The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), the government body which regulates and monitors services offered to persons with disabilities; courses for professionals who take care of them, and so on, published a set of regulations for the intake of BSc Clinical Psychology (Honours) course for the academic session 2024-25.
Council to offer a four-year BSc (Hons) course
A four-year Bachelor's (Honours) with a Research Degree in Clinical Psychology is at the National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF) six level, under the nomenclature BSc Clinical Psychology (Hons). "Graduates from this program function as registered professionals (with CRR) under the category "Counselling Psychologist (Mental Health)”, it states.
As per the notice released in June 2024, the degree "will be an immersive, cohesive, and professionally aligned program which is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge to offer, and ethically deliver certain mental health services to a predefined level".
The course will commence in certain institutes from the month of August 2024 for the academic session (2024-25).
The Rehabilitation Council of India, in tandem with the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 guidelines, states that the introduction of guidelines was taken into consideration after an acute shortage of human resources in the mental health area was observed, which was particularly needed to address the demand for skill training at an undergraduate level. Hence, the council, in confederation with NITI Aayog, has taken steps to offer professional training in Clinical Psychology at the undergraduate level.
"The objective is to impart certain critical skills through rigorous hands-on training, so that the existing service gap in mental health area is filled to an extent with professional contributions by the trained undergraduate students," stated the notice which was released in June 2024.
Other information pertaining to the course is as below:
1) Entry requirement: Students who have completed Class XII class with Science stream or equivalent degree
2) Admission: As per university/affiliating norms
3) Mode: Full-time, regular, direct, face-to-face with supervised hands-on
4) Number of credits: Total 200 Credit Points, 50 credits per year, 40% theory and 60% practical
5) Maximum student intake: 30
Due to the significance of the course, institutions must obtain approval from the council to offer it
