Graduate Program

The Department of Criminology studies crime, deviance, security, and policing from an interdisciplinary 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 MSS in Criminology allows students to develop insights into the research and theoretical analysis of crime, deviance, and punishment. 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.

From the very beginning, the MSS program in Criminology 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 program has introduced a number of relevant courses to meet the needs of our time.

Admission

The Master's Program in Criminology is open for students who have completed four years of BSS (Honors) at the Department of Criminology. This is a one-year program divided into two semesters. Only successful students of the BSS (honors) program shall be eligible to get admitted into the MSS program in Criminology within two academic years.

The Program

1. 1. The program is of one year and comprises 32 credits divided into 2 semesters. Each semester shall be of 19 weeks, of which
      • 15 weeks for class teaching
      • 1 week for a preparatory break
      • 3 weeks for holding the semester final examination.
2. 2. The program shall include 8-course units for a total of 800 marks, which shall be translated into 32 credit hours.
3. 3. The total credit hours shall be evaluated on the basis of 800 total marks which shall be for 6 full unit taught courses, 100 marks for the thesis (thesis will be offered in certain conditions), and 100 marks for comprehensive and viva voce. Students can be allowed to take one taught course instead of a thesis.

1. 4. Each full-unit course shall be 100 marks and the half-unit course shall be 50 marks.
2. 5. The number of lecture classes/contact hours per week shall be determined on the basis of the credit hours assigned to each course.

• • • For a 4 credit course, there shall be two lecturer classes of 90 minutes each and one 60-minute class/tutorial class/lab work/group presentation/class test each week.
    • For a 2 credit course unit, there shall be one lecturer class of 60 minutes each and one 60 minutes class/tutorial class/lab work/group presentation/class test each week.

1. 6. The number of lecture classes/contact hours per week shall be determined on the basis of the credit hours assigned to each course.
      • A total unit of 800 marks for 8 full unit courses of which 600 marks shall be for the full 6 unit taught courses, 100 marks for thesis, and 100 marks for viva and comprehensive examination. However, the department may opt for an additional full course in lieu of a thesis.

The distribution of course units, marks, and credit build-up for the MSS Degree Program for 800 marks shall be as follows:

*A taught course might be offered in lieu of a thesis.

Natures, Patterns, and Type of Questions

Many options can be adapted for question settings and examinations; for instance,

• take-home or open-book examination with a mix of short and essay type questions;

• sitting-exam with a mix of multiple choice, short and essay type questions; For our purpose,
• in the mid-semester examination carrying 20 marks, 2 essay-type questions would be answered out of 3.
• in the final examination carrying 50 marks, 5 essay-type questions would be answered out of 8.

5. Evaluation and Grading
   1. Evaluation and grading shall be determined on the basis of an overall evaluation of student's performance including
      • mid-semester examination
      • semester final examination
      • term paper
      • class presentation
      • class attendance

1. 2. The distribution of marks for evaluation shall be as follows:

1. 3. The examinations--mid-term and final, term paper and presentation shall be evaluated by the course teacher.
2. 4. For each course, the average marks awarded by the semester final examiners, and the marks awarded by the course teacher for the mid-term examination, term paper, class attendance, class participation, and problem analysis and presentation will be totalled and converted into letter-grades following a 4-point grading scale presented below:

Grading System

For each course, the average marks awarded by the semester final examiners (internal and external), and the marks awarded by the course teacher for the mid- term examination, term paper and presentation shall be totalled and converted into letter- grades following a 4-point grading scale presented below:

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+' and 'C' grades are indicative of 'good' performance overall by a student, earning grade points of 2.50 and 2.25, respectively.

• 'D' grade is indicative of 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., fail to earn any credit point.

• 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 reason(s), 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 next batch. Meanwhile, the student concerned will be promoted to the next semester if an 'Incomplete' grade is not cleared with the next batch, the T grade shall

automatically be changed to an 'F' grade. A maximum of two T grades shall be allowed to a student in one semester except the third one where only one T grade will be allowed.

• '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 program (for consecutive semesters).

Promotion

1. 1. For promotion from first to the second semester, a student shall require to earn a minimum GPA (Semester GPA) of 2.00.

1. 2. 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

1. 1. A student earning 'F' grade in any course shall be allowed to improve the grade with the next batch.

1. 2. If a student obtains a grade lower than '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.

1. 3. 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.

1. 4. Improvement shall not be allowed once the certificate is issued.

1. 5. 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.

1. 6. If the student gets F in the improvement examination, he/she shall automatically be dropped from the semester and the student shall have to take readmission with the next batch, provided the student concerned is eligible for readmission.

1. 7. 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.

1. 8. A student shall be allowed to improve the grade of a particular course only once.

1. 9. 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

1. 1. A student (failing to get the requisite grade points for promotion from one semester to the next may seek readmission with the following batch.

1. 2. For readmission, a student shall have to apply within one month after the announcement of results of the concerned semester.

1. 3. 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.

1. 4. Readmission in a semester shall be allowed only once.

Dropout

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

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

12. Registering Complaints about Marking, Grading and Related Issues

1. 1. In case, students have allegations about the course teacher's teaching, evaluation or grading, she/he can contact the appropriate authorities in the following order:

• The Chair of the Department in which the course is taught
• The Dean of the Faculty in which the course is taught

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

Computation of Grade Point Average