About this course
The MSc Art Psychotherapy Programme is approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), the statutory regulator of the profession of Art Therapy/Art Psychotherapy and other allied health and care professions in the UK. The MSc Art Psychotherapy Programme is a pre-registration clinical training course run in the Belfast School of Art and validated by Ulster University. The course is recognised by the British Association of Art Therapists, the UK professional body, and by the Irish Association of Creative Arts Therapists, the Irish professional body.
The programme combines three strands of learning: active learning, research and practice- based. These are delivered through seminars, tutorials, interpersonal learning groups, placements, supervision and art making. The programme will be taught using a hybrid model of both online and in person teaching. The MSc Art Psychotherapy programme also includes placement components, with learners undertaking approved placements in diverse organisational settings. These will be supported by training and supervision from practice educators within the placement and by ongoing supervision from members of the staff team.
Placements are established using a collaborative approach between the placement coordinator and the learner. To maximise learner clinical and multi-disciplinary team experience and potential for employment, placements will be with approved agencies across statutory and voluntary settings and with clients across the lifespan. Learners will have the opportunity to avail of both long-term placements and short-term community practice across the continuum of art therapy.
Successful completion of a HCPC approved programme provides eligibility to apply for HCPC registration. It is a legal requirement that anyone who wishes to practise using a title protected by the Health & Care Professions Council Order 2001 (e.g. "Art Therapist" or "Art Psychotherapist") is on the HCPC register. Therefore, HCPC Registration permits practice of Art Therapy / Art Psychotherapy in the UK and use of the legally protected titles: “Art Therapist” or “Art Psychotherapist”.
Attendance
MSc Art Psychotherapy programme is full-time and delivered over 2 years. The programme is based in Belfast School of Art, Belfast campus.
Attendance must be in compliance with the University’s attendance policies.
Start dates
Teaching, Learning and Assessment
The MSc Art Psychotherapy programme is grounded in trauma-informed pedagogy (Advance HE, 2025), prioritising psychological safety and empowerment. The programme embeds principles of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), fostering critical awareness of cultural contexts, systemic inequalities, and intersectional identities within therapeutic relationships. The programme reflects Ulster University’s strategic values and meets all HCPC and QAA professional standards, ensuring graduates are academically and clinically prepared to contribute meaningfully to mental health care across the UK and internationally.
The MSc Art Psychotherapy programme employs an inclusively designed, diverse assessment strategy that is integrative, developmental, and professionally aligned. Assessment methods are chosen to ensure learners can demonstrate academic knowledge, clinical competence, creative inquiry, and reflective capacity. This multimodal approach supports a range of learning styles, encouraging learner engagement, and ensures fairness, accessibility, and authenticity in line with the principles of inclusive education and Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
Assessments are mapped to module learning outcomes, HCPC Standards of Proficiency (2023),Ulster University’s Graduate Attributes (2026) and Ulster University Assessment Code (2026), ensuring that all learners are prepared for ethical, evidence-informed, and person-centred professional practice.
Formative feedback is embedded throughout all modules (e.g., tutorials, supervision, peer critique, draft reviews), supporting learner growth and confidence.
Summative feedback is constructive, transparent, and timely, offering specific guidance for improvement and alignment with learning outcomes.
Feedback is delivered in multiple formats (written, audio, tutorial-based) to enhance accessibility and learner engagement. It is delivered in keeping with the university guidance.
The content for each course is summarised on the relevant course page, along with an overview of the modules that make up the course.
Each course is approved by the University and meets the expectations of:
Attendance and Independent Study
As part of your course induction, you will be provided with details of the organisation and management of the course, including attendance and assessment requirements - usually in the form of a timetable. For full-time courses, the precise timetable for each semester is not confirmed until close to the start date and may be subject to some change in the early weeks as all courses settle into their planned patterns. For part-time courses which require attendance on particular days and times, an expectation of the days and periods of attendance will be included in the letter of offer. A course handbook is also made available.
Courses comprise modules for which the notional effort involved is indicated by its credit rating. Each credit point represents 10 hours of student effort. Undergraduate courses typically contain 10, 20, or 40 credit modules (more usually 20) and postgraduate courses typically 15 or 30 credit modules.
The normal study load expectation for an undergraduate full-time course of study in the standard academic year is 120 credit points. This amounts to around 36-42 hours of expected teaching and learning per week, inclusive of attendance requirements for lectures, seminars, tutorials, practical work, fieldwork or other scheduled classes, private study, and assessment. Teaching and learning activities will be in-person and/or online depending on the nature of the course. Part-time study load is the same as full-time pro-rata, with each credit point representing 10 hours of student effort.
Postgraduate Master’s courses typically comprise 180 credits, taken in three semesters when studied full-time. A Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) comprises 60 credits and can usually be completed on a part-time basis in one year. A 120-credit Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) can usually be completed on a part-time basis in two years.
Class contact times vary by course and type of module. Typically, for a module predominantly delivered through lectures you can expect at least 3 contact hours per week (lectures/seminars/tutorials). Laboratory classes often require a greater intensity of attendance in blocks. Some modules may combine lecture and laboratory. The precise model will depend on the course you apply for and may be subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. Prospective students will be consulted about any significant changes.
Assessment
Assessment methods vary and are defined explicitly in each module. Assessment can be a combination of examination and coursework but may also be only one of these methods. Assessment is designed to assess your achievement of the module’s stated learning outcomes. You can expect to receive timely feedback on all coursework assessments. This feedback may be issued individually and/or issued to the group and you will be encouraged to act on this feedback for your own development.
Coursework can take many forms, for example: essay, report, seminar paper, test, presentation, dissertation, design, artefacts, portfolio, journal, group work. The precise form and combination of assessment will depend on the course you apply for and the module. Details will be made available in advance through induction, the course handbook, the module specification, the assessment timetable and the assessment brief. The details are subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. You will be consulted about any significant changes.
Normally, a module will have 4 learning outcomes, and no more than 2 items of assessment. An item of assessment can comprise more than one task. The notional workload and the equivalence across types of assessment is standardised. The module pass mark for undergraduate courses is 40%. The module pass mark for postgraduate courses is 50%.
Calculation of the Final Award
The class of Honours awarded in Bachelor’s degrees is usually determined by calculation of an aggregate mark based on performance across the modules at Levels 5 and 6, (which correspond to the second and third year of full-time attendance).
Level 6 modules contribute 70% of the aggregate mark and Level 5 contributes 30% to the calculation of the class of the award. Classification of integrated Master’s degrees with Honours include a Level 7 component. The calculation in this case is: 50% Level 7, 30% Level 6, 20% Level 5. At least half the Level 5 modules must be studied at the University for Level 5 to be included in the calculation of the class.
All other qualifications have an overall grade determined by results in modules from the final level of study.
In Masters degrees of more than 200 credit points the final 120 points usually determine the overall grading.
Figures from the academic year 2022-2023.
Academic profile
MSc Art Psychotherapist
The University employs over 1,000 suitably qualified and experienced academic staff - 60% have PhDs in their subject field and many have professional body recognition.
Courses are taught by staff who are Professors (19%), Readers, Senior Lecturers (22%) or Lecturers (57%).
We require most academic staff to be qualified to teach in higher education: 82% hold either Postgraduate Certificates in Higher Education Practice or higher. Most academic and learning support staff (85%) are recognised as fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) by Advance HE - the university sector professional body for teaching and learning. Many academic and technical staff hold other professional body designations related to their subject or scholarly practice.
The profiles of many academic staff can be found on the University’s departmental websites and give a detailed insight into the range of staffing and expertise. The precise staffing for a course will depend on the department(s) involved and the availability and management of staff. This is subject to change annually and is confirmed in the timetable issued at the start of the course.
Occasionally, teaching may be supplemented by suitably qualified part-time staff (usually qualified researchers) and specialist guest lecturers. In these cases, all staff are inducted, mostly through our staff development programme ‘First Steps to Teaching’. In some cases, usually for provision in one of our out-centres, Recognised University Teachers are involved, supported by the University in suitable professional development for teaching.
Figures from the academic year 2022-2023.
