essential communication skills, information technology skills, time management, project management, decision-making and much more.

Career opportunities

The School is dedicated to ensuring all students are academically and socially prepared and are responsible and ethical citizens.  We offer training events and support for all our postgraduate students in both academic and key life skills.  The current employment market is a difficult and competitive one but we aim to ensure our students are independent thinkers with practical skills, giving them an advantage over their peers.

The Careers Service offers expert advice on careers options, searching for careers, CV writing and preparing for interviews and the School works closely with its allocated Careers Advisor who is able to provide support tailored for students from the Edinburgh Law School. 

This LLM programme has been conceived as a gateway into a range of employment opportunities and specialised academic work, which may include:

• Legal practice
• Government legal service (at both national and EU levels)
• International civil servants
• Government advisors
• Legal advisors to non-governmental organisations and private companies
• Specialised researchers in academic and think-tank institutions
• Independent consultants

Other items

The School and its research centres actively organise frequent events including seminar and lecture series, conferences, research training, workshops and fairs.  We strongly encourage all our postgraduate students to attend these events as well as getting involved with their organisation.

The Edinburgh Student Law Review is the first of its kind in Scotland.  Managed and written entirely by the School’s student body, it aims to provide a forum for law students to engage in a more analytical approach to the study of law.  Students from all levels and legal disciplines are encouraged to submit articles, case notes and updates which are published in the Review each year.

The Edinburgh Law School and the University of Edinburgh are committed to providing support for professional development and pastoral care to postgraduate students through a system of personal tutoring.  In the whole system personal tutoring model developed in the School of Law, students have access to their Programme Director, Postgraduate Office staff, Course Organisers and seminar leaders, as well as peer support opportunities within autonomous student communities representing all postgraduate taught students.  Students are given clear guidance about personal tutoring, accessing staff, and pastoral and professional support resources at the outset of the programme.