Ph.D in England?

The process of education in clinical psychology is different in the UK in comparison to the US. The Ph.D. in the UK is specifically a research degree with very little in the way of a "taught" component. It is essentially a "dissertation only" degree with the dissertation being significantly longer than a typical US dissertation. Clinical psychologists who wish to practice will typically get a D.ClinPsy degree which is analogous to the Psy.D. here in the states. The curricula are generally similar based on what I have read. However, given the rather parochial attitudes of American state boards regarding foreign credentials, they may not accept a British professional doctorate. You probably would need to contact the state boards where you might want to practice and see if such a credential would be acceptable. Furthermore, you would want to see if previous holder's of a British degree have been given a license under the current licensing laws in that state. It would be very difficult for a jurisdiction to deny you a license to practice based on a degree when others have been granted one with the same credentials. In many states person holding a foreign credential have to prove equivalence of training.... didactic coursework, clinical practica, internships, clinical supervision etc...

IWantToBeFreud said:

Thanks for the replies. I've read about the D.ClinPsy degree, I just wasn't aware that it was degree for those that want to practice as opposed to research. I will contact a few state boards and find out what their policies are on foreign degrees.

Does anyone have any recommendations for schools to look into? Do places like Oxford and Cambridge offer the D.ClinPsy? Thanks again!

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Hi. I am also a undergraduate thinking about applying programmes in England. The school that I am very interested in is Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. Their website is http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/

They are a huge research institution funded by NHS. Their faculties and research areas sound very attractive to me, for example, Paul Salkovskis. I think it is the Top 1 Psychiatry/Clinical Psy. programme in Europe.

Request a printed prospectus from them, specifying Clinical Psychology/Psychiatry from them on http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/prosrequest
I found their prospectus is very useful and contains a lots of information.

As I know, Cambridge and Oxford does not have a strong clinical psy. programme. Other than King's College London, I would recommend Univ. of Leeds.

Just my 2 cents 🙂

IWantToBeFreud said:

As far as I can tell, it doesn't seem like the Doctoral Psychology programs in England are funded like most are here in the states (ie: a student earning a stipend while working towards a Ph.D.). It also appears as though those programs require an undergraduate in Psychology (which I'm not working towards), as I was planning on taking the psych prerequisites for the schools I want to apply to.

Is there any information about this out there? Perhaps I'll contact King's College and Leeds about their admission policies. Thanks again.

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Hi IWantToBeFreud,

As far as I know, the DClinPsy Programmes in UK are all funded by NHS. However, being funded by NHS means that you HAVE TO work for NHS after your graduation (you become a NHS employee if you're being accepted by those DClinPsy programmes). NHS paid you for training and then you work for them (clinical work in NHS Hospitals and/or research work in NHS Research Institutions) as a licensed psychologist.

UK's DClinPsy programmes sound like a national cadet clinical psychologists training programme. Only 30 NHS funded universities offer DClinPsy. And all applications are made through "the Clearing House for Postgraduate Courses in Clinical Psychology" (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/chpccp) Applicants do not apply to Univ.s directly, instead, everyone should send application to that national Clearing House. 🙂

As I feel, the DClinPsy programmes in UK are quite limited in many aspects, in comparison with programmes in US. I personally feel US gives us FAR MORE CHOICES!

Oh, one good thing about British DClinPsy Programmes - Schools do not require GRE scores

As far as I am not a British Citizen, I cannot apply those DClinPsy programmes in UK since NHS will NOT fund a foreigner. However, I found the King's College London IOP offers another very good option besides DClinPsy -- MA+PhD Programme of Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry. This is more research oriented (which I am looking for) and you can find external funding yourself (NHS will also fund British Citizens in this programme, however, NHS may still ask you to work for them after graduation).

For those DClinPsy programmes' entry requirements, please refer to the Clearing House for Postgraduate Courses in Clinical Psychology's website. 😎