University of Manchester

Applicants who meet all the minimum entry requirements will be invited to sit a GMA (General Mental Ability) test, which must be completed in order for them to be considered.

Short-listing of candidates is carried out by members of the Executive Training Programme Committee in conjunction with regional NHS Clinical Psychologists. Interviews are held over four or five days. Each candidate attends for a single interview by a panel comprising staff from the ClinPsyD programme, NHS Clinical Psychologists nominated by the Executive Training Programme Committee and representatives of the Community Liaison Group. Interviews generally last around 30 minutes and are designed to evaluate candidates’ clinical, research, professional, interpersonal, values and reflective skills and knowledge. The interview process is continually being developed and there may be additions or alterations to the current process; further information will be provided as necessary if invited to interview. Candidates will have the opportunity to talk informally with current trainees about the Programme.

It is necessary that all applicants must possess a valid full UK driving licence and have regular access to their own transport to enable them to fulfil the requirements of placements (unless not driving constitutes a necessary and reasonable adjustment for someone with a disability or long term health condition). If offered an interview, candidates will be required to show their photocard licence on the day; failure to show a valid full driving licence at interview will result in the interview being withdrawn.

In line with the NHS constitution, we expect all candidates, students and staff to put clients, service users and carers first, treat people with dignity and respect, be committed to quality of care and display compassion and non-discrimination at all times. We also expect candidates to show professionalism in their behaviour and appropriateness of appearance.

Applicants should note that whilst prior learning and clinical experience are taken into account at short-listing, the Programme does not Accredit Prior Learning (APL) as part of the doctoral Degree.

Applicants should also be aware that, due to the nature of our selection procedure, we are unable to accept applications that do not have references submitted in the Clearing House format. Any applications received with references not in this format cannot be processed.  Please ensure that you inform your referees of this requirement.

We are committed to promoting diversity in Clinical Psychology, so will apply principles of positive action in line with stated ethnicity and/or disability in cases where there are multiple candidates of equal merit, in accordance with the Equality Act (2010). If you wish to be considered for this then you need to provide consent for us to have full access to the information provided by you during the selection process in the Clearing House Equal Opportunities Monitoring form. Please note that we will only access equal opportunities data during the selection process in cases where there are multiple candidates of equal merit, and only for the purpose of establishing whether positive action can be applied.

All offers of a place on the Programme are dependent on satisfactory references, criminal record and health checks.

Feedback on selection

It is the policy of the Manchester Programme that we do not provide feedback to candidates who are unsuccessful in being shortlisted for an interview.  The number of applications received makes it impossible to do this.

Written feedback is only given to candidates who are unsuccessful at the interview stage of the selection process.

We do not offer feedback to people who have been placed on the reserve list, as being placed on this list reflects adequate performance at interview and indicates our willingness to offer a place should one become available.

We also do not provide any information on reserve list place or movements.

Equal opportunities

We are committed to promoting diversity in Clinical Psychology, so will apply principles of positive action in line with stated ethnicity and/or disability in cases where there are multiple candidates of equal merit, in accordance with the Equality Act (2010). If you wish to be considered for this then you need to provide consent for us to have full access to the information provided by you during the selection process in the Clearing House Equal Opportunities Monitoring form. Please note that we will only access equal opportunities data during the selection process in cases where there are multiple candidates of equal merit, and only for the purpose of establishing whether positive action can be applied.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

The Programme staff team and other contributors to the training are committed to principles of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).

The University of Manchester ClinPsyD has reflected on training courses’ role in contributing to the lack of diversity within the profession and is committed to thinking about Privilege, Power, Position and Intersectionality (PPPI) in clinical psychology.  We recognise that the profession of Clinical Psychology needs to reflect the rich, diverse and intersecting communities that we work with. As a training course we are dedicated to increasing access to training for people who hold protected characteristics related to Race, Sex, Gender, Disability, Age, Sexuality, Religion and Belief (Equality Act, 2010), as well as the important characteristics of Class and owning Lived Experience of psychological distress and mental health difficulties. The development of a new teaching module focussed on PPPI, which receives excellent feedback, is just one of our commitments in this regard. We have also produced, and are working hard to complete, a formal anti-racism action plan aimed at widening access to the profession for individuals from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

We have launched a Mentoring Scheme aimed at aspiring Clinical Psychologists from marginalised ethnic backgrounds and apply positive action in selection where possible to increase our recruitment of people from under-represented ethnic groups. We are equally focused on, and committed to, widening access to the profession for people who identify as having a disability and apply positive action during selection in relation to disability. We believe that our actions speak to our ongoing efforts to address inherent unfairness, racism and ableism in the system.

The continuing development of EDI on the Programme is led by the Programme EDI Lead and overseen by the Programme EDI Committee, which is co-chaired by a Programme staff team member and a member of the trainee cohort. We look forward to the ongoing dialogue with trainees that is necessary for our continuing progress in these areas.

Contextual admissions

Our programme is considering developing contextual recruitment processes. This is based on evidence that contextualising individuals’ achievements using additional information about their educational, social and economic background can lead to fairer and more inclusive selection processes. In particular, this information could help us to recognise individuals with strong potential for success at doctoral level and within the profession, who otherwise might not have been identified.

We will in due course provide further details on our website about how we will use the contextual data collected in the application e.g. as part of our selection processes; for audit/research purposes to consider developments to selection processes in future years; to create reports for external agencies such as Health Education England (which commissions our training programme).

Disability

Unfortunately, the Programme is not able to participate in the Disability Confident scheme at present.  The programme is committed to changing this in the future.

We also apply positive action for applicants with a recognised disability in cases where there are multiple candidates of equal merit at both short-listing and interview.