Culture, Heritage and Criminology
Culture, heritage and criminology is a combination that brings together the study of how societies organise memory, identity and cultural life with an examination of crime, deviance and the systems through which societies respond to harm. Culture and heritage studies asks how the past is preserved, interpreted and contested, examining museums, archives, monuments, landscapes and traditions as sites where identity is constructed and community is defined. Criminology examines crime as a social phenomenon, exploring its causes, its representations and the institutions, from police and courts to prisons and rehabilitation services, that manage it.
At the University of the Highlands and Islands, this part-time programme allows you to develop across both disciplines while managing other commitments, which is particularly well suited to people who are already working in or around the fields the degree covers. UHI's distinctive federated structure, spanning campuses and colleges across the Highlands and Islands, brings a particular cultural and geographical perspective to questions of heritage, community and crime. The Highlands and Islands have a rich and sometimes contested cultural heritage, and studying within this context adds a dimension that a more urban institution cannot fully replicate.
You will engage with cultural theory and heritage practice alongside the sociological and criminological frameworks for understanding crime, justice and social order. The programme develops your critical thinking, research skills and the ability to write analytically about complex social and cultural questions.
Graduates move into heritage and cultural organisations, museums and archives, criminal justice roles, community development, the voluntary sector, public service, policy research and education. The combination of cultural and criminological expertise is particularly relevant in community-facing roles and in organisations that work at the intersection of social care, justice and cultural engagement.