Undergraduate program

Bachelor of Social Sciences in Criminology

Department of Criminology  · Faculty of Social Sciences
4 yearsDuration
188Credit hours
49Courses
8Semesters

To address the growing need of crime and security concerns in Bangladesh, the University of Dhaka at first introduced a program in Criminology under the Department of Sociology from 2010-2013. However, as a separate program, the Department of Criminology has been approved by the University Grants Commission in 2012 and it has formally started admission procedure in 2013. The department has been playing a significant role in establishing ‘Criminology’ as an academic discipline all over the country. Since the scope of criminology is increasing by leaps and bounds, the Department has introduced BSS (honors) degree with a number of relevant courses to meet the needs of our time. Importantly, the undergraduate program in criminology at the University of Dhaka is an interdisciplinary one that aims to study theories and practices of crime causation and prevention mechanisms.

The Department of Criminology studies crime, deviance, security, and policing from an inter-disciplinary perspective. The discipline aims to understand the nature of crime and society and the theoretical underpinnings that guide how reactions against crime are initiated in a legal system. The BSS in Criminology in a nutshell allows one to learn about the theoretical understanding of crime and criminal justice. Sociologist Professor Dr. Zia Rahman joined as the founder Chair of the Department and currently, it has seven faculty members having backgrounds in Law, Sociology, Criminology, Anthropology, and Journalism.

Admission

Students shall be admitted to the BSS (Honors) Degree Program in different departments including Criminology under the Faculty of Social Sciences as per the University Rules.

The Program

  • The BSS (Honors) Program in Criminology shall be of four years duration and divided into 8 (eight) semesters. Each semester shall be of 19 weeks, of which 15 weeks will be for class teaching, 1-week break for preparation, and 3 weeks for holding the semester final examination.

  • The program shall include the teaching of 32-course units for a total of 3200 marks, which will be translated into 128 credit hours. The total credit hours shall be evaluated on the basis of 3200 total marks, of which 3000 marks shall be for 30 taught course units, 2 taught courses for 200 marks (4 credit hours assigned to each course), 100 marks for field research/ project work/ internship, (4 credit hours) and 100 marks for a written and oral comprehensive examination with 4 credit hours assigned against it, in the 8th (eighth) semester. However, any particular department may opt for an additional full unit taught course in lieu of the field research monograph/ project work/ internship.

  • Here would be 100 marks for field research/project work/internship, and 100 marks for written and oral comprehensive examinations. Each full unit course shall be 100 marks and the half unit course shall be of 50 marks.

  • Since the credit hours are counted on the basis of lecture class /contact hours per week, the number of lecture classes/contact hours shall be determined according to the credits assigned to each course unit. For a 4-credit course unit, there shall be two lecture classes of 90 minutes each, and one 60 minutes discussion class/ tutorial class/ lab work/group presentation/ class test every week. For a 2 credit course unit, there shall be one lecture class of 60 minutes each, and one 60 minutes discussion class/ tutorial class/ lab work/ group presentation/ class test every week.

Course Structure of the BSS (Hons.) Degree Program

Semester

No. of Courses

Total Marks

Earned Credits

1st

4

400

16

2nd

4

400

16

3rd

4

400

16

4th

4

400

16

5th

4

400

16

6th

4

400

16

7th

4

400

16

8th

2

200

8

Internship/Project/Research

Monograph

100

4

Comprehensive and Viva Voce

50+50

2+2=4

Total

32 courses

3200

128

Evaluation and Distribution of Marks for Evaluation

Class attendance

5%

Active participation in the discussion class/tutorial class/group

10%

presentation/class test

Term papers/home assignments

15%

Mid-semester examination (Duration of 75 minutes)

20%

Semester final examination (Duration of 3 hours)

50%

Total

100%

*Department may be allowed a choice in respect of distributing marks for evaluation provided it is commensurate with the spirit of this general guideline.

The Distribution of Marks for Class Attendance

Attendance range (in percent)

Marks

90% and above

5.0

85% to less than 90%

4.5

80% to less than85%

4.0

75% to less than80%

3.5

70% to less than75%

3.0

65% to less than70%

2.5

60% to less than65%

2.0

55% to less than60%

1.5

50% to less than55%

1.0

45% to less than50%

0.5

Less than 45%

0.0

Grading Structure for BSS (Honors) Degree Program on a 4-point Grading Scale

Numerical Marks

Letter Grade

Explanation

Grade Points

80 and above

A+

Excellent

4.00

75 to 79

A

3.75

70 to 74

A-

3.50

65 to 69

B+

Very Good

3.25

60 to 64

B

3.00

55 to 59

B-

2.75

50 to 54

C+

Good

2.50

45 to 49

C

2.25

40 to 44

D

Passing

2.00

Below 40

F

Failing

0.0

I

Incomplete

W

Withdrawn

Interpretation of the Grades

  • “A+”, “A” and “A-“grades are indicative of “excellent” performance overall by a student, earning grade points of 4.0, 3.75, and 3.50, respectively.
  • “B+”, “B” and “B-“grades are indicative of “very good” performance overall by a student, earning grade points of 3.25, 3.00, and 2.75, respectively.
  • “C+”, “C” and “C-“ grades are indicative of “ good” performance overall by a student, earning grade points of2.50, and 2.25, respectively.
  • A “D” grade is indicative of a minimally acceptable “passing” performance overall by a student, earning a grade point of 2.00.
  • “F” grade is indicative of an unacceptable “failing” performance overall by a student, i.e., failure to earn any credit points.
  • “I” grade is indicative of a situation where a student, for non-academic reasons beyond his control, is unable to complete the full requirements of the course for not being able to sit for the semester final examination. With the submission of valid and authenticated evidence of such reasons and the recommendation of the course teacher (to be reported to the Chairperson of the examination committee), that particular student shall be allowed to complete the semester final examination with the new batch. Meanwhile, the student concerned will be promoted to the next semester. If an incomplete grade is not cleared with the new batch, the “I” grade automatically be changed to an “F” grade. A maximum of “I” grades shall be allowed to a student in one semester.
  • “W” grade shall be awarded when a student is permitted to withdraw/drop a course/semester without penalty. Withdrawals without penalty are not permitted after the mid-semester examination. A student may take readmission in the semester concerned with the next batch by paying the fees for the whole year.

Promotion

    • For promotion from the first to second semester, a student shall require to earn a minimum SGPA of 2.00.
    • For promotion from the second through the final semester, a student shall require to earn a minimum CGPA of 2.25, taking into consideration all the grade points earned in the total number of courses of first through the final semester and improved grade, if any.
    • A student failing to clear up the annual University or departmental dues of the year of study shall not be promoted to the next semester.

Improvement

    • A student earning “F” grade in any course shall be allowed to improve the grade with the next batch.
    • If a student obtains a grade lower then “B-”in a course, he/she shall be allowed to repeat the term final examination only once with the next batch for the purpose of grade improvement by forgoing his/her earlier term final marks.
    • If a student obtains “B-”or better grade in any course, he/she shall not be allowed to repeat the course for the purpose of grade improvement.
    • If a student likes to improve the grade point earned in a course of 8th semester for the BSS (Hons.) degree, he/she must apply for such improvement examination before the certificate is issued.
    • Improvement shall not be allowed once the certificate is issued.
    • A student-carrying grade “F”in any course shall not be awarded the degree unless he/she improves it by appearing at the semester final examination with the next batch.
    • If the student gets “F” grade in the improvement examination, he/she shall automatically be dropped from the semester and student shall have to take readmission with the next batch, provided the student concerned is eligible for readmission.
    • For improvement of grade in a course, the student shall apply to the chairperson of the department at least 4(four) weeks before the start of the semester final examination.
    • A student shall be allowed to improve the grade of a particular course only once.
    • No improvement shall be allowed for the mid-semester examination, term papers/home assignments, and active participation in the discussion class/tutorial class/group presentation/class test marks and the grades earned in written and oral comprehensive examination.

Readmission

  • A student failing to get the requisite grade points for promotion (clause-9) from one semester to the next may seek readmission with the following batch.
  • For readmission, a student shall have to apply within one month after the announcement of result of the concerned semester.
  • On readmission, grades earned earlier by a student in the class of readmission shall cease to exist and the student has to retake all the course works and examinations.
  • A student shall not be allowed readmission in more than two semesters during the entire BSS (Honors).

Drop Out

  • A student failing to earn the GPA for promotion from one semester to the next after taking the readmission in any semester shall be dropped out of the program.

  • A student earning F grade in any course after taking improvement examinations readmission in any semester class shall be dropped out of the program.

Registering Complains about Marking, Grading, and Related Issues

  • Where students have concerns about the teachers teaching evaluation or grading, a provision shall be thereby which the student can make the concern known to the appropriate individuals in the following orders: The course teacher, the chair of the department in which the course is taught, The Dean of the faculty in which the course is taught

  • Grievances should be recorded by a student within a week after the publication of the result.

Medium of Instruction

The medium of instruction of the Undergraduate program in the Department of Criminology at the University of Dhaka is English.

Fees and Charges

In addition to the tuition fees and other fees payable to the university, the students may be required to pay fees that the department shall charge for its developmental activities. Students will be charged additional fees for the computer laboratory, departmental seminar library, as well as co-curricular activities.