About the Programme Approval Process

A vital part of ensuring public safety is establishing the appropriate standards for the education and training of professionals. The Board has now set these standards and issued them to education providers. The Board has allowed a 4 year period for education and training providers to align to its regulatory requirements if they intend to make an application for programme approval. Once this 4-year period concludes, the Board will commence a process of programme approval to assess whether the education and training programme meets its standards.

The decision to apply for programme approval is ultimately up to the education provider. Institutions should carefully evaluate whether they are ready to apply for programme approval and should only enter the regulatory approval process when they have sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the programme meets the Board’s requirements. Recognising the substantial changes that the introduction of regulation will have on existing education and training programmes, the Board has decided to allow education providers a 4-year period to align to these standards before starting the programme approval process.

The Board cannot open its registers until an Approved Qualifications Bye-law is in place.  This Bye-law will list all the qualifications that have been approved by the Board up until the register opens, ensuring that new entrants to the profession (referred to as Section 38 applicants) have an approved qualification to be eligible for registration. It is important to note that this list is not final. For example, the Approved Qualifications Bye-Law can be amended to reflect programmes that are approved following the signing of the first (or most recent) Approved Qualifications Bye-Law.

Full-time and part-time programmes can apply for programme approval by the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board. The Board sets the threshold education and training requirements for entry onto the register and assesses each education programme seeking its approval against these requirements. The Board, as part of its requirements, does not stipulate the programme duration.

No. The Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board has set education and training standards that are separate and distinct from professional body accreditation. The Board has set regulatory standards for the purposes of establishing the threshold level of knowledge and skills required for safe practice in Ireland. Programme accreditation by a professional body is not linked with CORU’s programme approval process and will not have an impact on the outcome of the programme approval process undertaken by the Registration Board.

No. The Registration Board does not stipulate how an education provider should structure an education and training programme.

The education provider has flexibility around how it designs and delivers its programme. The Board’s requirements, as detailed in its Criteria, is that the programme has the systems and mechanisms in place to continually ensure that graduating students have met and achieved all the standards of proficiency and are able to practice safely as autonomous practitioners upon entry to the register.

It does not fall under the Board’s regulatory remit or responsibility to set the academic requirements for programmes.

No. The Board does not stipulate admissions requirements for entry onto an education and training programme. All minimum entry level admission requirements are determined, set and applied by the education provider.

Under Criterion 3: Programme Admission of the Board’s Criteria, it requires that the education provider clearly articulates its admission requirements and that there are procedures in place for ensuring the stated entry criteria – that the education provider has determined – are consistently applied to all applicants.

Yes, each register will have an associated Approved Qualifications Bye-Law which will list the qualifications that have been approved by the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board.