1. An Oxford academic year is made up of three eight-week terms, generally beginning early October (Michaelmas Term), mid-January (Hilary Term) and late April (Trinity Term). Although teaching is within these eight-week terms only, MSc students should arrive in time for course induction, usually late September (two weeks before the start of Michaelmas Term), to start reading for their courses and to take advantage of induction seminars, introductory lectures and social events with their course peers (consult the course administrator for precise dates), and will be registered until Week 9 of Trinity term (when they submit their final assessed papers). If successful, those taking the MSc Criminology and Criminal Justice are likely to be ready to graduate by the end of July, and those taking the Research Methods variant should be able to graduate in the autumn, following the publication of results in early October.

2. You may attend anything you like that appears on the printed lecture list for any faculty or department, unless special indications are given to the contrary. Some units may charge for this, therefore it is important you check with your academic supervisor and/or the Graduate Studies Administrator first of all. In small group seminars it is polite to ask since these may have a more personal dynamic that you might upset.

3. The Bodleian Social Science Library is housed on the ground floor of the Manor Road Building and has over 300 reader desks, many equipped with ethernet points. There are also non-computer designated areas for quieter study, group study rooms, dedicated graduate study spaces and individual study carrels available for booking.

There is an area of the Bodleian Law Library set aside for MSc (as well as BCL/MJUR/MLF) students, although without individually assigned seats. There is a dedicated graduate workspace in the St Cross Building for times when you do not need direct access to the books in the library. The workspace has ethernet points at each desk. It also has a small common room, as well as lockers.

Those in college accommodation will normally find that their room is set up as a live/work space. Colleges also have their own libraries, and many have separate law libraries where you will find extra workspaces.

4. Graduate students in Oxford are expected to spend 45-55 hours studying each week during term. During Michaelmas and Hilary Terms, MSc students are advised to divide their time between the core course and their options in the following way:

• 20 hours preparation a week for the core course
• 10 hours preparation a week for each of their options (totalling 20 hours)
• 5 hours a week in seminars

In Trinity Term they should spend 10 hours in preparation for their option, 90 minutes each week attending their option class, and the rest of the time should be devoted to their dissertation.

Whilst we appreciate that many students will have to take on occasional part-time work during their studies, the MSc is an extremely intensive full-time course and you would be very unwise to give it any less than your full energy all year, including vacations. You should not aim to undertake paid work for more than a few hours a week or else you are likely to fall behind with your studies. Furthermore, your college will have strict rules govening paid employment during term time. Many funders also have such rules.

5. There are no such opportunities for those on taught postgraduate courses. The Faculty makes those opportunities available only to research students in their second or later years of their research programme.

6. Yes, there will be the opportunity to elect a Student Representative amongst your cohort of students in Week 0 of Michaelmas Term. This person will attend termly meetings with the MSc Criminology Board of Studies to represent the students' needs and interests. There is also MSc representation on the Faculty's Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) and on the Faculty Board. The Faculty's graduate student society organises the election of the GSC representatives.

7. Teaching at Oxford University is unique. Oxford is probably the only leading Law School in the world where the main means by which graduate teaching is done is through group discussion in seminars, alongside a series of lectures given by some of the world’s leading scholars.

Teaching on the MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice is seminar based, with groups of no more than 15 and often, for option classes, with much smaller groups, occasionally only three or four other students. One-to-one teaching takes place when the students prepare their MSc dissertation and/ or MPhil thesis, when students are assigned a supervisor to guide them. Clinics to support students in the Methods options, for example in preparing weekly assignments, are available and are also based on one-to-one teaching.

Under the ‘Oxford system’, students are expected to take responsibility for preparing well for classes, and should:

• read academic texts, mostly books (learned journals, monographs, textbooks) in libraries, but increasingly also texts accessed electronically. This reading is for the most part guided by a list provided by your core course or option tutor;
• think about the results of their reading in relation to any pre-seminar questions set alongside the reading list;
• attend all core course seminars, where the tutor will normally set out to portray a topic in such a way as to add value to the treatments of it which you can read for yourself and will expect students to contribute fully to the discussion;
• attend option seminars, which might be even more interactive than core course seminars, normally requiring substantial active participation by the students. They normally aim to review and develop the understanding of a topic which the students have gained from their own reading, thinking and writing, and/or attendance at other classes.
• give presentations, as directed by the course tutor. Such presentations should last no longer than 5-10 minutes and serve to introduce the group to a particular area of study, before leading into a wider discussion. Students should ‘talk to’ concise handouts, and not read aloud from a set of prepared notes.

This teaching system works satisfactorily only when students take responsibility for preparing well for classes, by reading extensively from the reading lists, and being willing to contribute to class discussions. Much of the time students will learn under their own direction and so need to be motivated to read the relevant literature and explore their critical responses to it in seminars.

It is important to realise that you do not learn simply from things said and done in the seminars themselves. By far the greatest part of your learning comes from the reading, thinking and writing which you do for yourself. But whilst you do this reading, thinking and writing by your own efforts, you do not do it unaided. It is the function of seminars and supervision sessions whilst you are preparing your dissertation in Trinity Term (plus to a lesser extent Faculty lectures you may opt to attend), and also of interaction between students themselves, to provide intensive orientation in your study, and feedback on your efforts and ideas.

Study in the vacations is also important, whether it involves preparing for the options and core seminars for the following term, revising for the core course exam, or writing assessed essays or the dissertation. Many students find that by going back over the subject which they have just finished, they can consolidate and deepen their understanding of it considerably. This has great benefits not only for their grasp of that particular subject, but also for the development of their intellectual skills generally.

In all specific, academic and course-related matters, students are encouraged to seek guidance from tutors, and/ or the Director of Graduate Studies. Further guidance on study and presentation skills will be provided in the reading lists, as well as in the MSc Introductory Session to be held at the start of Michaelmas.

8. The Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) is at the apex of the Law Faculty's pyramid of research degrees. It entails writing a thesis of between 75,000 and 100,000 words over a period of three or at most four years (including a probationer year). It is a full-time degree. The thesis must make a significant and substantial contribution to its field.

Students are never admitted to the DPhil degree directly. They are transferred to DPhil status following a 'qualifying test' taken at the end of their first year as a research student. The initial application to read for a DPhil is, strictly speaking, an application to become a Probationer Research Student (PRS). In the Centre students may alternatively qualify through the MPhil, a one-year taught degree available to those who successfully achieve a weighted average of 68% in their MSc, or, in the Law Faculty, through the MSt, a one-year research degree. The MPhil/ MSt programmes then double as the probationer year.

Students who complete successfully the MSc will not automatically be accepted to stay on to study for a DPhil. They will need to have convinced their supervisor and the Director of Graduate Studies that they could cope with the demands of doctoral research and will need to pass their MSc with, at the least, a 68% average grade. In addition, the Faculty would need to be sure it could provide appropriate supervision. Some exceptionally good students will be refused a place at Oxford because their area of interest is outside the expertise of faculty staff. Preliminary (conditional) decisions on DPhil applicants are made during Hilary Term and, therefore, students who wish to be successful in their DPhil application, need to ensure that their performance in Michaelmas classes and assessments impressive.

Those students who are admitted for further study will have to be resident in Oxford for a further three terms since the MSc residency counts towards the total DPhil residency requirements of six terms. Fees are due for a maximum of twelve terms, and so MSc students staying on for a DPhil in Oxford would be liable to pay fees for a further nine terms. Beyond the twelve terms, students will be charged a writing-up fee.

The Law postgraduate handbook explains in more detail what to expect as a DPhil student.

9. Other questions may be answered by the Law Faculty's FAQs.