The degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology (D.Clin.Psychol.) may be awarded by the Senate on the recommendation of the Board of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences to a graduate in Psychology provided that the candidate:
Duration of programme and schedule of assessments
Candidates for the Doctorate will be required to follow a three-year training of supervised clinical experience, academic teaching and research leading to the Doctoral degree, dated as from their registration. The schedule of assessments will comprise:
Part one: Assessment of Academic Competence
Part two: Assessment of Clinical Competence
Clinical competence will be continuously assessed by examination of Clinical Competence Forms, Log Books and Reports of Clinical Activity. An External Examiner will be present on two occasions for formal review of this material.
Part three: Assessment of Research Competence
Timing of Assessments
All elements of Parts One, Two and Three shall normally be completed no later than the end of September of the third year of the programme.
Completion of the schedule of examinations
Candidates must normally complete all parts of the examination within five years of first registering.
Entry to Years Two and Three of the programme is normally contingent upon satisfactory academic and clinical performance in the previous year.
In Part One, candidates who fail one of the written assessments will be required to resubmit it, provided that the assessment of clinical competence requirements for the relevant placement have been met.
Subject to appeal, the School of Psychology Board may deem a candidate to have failed the D.Clin.Psychol. on any part of the examination without right of re-entry, on one or more of the following grounds:
Candidates who fail the D.Clin.Psychol. programme will not be permitted to re-register.
Thesis and Final Examination
The Research Thesis shall be examined by an Internal Examiner appointed by the programme and approved by the Board, and also by an External Examiner appointed by the Board. On presentation, it should be accompanied by a statement from the research supervisor which should draw the attention of the examiners to any circumstances it would be relevant for them to consider.
The Thesis will be considered together with the Small-Scale Research Project report, and written assessments of academic competence. The whole body of work will be considered, together with Evaluation of Clinical Competence forms, log books, and reports of clinical activity.
Candidates will normally be required to attend an oral examination.
The thesis may be judged acceptable as it stands or acceptable subject to minor corrections. If unacceptable, the candidate will normally be given an opportunity to resubmit a revised thesis for re-examination by a date specified. In exceptional circumstances, the Examiners may recommend that submission of a revised thesis be not permitted.
The Examiners for each candidate shall recommend one of the following courses of action:
A candidate who fails to submit a corrected or revised thesis by the date set by the Examiners shall normally be regarded as having failed the examination and the recommendations of the Examiners shall lapse.