DCG Success Stories

Former Derby College higher education student Jade Howell hopes to work in the field of domestic abuse once she’s completed her master’s degree.

Jade, who graduated from college with a BA (Hons) in Security & Offender Management, is now studying for an MSc in Criminal Investigations at the University of Derby.

But Jade, now 21, hadn’t originally planned on taking an academic path.

She said: “A-levels weren’t for me so I left school after GCSEs and enrolled on the BTEC level 3 Uniformed Public Services course at Derby College because it sounded interesting, and, at that time I was thinking about joining the Navy.

After my BTEC I took a Foundation Degree in Criminal Justice (Security and Offender Management) at the Roundhouse then went on to do the top up degree.

I hadn’t thought about going into higher education before that and hadn’t realised that I’d be able to stay at Derby College to do a foundation degree and then a degree.”

As with the BTEC, Jade enjoyed her degree course and found the content varied and versatile. She also liked the small class sizes and that she already had rapport with her lecturers as they’d taught her on the BTEC.

She added: “I found the experience and knowledge gained on the HE course around social research methods and conducting research extremely valuable, particularly going into my MSc where over half of my credits come from research.”

Jade was inspired to take her master’s degree by a college guest speaker from the National Crime Agency.

She added: “At that time, I was thinking about going into intelligence research so I enrolled on the same MSc course he’d done, but I’ve now decided on a different pathway since we began a module on domestic abuse and coercive behaviour.

It’s something I’m particularly interested in and I’d like to go into investigating domestic abuse – perhaps working alongside the police as an independent adviser.”