Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology  Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology City University London ../webroot/files/Institutions/cover_photo/1553760654City-University-London.jpg

The Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology course is designed to equip you with a rigorous training in clinical practice, as well as professional research skills at doctoral level, to enable you to become an effective and competent Practitioner Psychologist.

This programme of study enables graduates to meet the training requirements for chartered membership as a Counselling Psychologist with the British Psychological Society and the eligibility to apply for registration as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council.

The Counselling Psychology programme aims to:

• Train Practitioner Psychologists to be competent, reflective, ethically sound, resourceful and informed practitioners able to work in therapeutic and non-therapeutic contexts who are sensitive to their clients’ subjective experiences, while at the same time being pragmatic, confident and, competent to deliver a comprehensive range of evidence-based practice interventions to meet clinical needs;
• Develop Practitioner Psychologist skills in assessment, formulation, planning and implementing interventions, assessment of outcome effectiveness, consultation, teaching, supervision, service audit and evaluation, and leadership;
• Provide the research and evaluation skills which will enable graduates as practitioners and researchers to contribute to the development of the profession and to evaluate and assess the effectiveness and impact of their psychological interventions please see
• Foster a personal awareness and openness in our graduates to equip them to work with a broad spectrum of people recognising and appreciating the significance of wider social, cultural, spiritual, political and economic domains;
• Be able to develop and demonstrate communication, teaching and leadership skills by applying psychological knowledge and skills in a range of professional, clinical, organisational and research contexts; and
• Produce graduates who are well placed to work in a broad range of settings, including the NHS, forensic settings, Third Sector (voluntary), industry, government and private practice as well as academic and research settings, among others.

There are two stages to the selection process for the Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology at City: 1) a written application, which is used by the programme team to short list candidates, and 2) an interview process, which is used to select the strongest candidates from the short list. The programme receives a high volume of applications each year. This inevitably means that selection is competitive and applicants who can demonstrate the strongest applications are most likely to be short listed for interview and offered a place. The team makes its decisions on the basis of evidence gathered throughout the application process.

All applicants must meet the programme’s eligibility criteria before applying, as listed below. Those who meet these criteria should submit a written application using the University’s standard application for postgraduate courses. The written application should clearly demonstrate that applicants meet the criteria.

Eligibility Criteria

Degree and GBC

A 2:1 honours degree or above which confers the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) with the British Psychological Society (BPS) (see below) or other first degree with relevant conversion course. The evidence would normally be in the form of a letter from the BPS confirming that you are a Graduate Member and that you have been granted GBC. If you are unsure whether your undergraduate degree confers GBC then please contact the BPS for clarification. If you are currently completing a relevant BPS accredited course you will need to have applied for and been granted Graduate Membership conferring GBC with the BPS, by the commencement of the programme.

International Equivalences

If you are applying with an overseas degree, the following is an indication of international equivalents of an upper second class degree from a UK institution. Please note these figures are intended as a guide only and individual applications will be assessed on a case by case basis.

• China: Bachelor degree (Xueshi) in a suitable subject with an overall grade of 75 – 85% (depending on the standing of the awarding institution)
• USA: Bachelor degree in a suitable subject with CGPA 3.2
• India: Bachelor degree in a suitable subject with CGPA 6.5 / overall 65% / 1st Division classification
• Turkey: Lisans Diplomasi or a M?hendis Diplomasi with a minimum CGPA 3.0 or 65%
• Italy: Diploma di Laurea in a suitable subject with a minimum score of 104.

English requirements

If English is not your first language, you need to provide evidence of English proficiency.

We only accept the following English language qualifications:

• A first degree from a UK university or from the CNAA.
• A first degree from an overseas institution recognised by City as providing adequate evidence of proficiency in the English language, for example, from institutions in Australia, Canada or the USA.
• GCE O-level/GCSE - grade C or above
• CSE - grade C or above
• SEB - grade C or above
• Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English - Pass
• IELTS – Overall score of 7 or above and at least 6.5 in each subtest

Overseas Qualifications
Equivalent qualifications from an overseas university will be considered.

IT Skills
All students are expected to be computer literate.

Assessment will be varied to reflect the range of professional competencies and experiences that you will develop on the programme. This includes:

• Clinical case studies and process;
• practice placement competency evaluations;
• a critical literature review and research proposal;
• a research thesis; and
• attendance monitoring to ensure adequate engagement with the taught curriculum.