It is very important that you are aware of the style of teaching involved in this course. It is not a 'chalk and talk' course, in which a lecturer will lecture at you the whole week. Whilst there is some formal teaching employed by staff, it is recognised that there is a direct, positive relationship between student involvement in class and effective learning. Therefore, both in recognition of this and in terms of what students have responded to positively in the past student evaluation, we rely quite heavily on workshops and student led seminars. Of course, you will be closely guided on these when you arrive and instructions will be made clear to you at the outset of each session, but a precedent is set on encouraging students to think independently and make a positive and active contribution to the area. You will be given directed reading and close supervision throughout but we cannot emphasise enough that this is not a conventional 'sit down and absorb facts for rote learning' course.

Broadly, however, during the teaching weeks, most of the lectures are in fact run as half-day sessions in a seminar format, often the seminar being presented by students. The week, thus, is divided up so that there are half-day sessions on each of the following topics: criminal behaviour, investigative problem solving, research methodology, and development of IT skills. There is also a regular session where visiting speakers provide input on a range of topics including professional matters, but emphasising accounts of major police investigations.

There are breaks at Christmas and Easter when you have enough time to return home if you wish, as well as independent study weeks half way through each term. These enable you to prepare for assignments and reading time.

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