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Clinical Psychology

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Clinical Psychology

MSc

Key information

Duration: 1 year full time or 2 years part time

Institution code: R72

Campus: Egham

UK fees*: £13,200

International/EU fees**: £28,500

The course

Clinical Psychology (MSc)

Psychology explores many aspects of the human condition including our thoughts, feelings, decisions and behaviours. Study Clinical Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London and you’ll develop a deep understanding of the treatment and assessment of mental illness and behavioural problems.

This comprehensive programme will provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to pursue a career in a mental health setting or mental health research, with topics including clinical assessment, the principles of evidence-based treatments and wellbeing. You’ll learn from our enthusiastic expert academics, with a mix of seminar, lecture and research-based teaching providing exciting academic variety.

You’ll graduate with a range of transferable skills to take into further PhD study or your future career, including advanced research training and communication skills for working with clients, patients, and families. We provide excellent employability skills for graduates. Our notable alumni include leading bioscience innovator Professor Jackie Hunter CBE, Terrence Higgins Trust founder Dr Rupert Whitaker, and Dr Christian Jarrett – author of The Rough Guide to Psychology.

From time to time, we make changes to our courses to improve the student and learning experience. If we make a significant change to your chosen course, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.

Core Modules

  • The module will cover a variety of topics in adjustment and well-being delivered by experts on the topics and practitioners. These will include measurement of well-being, antecedents and consequences of well-being, ill-being and health psychology. Some example topics include materialism and well-being, delusions, and adjustment of personal values to life transitions.

  • In this module you will develop an understanding of many of the key research techniques that are used in social, health, forensic, clinical and developmental research. You will look at both qualitative and quantitative research techniques, covering forms of data collection such as questionnaires, online data, interviewing and focus groups, observational research methods, computerised cognitive measures, and social neuroscience techniques. You will also consider other forms of data analysis, including grounded theory, interpretative phenomenological analysis, thematic analysis, content analysis, and the use of secondary data and meta-analytic and systematic review techniques.

  • In this module you will explore instruments that mental health professionals use to assess patients, as well as assess evidence-based treatment approaches to disorders.

  • In this module you will explore the concepts, theories and professional practices that clinical and counselling psychologists must be aware of, such as increasing awareness of health care structures (e.g. NHS), concerns surrounding the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, controversies in diagnosis, and communication skills.

  • In this module you will develop an understanding of the main statistical methods used in psychology research. You will look at basic descriptive statistics before covering more complex techniques, including analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, correlation analysis, and simple and multiple regression. You will examine advanced statistical methods, such as structural equation modelling and factor analysis. You will gain hands-on experience in applying these methods of analyses to actual datasets and problems using statistical software, considering their respective strengths and weaknesses, and what type of problems each approach is best suited to address.

  • You will be provided with the possibility to complete a systematic review or to carry out an original piece of research on a topic of your interest within the broad area of clinical psychology. You will be given the necessary support during the conception, conduct and writing up of your research.

  • This module will describe the key principles of academic integrity, focusing on university assignments. Plagiarism, collusion and commissioning will be described as activities that undermine academic integrity, and the possible consequences of engaging in such activities will be described. Activities, with feedback, will provide you with opportunities to reflect and develop your understanding of academic integrity principles.

     

Optional Modules

There are a number of optional course modules available during your degree studies. The following is a selection of optional course modules that are likely to be available. Please note that although the College will keep changes to a minimum, new modules may be offered or existing modules may be withdrawn, for example, in response to a change in staff. Applicants will be informed if any significant changes need to be made.

  • The module aims to help students understand the challenges but also benefits of conducting research in applied settings, as compared to laboratory settings. After discussing general opportunities and challenges in conducting psychological research in applied settings, the module will cover a variety of topics in applied psychology delivered by experts on the topics and practitioners. These may vary each year, but can include selected topics in organisational psychology, forensic psychology, educational psychology, counselling psychology, and applied social psychology. Some example topics include eyewitness testimony in the court, parenting interventions, and understanding donations.

  • Seminars will adopt an interactive, discussion-based style, focused around a topical research paper or a wider issue relating to psychological science. The topics for discussion will be drawn from a broad range of research areas, including neuroscience, cognition and social psychology. Many of the discussions will be student-led, and the topics for these sessions will reflect individual students’ particular areas of interest. The taught module will be complemented by a series of departmental research seminars, through which students will be able to hear about the latest research from a variety of external speakers.

  • In this module you will develop an understanding of cognitive, social and neuroscience approaches to forensic psychology. You will look at social approaches to different victim and offender groups, the neuroscience of psychopathy, interviewing victims, physiological approaches to deception, detection, and the role of eyewitness identifications in the legal system. You will also examine receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and confidence relationships as they apply to decision makers and estimator and system variables.

  • The placement is designed to you the opportunity to gain practical work experience to enhance your CV for future applications to jobs in the health sector or to undertake PhD-level study. You will be responsible for securing a placement that aligns with your individual career plans, but will provided with support by the Department of Psychology and the Careers and Employability Service.

Teaching and learning is delivered primarily through sessions lasting between one-and-a-half and five hours. These typically combine seminar discussions with practical exploration or workshops. Where possible, these will be student-led, with participants encouraged to devise exercises engaging with the relevant issues and to direct fellow-students in these experiments.

We place emphasis on group discussion and the development of independent thought and analysis appropriate to carry out an independent piece of research of high quality, in an area of interest to you. In some contributing modules, you will give oral presentations which form part of the formative assessment. Summative assessment is usually by extended essay, although there are written exams for modules focussing on methodology and statistics.

2:1

Psychology or a related Social Science subject with evidence of having taken and passed methodological and statistics training at degree level.

International & EU requirements

English language requirements

  • IELTS: 6.5 overall. Writing 7.0. No other subscore lower than 5.5.
  • Pearson Test of English: 61 overall. Writing 69. No other subscore lower than 54.
  • Trinity College London Integrated Skills in English (ISE): ISE III.
  • Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) grade C.
  • TOEFL iBT: 88 overall, with Reading 18 Listening 17 Speaking 20 Writing 26.
  • Duolingo: 120 overall, 135 in Literacy, 135 in Production and no sub-score below 100.

Graduate with a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London and you’ll be well-placed to progress to further postgraduate study or to a rewarding career in mental health.

Please note that this MSc does not lead to a professional qualification as a clinical psychologist, nor does this module guarantee you entry onto a Clinical Psychology doctorate programme.

Royal Holloway's Department of Psychology is one of the most highly regarded psychology departments in the country, and we work hard to provide our students with the help and advice they need to achieve their postgraduate career ambitions. We hold annual ‘Meet the Grads’ events where students can get help and advice from our successful alumni, while a dedicated online forum provides students with the information they need to prepare for postgraduate life. We also have close links with local organisations including the Macular Society, Southern Addictions Advisory Service and Bishop Creighton House to provide rewarding placement opportunities.

Home (UK) students tuition fee per year*: £13,200

EU and international students tuition fee per year**: £28,500

Other essential costs***: There are no single associated costs greater than £50 per item on this course.

How do I pay for it? Find out more about funding options, including loans, grants, scholarships and bursaries.

* and ** These tuition fees apply to students enrolled on a full-time basis in the academic year 2024/25. Students studying on the standard part-time course structure over two years are charged 50% of the full-time applicable fee for each study year.

Royal Holloway reserves the right to increase all postgraduate tuition fees annually, based on the UK’s Retail Price Index (RPI). Please therefore be aware that tuition fees can rise during your degree (if longer than one year’s duration), and that this also means that the overall cost of studying the course part-time will be slightly higher than studying it full-time in one year. For further information, please see our terms and conditions.

** This figure is the fee for EU and international students starting a degree in the academic year 2024/25. Find out more 

*** These estimated costs relate to studying this particular degree at Royal Holloway during the 2024/25 academic year, and are included as a guide. Costs, such as accommodation, food, books and other learning materials and printing, have not been included.

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