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Home > Careers and Qualifications > Accreditation and Accredited Psychology Courses > Accreditation - Information for Programme Providers [...]

Accreditation - Information for Programme Providers

This page contains information for higher education institutions (HEIs) offering accredited programmes and those planning to seek accreditation for programmes of study in psychology. A common process applies to accreditation but distinct criteria are in place for each area of psychology in which accredited programmes may be offered.

In July 2009, the Health Professions Council (HPC) took over as the statutory regulator for practitioner psychologists in the UK. In order to be able offer services to the public as a psychologist in one of the seven applied areas regulated by the HPC, students need to complete an HPC approved programme of training. Information about HPC's approvals and monitoring processes can be found here. Gaining Society accreditation for the programmes offered by your institution is optional. However, please note that:

Many professional Doctorates approved by the HPC will retain eligibility for the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) as an essential pre-requisite for entry to training.

Stage Two Doctorates approved by the HPC may also choose to retain completion of an accredited MSc as an entry requirement.

For a number of routes to HPC registration and membership of one of the Society’s Divisions, the Society’s own qualifications offer the main - or in some cases, the only - training route available. They will continue to require that students have gained eligibility for the GBC prior to commencing training. In the case of Stage Two qualifications, completion of a Society-accredited Masters programme will also be a pre-requisite for entry.

Society accreditation is understood by students as a marker of quality, and maintaining accreditation for your programmes will help to maximise student choice.

All programme providers running accredited programmes, or seeking accreditation should make and maintain contact with the Society's Quality Assurance (QA) team.

You are also welcome to contact the QA team to discuss any aspect of the accreditation process.

Important information

The information on this page may change when statutory regulation for psychologists is introduced (1 July 2009). Please note that while most of the general information is likely to apply post statutory regulation, the continued validity of specific information cannot be guaranteed. These pages will be updated as soon as new information is available. In particular, visitors to our webpages should note that changes to the terminology used in the Society’s membership structure (e.g. Chartered Membership, instead of registration as a Chartered Psychologist; Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership, instead of Graduate Basis for Registration) remain subject to formal ratification and may therefore change. Visitors should also note that whilst the specific information on these pages is accurate at the time of writing, the validity of information contained within any linked documents cannot be guaranteed. Please contact the QA team with any queries.

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