Courses

Choose your courses carefully

All courses start between early September and mid-October and have only one intake per academic year.

You choose which courses to apply to.

You can apply to a maximum of 4 NHS courses. You can apply to as many of the self-funded courses as you wish.

Please read the information about each course carefully to ensure you meet their entry requirements before you make your choice.

• All the courses are approved by the Health & Care Professions Council and make you eligible to apply for registration with them as a clinical psychologist
• All the courses are also accredited by the British Psychological Society

The qualification is a doctoral level degree which combines academic and practical training, including both clinical placements and research.

Full-time and Part-time Courses

These courses are very demanding so should not usually be combined with any other job or academic course.

There are no distance learning courses: all the courses require you to attend in person on a regular basis.

The majority of courses are full-time for three years.

Part-time courses

The following centres offer a part-time course alongside their full-time course. Part-time courses will take longer to complete than full-time courses:

• Lancaster University ​​​​​

Higher degrees

Universities will not usually allow you to enrol on a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology if at that time you are enrolled on any other degree, e.g. a PhD or Masters programme.

If you have any outstanding requirements from another programme when the clinical course starts, you may be required to withdraw from that programme in order to take up a place or to continue your studies on the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology.

• Please see the Courses A-Z for details of the requirements of individual course centres

Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning

For the majority of courses there is no accreditation of prior learning or experience: all trainees must complete the full programme of training to qualify.

Attendance throughout the course is mandatory, including the induction period.

Course centres that use APEL

The following course centres consider certain qualifications for some recognition of prior learning. Please follow the links for further details:

• University of Edinburgh
• University of Exeter
• University of Glasgow

British Psychological Society (BPS) - useful links

• Alternative Handbook - offers a consumer's view of each course, updated each year, that can help guide applicants' decisions on where to apply. You can download this from the BPS website. Please follow the link and search for "Alternative Handbook".
• Pre-Qualification Group - PQG on Twitter or PQG on Facebook - represents people working towards a career in clinical psychology, providing a voice within the profession.
• Minorities in Clinical Psychology Group - Minorities Group on Twitter or Minorities Group on Facebook - supports minoritised groups within clinical psychology.

Course that are not part of the Clearing House scheme

The following UK course centres have their own application process and are not part of the Clearing House scheme:

• University of Hull
• Queen's University Belfast

For links to the websites of centres in the Clearing House scheme please see the Courses A-Z.