Prospective Students

• If you would like the current postgraduate studies handbook and timetable mailed to you click here
• Application form, timetable and handbook information can be found here.

The Crime Research Centre at the University of Western Australia has, since mid-1998, offered two study programmes. These programmes are designed to meet the needs of both graduates (particularly from a law or social science background) and criminal justice practitioners (including lawyers, police, prison and community corrections personnel, social workers and those involved in policy formulation). All the units combine a critical examination of scholarly literature with a consideration of practical problems in areas such as policing, Aboriginal justice, women and crime, juvenile crime, crime prevention, domestic violence, sentencing and corrections administration.

The Graduate Diploma in Criminal Justice consists of the equivalent of half a year of full time study. This programme is open to both suitably qualified graduates and to people who do not have a university degree but who have experience in a relevant field of criminal justice or social policy administration and whose experience is regarded as equivalent to degree-based qualifications.

The Master of Criminal Justice consists of the equivalent of one year’s full time study. This programme is open to suitably qualified graduates and to students who have performed to the required level in the Diploma in Criminal Justice.

Enrolment may also be not-for-degree. This kind of enrolment is designed for students who wish to study a single unit or units without enrolling in the Graduate Diploma or the Master’s degree.

Fuller details of the courses and of the requirements for admission are set out in the study programmes handbook.

It is also possible for suitably qualified graduate students to enrol in higher degrees by research (PhD or Master of Laws) under the supervision of Centre Staff.

Some Features of the Study Programmes

The courses at the Crime Research Centre have a number of features which set them apart from many traditional university courses. Student feedback has been extremely positive, (see graph) both on the overall organisation and structure of the course and on the content and teaching of specific units. The key features are as follows:-

* The courses are linked directly into past, present and likely future research projects at the Centre. We see a direct nexus between teaching and research and also between teaching, research and practice in the criminal justice field. Students therefore have access to contemporary and highly relevant research.

* Many Masters degrees involve evening classes, often running from 6.00pm to 8.00pm one evening per week over a semester (ie around 26 hours' contact). The Crime Research Centre units involve intensive teaching with around thirty five hours of class contact per unit over six days.  Each unit is taught on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday of one week, followed by the Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning of another (usually the following) week. Each day’s teaching starts at 9.00am and finishes at around 3.30pm. The overwhelming feedback has been that the intensive teaching method has significant advantages in promoting a focused programme with very active participation from students.

* As the units are taught on an intensive basis, subject to a successful application for course entry, students are able to commence their studies at any time during the academic year.

* Before the commencement of the intensive teaching period, detailed course readers and references are distributed. Students are expected to familiarise themselves with some of these materials, in advance of the unit and with others as the unit progresses.

* One of the major advantages of this approach is that the Crime Research Centre is able to utilise the skills of national and international experts. These have included Associate Professor Rob White and Dr Adam Sutton from Melbourne University, Professor Anne Worrall from Keele University in England; Professor David Biles, consultant, formerly of Melbourne University and the Australian Institute of Criminology; Professor David Dixon, University of New South Wales; Associate Professor Rick Sarre, University of New South Wales; Dr Don Weatherburn, Director of the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics; Dr Keith Carter of John Moores University, Liverpool UK; Dr Chris Corns of La Trobe University; Professor Rob White, University of Tasmania and Dr Mary Bosworth, Oxford University.  In teaching these units they worked in close conjunction with Crime Research Centre Staff and with local guest speakers.  The local speakers have included senior members of the Judiciary, Police, Corrections, the Inspector of Custodial Services and the Ombudsman.