Course Essentials
A warm welcome to the Foundation Year of Criminal investigation. Criminal investigation is a key are of interest to many, with its foundations in many different disciplines, including criminology, psychology, or law. This foundation year allows you the opportunity to explore these different topics whilst improving your academic skills, and I am looking forward to seeing your knowledge and skills develop. You will have lots of opportunities to get to know your fellow classmates and lecturers, creating a really supportive environment. I hope you are looking forward to getting started!
Your Course Team
Your Teaching Timetable
Teaching for your course will begin w.c 21 September 2026.
To help you plan your first few weeks, you can view an overview of the teaching activities for your course.
View your first semester teaching timetable.
On a mobile device, click the arrow next to “Search” at the top right of the page to view your timetable.
If your course is taught in groups, the overview will show activities for all groups. You will only need to attend sessions for your allocated group.
Once teaching begins, your individual timetable and group allocation will be available in MyTimetable provided you have completed online registration and created your computing account.
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Your Semester 1 Modules |
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Careers in Psychology |
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Psychology in Context |
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Success Modules - you will complete 3 of these 5 credit modules* |
*Success Modules
Your Journey to Success at CCCU is a compulsory success module. You'll then choose two more Success modules from a choice of eight.
These modules are completed online (asynchronous learning) and are not timetabled, so they won't appear in your teaching timetable.
Key dates
Academic Calendar: Semesters
View key dates for this Academic Calendar for 2026-27 including when teaching starts and finishes and when you break for holidays.
Welcome and Induction
Your Welcome Week is an essential introduction to your course and the wider University, helping you to feel confident and prepared for your studies right from the very start.
It is important to check your Course Welcome Week for all the activities you are required to attend as part of your course induction. If any of your welcome activities are in groups, your course team will contact you before you arrive to let you know which group you will be in.
In addition, check the Student Events Hub for a range of fun activities. including the Students’ Union Welcome Fair, to help you make friends and live your best CCCU student life.
Your teaching timetable
UniTimetables provides an overview of all teaching activities for a course. If your course is taught in groups, it will display information for all groups, not just the group you will be assigned to.
Your individual student timetable will show you what modules and groups you are expected to attend via MyTimetable. This will be available for when your teaching starts.
Learn more about timetabling for new students including user guides and videos.
Welcome
Welcome to Canterbury, home to the stunning Canterbury Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with its rich history as a major pilgrimage site and where your graduation ceremony will take place. The School of Business, Law and Policing at CCCU is staffed with academics who share many years of professional and academic experience. For instance, the Policing team has a total of 500 years of cumulative work experience in a variety of policing and criminal justice functions at the local, national and international level. Your interest in understanding the background and contemporary practice of criminal investigation is what led you to choose this degree and we are very glad to see that you took the first necessary step towards it by embarking on a Foundation Year.
Getting started
Over the course of the foundation year, you will take 5 modules:
- Student Success Modules
- The Big Picture
- Interdisciplinary Communication Skills
- Exploring Justice
- Crime, Power and Society
You will be assessed in a variety of ways including; learning portfolios, essays, reflective diaries, academic posters and presentations. The academic skills modules will support you with these types of assessment and in developing essential study skills required at degree level.
Handbooks for each of the semester 1 modules will be available via Blackboard (the university’s virtual learning environment where staff post information relating to your course of study) when you start in September. These outline the content of each teaching session and the assessment requirements/deadlines.
Over the summer, please keep an eye on your personal email, and once pre-registered your student portal, for any further information that we may send to you.
Community
On the social side, the Student Union (CCSU) has a huge range of clubs and societies – all of which have unique social calendars of their own and offer endless opportunities to make lifelong friends and discover new hobbies. And you can always create your own society and cultivate your own community!
CCSU will be hosting their Welcome Fayre on Wednesday 17th September 2025. Make sure you keep checking the CCSU website for further details and how to get involved.
We understand that you may be nervous about your first few weeks on campus but rest assured - you'll be joining a nurturing and supportive environment where diversity, equality and individuality are part of everything we do.
You can find out more about our welcoming community and making friends.
If you are an International Student joining us then please see our International Student Support pages for further information and guidance.
Pre-course reading
International student success programme
International students: don't miss out! Make sure you register for our international student success programme which provides practical advice on preparing to live and study in the UK.
Contact details
Have a question?