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Doctor of Clinical Psychology

General Regulations

  • 1. The Department of Experimental Psychology shall have power, on behalf of the Medical Sciences Board, to admit Students for the Degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology.

  • 2. The Medical Sciences Board shall have power, on the recommendation of the Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training, to remove temporarily or permanently the name of a student from the register. This power shall include cases where students have been found under the procedures of the course and the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust guilty of gross misconduct or in breach of the Health and Care Professions Council or the British Psychological Society's Code of Ethics and Conduct.

  • 3. Students shall be admitted to the doctoral programme for a probationary period. The Board of Examiners shall conduct a formal mid-course review during the first half of the second year of the course (i.e. between twelve and eighteen months after the commencement of the course). Candidates shall be required to complete successfully all elements of the work required before they are permitted to progress from the probationary period. Failure to meet mid-course requirements within 18 months of registration will usually result in withdrawal from the programme without award.

  • 4. Subject to the provisions of clauses 2 and 3 above, students for the Degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology may hold that status for a maximum of five years.

  • 5. Students will be expected to keep statutory residence while registered for the Degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology. Exceptional requests to live outside the statutory residence area may be made in accordance with the Regulations for Residence in the University. Requests to live outside the NHS Thames Valley and South Midlands area are unlikely to be supported by the department. 

Special Regulations

  • 1. Candidates shall follow a course of training in Clinical Psychology for a period of at least three years. The training shall consist of Clinical, Academic, and Research elements, and candidates will be required to demonstrate their competence in all three elements. The precise periods of training, and the amount of time to be spent on each element, will be specified in the Course Handbook.

  • 2. Candidates must satisfy the examiners in the following: 

    • (a)  Clinical Activity

      Each candidate shall develop competence in five or six supervised clinical areas normally including the following:

      (i) Adult;

    • (ii) Child;

    • (iii) Learning Disabilities;

    • (iv) Older People;

    • (v) Specialist (to be chosen by the candidate in consultation with the course tutors, subject to the availability of appropriate supervision. Final year candidates will normally either develop competence in one (twelve month) or two (six month) elective areas).

    • Candidates shall submit to the Board of Examiners an integrated clinical report on five of the above clinical areas. Normally, at least one report will concern clinical work which is other than individually based. Each report shall consist of not more than 4,000 words. Candidates shall also submit to the Clinical Tutor a notebook (Log Book) for each clinical area. The candidate's supervisor in each clinical area shall complete, in consultation with the Clinical Tutor, an Evaluation of Clinical Competence (ECC). The Reports and ECC Forms (a minimum of five) shall be assessed as part of the examination. The notebooks shall be available to the examiners.

    • Candidates must meet the subject area requirements through their Clinical Activity as detailed in the Course Handbook. Candidates may choose to offer case presentations to meet some subject area requirements, as set out in the Course Handbook.

    • (b)  Academic Activity

      Candidates shall be required to follow a programme of study, as prescribed in the Course Handbook, normally in each of the following areas:

      (i) Adult mental health;

    • (ii) Children;

    • (iii) Learning Disabilities;

    • (iv) Older People;

    • (v) Specialist teaching.

    • Candidates are required to submit an extended essay. The essay shall not exceed 3,000 words and further instructions are provided in the Course Handbook.

    • (c)  Research Activity

    • Candidates shall offer a research portfolio comprised of:

    • (i) One service improvement project of between 3,000 and 5,000 words in length. The project shall normally be carried out within a clinical context within the first two years of training and shall be of direct relevance to the clinical work.

    • (ii) A research report of 3,000-5,000 words concerning a significant and substantial investigation with human participants which shall be of clinical relevance. The subject of the research report must be approved in advance according to the instructions in the Course Handbook.  

    • (iii)  A systematic review of 3,000-7,000 words which may include theoretical work in a clinical subject.  The subject of the systematic review must be approved in advance according to the instructions in the Course Handbook.  

      (iv)  A reflecting connective narrative of 1,000 words.

      The word count for each element of the research portfolio does not include references or appendices. 

  • All candidates will be examined on the research portfolio viva voce.

  • 3. Candidates are required to pass all assessments in four units. The four units are:

    • (i) Three professional/academic assessments 

    • (ii) Three assessed research proposals  

    • (iii) Six clinical placement assessments, each with an evaluation of clinical competence and two ratings of direct observation of clinical work except the fifth, which will have only one. The first five placements also require a separately marked integrated Clinical Report.

    • (iv) A Research Dissertation in the form of a portfolio of publishable papers with a connecting and reflective narrative and executive summary.   

  • Resits are permitted in the event of up to two initial failure marks in each unit. A total of five or more initial failures across the four units or a second failure at resubmission for any assessment will normally be deemed to constitute a failure of the doctorate and withdrawal from the programme.  

  • 4. Guidelines on the preparation and submission of all written work will be updated annually as required and will be included in the Course Handbook.

  • 5. Deadlines for the submission of all assessed work (including essay titles, essays, service improvement projects, integrated clinical reports, critical reviews, research proposals and research reports) will be published annually in the course handbook and on the course VLE at the start of the academic year.

  • 6. All material submitted for examination must be submitted via the approved online submissions platform according to the deadlines published in the Course Handbook.

  • 7. Once the board has granted a candidate leave to supplicate, they must submit an electronic version of their finalised copy of the thesis, as approved by the examiners, to the Oxford Research Archive. These should incorporate any corrections or amendments which the examiners may have requested of the candidate. The examiners must confirm in writing in their report to the board that any corrections required have been made. No corrections, changes or additions of any kind shall be made to the thesis after the board has granted a candidate leave to supplicate.