University of Birmingham

Applications are screened for the minimum criteria noted above - (Academic, Clinical, the ability to live and work in the UK without restriction, GBC)

Application forms are anonymised and rated against a set of criteria including competencies in:

• Clinical work, Academia/Research, and Personal Suitability 

Shortlisted applicants are offered face-to-face interviews with small panels comprised of:  Programme team members, Experts by Experience, and local Clinical Psychologists. As part of the interviews, applicants give a short research-based presentation.

Interviews take place in the University, and applicants have some flexibility in being able to set a preference for their interview date and either a morning or afternoon session.

Following interviews, applicants are informed about the outcome as soon as possible.

Written feedback is available for applicants who have been interviewed but have been unsuccessful in their application. 

Equal opportunities

At Birmingham, we are very conscious of being situated in an area of rich ethnic and cultural diversity, and the course particularly welcomes applications from people underrepresented within the profession.

It is very important to us that applicants are not discriminated against or unfairly treated on the grounds of factors such as: age, social class, disability, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or religion.

To this end, application forms are anonymised prior to review, we don’t note ‘A level’ results or the awarding institution for Undergraduate degrees, wherever possible our interview panels are balanced in terms of gender and ethnicity, and we don’t review references as part of application form rating.

We are developing a strategy for Positive Action, and intend to have this in place for the 2025 intake selection process – further details will be given on the University web pages.

Contextual admissions

In collaboration with the Clearing House and other Programmes, we have agreed to share equal opportunities data, and are exploring options for a contextual admissions process in the future.  

Disability Confident / Applicants with disabilities

We don’t currently use Disability Confident in our selection processes, but actively encourage applications from people with a disability, and make every effort to provide reasonable adjustments to trainees once on the programme through University and employer processes.