Program Overview

Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology

This is a three-year part-time programme which provides master-level Clinical Psychologists with advanced academic and clinical training to raise their standards of clinical and academic competence. The programme includes advanced clinical courses and practical training, in addition to the requirement of a clinical thesis research.

Admission Requirement

• General qualifications required by the Graduate School
• Fulfil the "English Language Proficiency Requirement" as stipulated by the Graduate School
• Possess a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology
• Have eligibility for membership in the Division of Clinical Psychology, Hong Kong Psychological Society
• Knowledge of spoken Cantonese and written Chinese are required (Courses are taught in Cantonese and English)

Additional Application Information

In addition to the general application materials, all applicants should submit a thesis proposal in English (2,500 words or above).

Programme of Study

Courses List

Coursework Requirements

Students are required to complete a total of 25 units of courses for graduation, which includes 19 units of required courses and 6 units of Advanced Practicum.

• Required Courses:
  • PSYC6010, 7030, 7040, 7050, 7100, 7230, 7231, 7910, 7920 (19 units)
• Practical Training:
  • PSYC7240, 7250 (6 units)
  • Students are required to complete 6 units of Advanced Practicum which amount to 150-200 days of supervised practical training in selected area(s) of specialties.
  • Those with at least 3 years of relevant working experience can apply for exemption of Advanced Practicum.

Qualifying Examination

Students are required to fulfill the PsyD candidature by passing the following candidacy assessment procedures:

• Obtain a "B" grade or above in the courses of PSYC6010 (Seminar in Research Methods II) and PSYC7030 (Clinical Psychology Advanced Workshops I) before the end of the first semester in their second year.

Thesis Proposal and Defense Meeting

After passing the candidacy assessment, students can proceed to take the two thesis research courses, PSYC7230 and PSYC7231. Students are also required to submit a thesis proposal and pass a thesis proposal defense meeting no later than 30 May of the second year of studies.

Other Requirements

1. Students must fulfill the Term Assessment Requirement of the Graduate School.
2. Students must also fulfill the additional Term Assessment Requirements of the Programme. A student who receives two or more grades of D or below will be required to discontinue studies, unless special approval is granted by the Faculty Board.
3. Students are required to submit a research thesis and pass an oral examination for graduation.
4. A student must achieve a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.0 in order to graduate, unless special approval is granted by the Graduate School.
5. Students are required to complete the following Improving Postgraduate Learning (IPL) modules in their first year of study for partial fulfillment of candidacy requirements:
   • Students are required to complete and pass an IPL module on “Basics of Research Data Management” in the first year of study.
   • Students are required to submit a Data Management Plan (DMP).
6. In addition to completing the IPL modules stipulated for partial fulfillment of candidacy requirements, students are also required to complete the following IPL modules for graduation:
   • Complete an IPL module on “Observing Intellectual Property and Copyright Law during Research”.
   • Complete an online Research Ethics Training (RET) module on “Publication Ethics” offered by the Office of Research and Knowledge Transfer Services (ORKTS) and obtain a valid Publication Ethics Certificate for graduation.
   • The final DMP should have been shared to the CUHK community on DMPTool or the relevant platform that CUHK provides when submitting the final version of the thesis/portfolio to the Graduate School. Students are required to have published the data on the CUHK Research Data Repository or an open data repository with a valid Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or other forms of permanent identifier when submitting the final version of the thesis/portfolio.

Career Prospects

Graduate students of this programme have been employed as clinical psychologists in:

• Department of Health
• Hospital Authority
• Correctional Services Department
• Hong Kong Police
• Social Welfare Department
• Other non-government organizations.