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Please read this document carefully. You will be required to indicate your consent to its conditions on your programme application form.
To ensure a place on the programme of your choice, PCI College recommends that you complete the online application form, plus payment of the booking deposit for your chosen programme at www.pcicollege.ie.
Hard copies received by post will also be accepted. Please note the name used on your application must be the same name as listed on your passport.
All programmes have different levels of entry requirements; it is the applicant's responsibility to ensure they fulfil the minimum entry requirements for a chosen programme and ensure that the chosen programme is suitable for the applicants' needs and level of ability. Following acceptance, if
PCI College identifies the applicant has not met the minimum requirement for the programme, and PCI College has the right to withdraw the student from the programme.
Application forms not completed in full, with the accompanying deposit, cannot be processed. Upon receipt of an application, you may be required to attend an interview as part of the application process. Formal notification of acceptance onto the programme will be confirmed to you within 5 working days of the interview.
To secure your place on a programme, you may be required to pay an acceptance fee which will facilitate PCI College enrolling you on your programme of choice to retain your place at your chosen venue.
Once an applicant accepts an offer of a place on the programme, the applicant agrees to abide by the rules and regulations of PCI College. Please see the Quality Assurance documentation available on our website.
All candidates are required to satisfy the College's English language requirements as follows:
Candidates whose first language is not English and who are presenting minimum qualifications other than the Irish Leaving Certificate may satisfy the requirement through the completion of the IELTS (International English Language Testing System), or equivalent, on the basis that they obtain a minimum band score of 6 for undergraduate degrees and 6.5 for post-graduate programmes, which denotes a very good skill level in English. It should be noted that these are the minimum requirements in English, and PCI College may set higher requirements as required by the programme of study chosen by the applicant.
For more information, please view our Language Requirements table here.
Students are required to have sufficient IT skills and access to appropriate IT facilities to participate in their chosen programme. All students are assigned an individual email address and given access to an online Student Portal. The Portal includes programme materials, an online library and College announcements etc. Students are required to upload all summative assessments online through our eSubmissions system.
Email is the primary communication method of the College, and all students are requested to access their individual email accounts on a regular basis to ensure receipt of all notices. PCI College does not take any responsibility for students not regularly accessing email. It is the student's responsibility to ensure they are up to date with programme information, announcements, and updates.
Students with a disability may require accommodations to facilitate their learning. These accommodations will be fully evaluated by PCI College's Disability Officer. On application, students are requested to make PCI College aware of any disability, special need or learning support required to allow the College to offer as much support as possible.
Where applicable, students may be requested to participate in Garda Vetting procedures in relation to programme and accreditation requirements. Garda Vetting deadlines must be adhered to at all times. PCI College has the right to withdraw students from the programme if they do not meet these deadlines. Garda Vetting is charged at €20.00 per person and is included in the Acceptance payment paid prior to enrolment within applicable programmes. See Garda Vetting Policy in section 10 of the Support for Learners Policy.
Students holding non-EU passports must ensure they have the necessary current authorisation or visa to study in Ireland. Students are responsible for all costs of obtaining and maintaining permits or visa requirements. The College does not facilitate any application or renewal processes for permits or visas.
PCI College has created these policies and Safety Statements to ensure best practices in Child Protection within the College and related teaching and placement venues. There are two policies and statements in operation, one for the College and one for the PCI Counselling Service. The policies aim to inform Employees, Lecturers, Group Supervisors, Students and Pre-accredited Therapists, who have contact with children or who come across information that meets a certain threshold of risk to the welfare of children, of their obligations to recognise Child Protection and Welfare concerns and to respond appropriately.
These policies are intended to ensure compliance with the Children First Act 2015 and are based on Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children 2017 – https://pcicollege.ie/childprotectionpolicy | https://pcicollege.ie/page/file_dwn/241/Counselling%20Service%20Child%20Protection%20Policy[48].pdf
PCI College makes every effort to provide academic programmes as described and to avoid altering programme dates, lecturers, venues etc. However, should it be necessary, PCI College reserves the right to make appropriate changes and will notify the student body at the earliest opportunity. All programmes run subject to demand and the formation of a viable class cohort. When a location cannot proceed due to the viability of the class cohort, a place will be offered in an alternative location. A full refund will be given to all applicants in the event that the programme/location does not proceed and an alternative venue is not suitable/applicable.
Alumni discounts can only be used by students and graduates of PCI College's Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programmes. Anyone who uses a discount and is not a student or graduate of PCI College will be asked to pay the full fee or will be removed from enrolment in the programme. Discounts may only be used where applicable, i.e. when it is stated that there is a discount available for the listed programme.
Please note: You will not be able to graduate if you have outstanding debts on your account. All Tuition Fees must be paid by the Requirements deadline for the Board at which your results are being presented for an award.
External debt collection:
PCI College reserves the right to refer outstanding debt relating to ex-students to an external debt collection for recovery.
Each programme has its own individual deferral policy, as follows:
Short Courses: Personal Development, Continued Professional Development and Online courses are not eligible for deferral. These courses can be cancelled, and monies left on account for a maximum of 12 months unless the cancellation falls under the 14-day refund policy and less than 10 days before the programme commences, please see Section 3, Fees and Refund Policy above.
Certificate Programmes: Deferrals from Certificate programmes must be applied for within 2 weeks of the programme commencing. Deferrals will be accepted onto the next available intake date for this programme and no later than 12 months from the date of the original booking. This programme can be cancelled, and monies left on account for a maximum of 12 months, unless the cancellation falls under the 14-day refund policy please see Section 3, Fees and Refund Policy above.
Undergraduate Programmes: Deferrals from Undergraduate programmes must be applied for no earlier than the 1st of August preceding the start of the next academic year and no later than 6 weeks from the date of the programme commencing. Deferrals will be accepted for re-entry onto the next available intake date for this programme.
Postgraduate Programmes:
Deferrals for Postgraduate programmes must be applied for no earlier than the 1st of August preceding the start of the next academic year and no later than 6 weeks from the date of the programme commencing. Deferrals will be accepted for re-entry onto the next available intake date for this programme.
If an applicant wishes to postpone their enrolment onto a programme, their status will be managed under deferred enrolment, whereby the applicant has paid the acceptance fee and moved to student status. The acceptance fee with only be held on account for one year; thereafter, these monies are forfeited. Acceptance fees are non-refundable in all circumstances.
No places can be held by applicants who have not accepted their place on the programme.
If a student is deferring an academic year of their programme, PCI College will freeze students' accounts, including tuition fees paid. Tuition fees will remain on the account for the maximum of one year as outlined above, and on re-entry to the programme current tuition fees will be invoiced minus any monies held on account. No refunds will be provided for part payments or advance payments made when entering deferral status.
If a student applies for deferral and leaves with a module incomplete, including outstanding assignments, they will be required to re-take this complete module in the year of re-entry.
Students who wish to defer their study may do so in writing by applying for deferral within the time period above by completing the Deferral Form and sending accompanying supplementary information. The Deferral Form is available on the Student Portal or by emailing studentservices@pcicollege.ie.
PCI College endeavours to recruit students who are naturally empathic, with good communication skills, and who can maintain their emotional balance, empathy and respect for others even when experiencing frustration, discomfort and stress. This ability must be upheld as the most basic standard for students who train in the fields of mental health and wellbeing. The vast majority of our students meet this standard, which allows PCI College to provide a supportive and welcoming place to train.
Students who cannot maintain an emotionally balanced, empathic and respectful position at times of frustration or stress can – intentionally or unintentionally - create considerable ongoing disruption, upset and anxiety for both staff and students and impact the learning experience of others. We expect occasional disagreements and conflicts, which are a natural and healthy part of working and learning in groups, but they must be managed through conversation in which respect and care for others are maintained.
Unacceptable behaviours are unjustifiable in all circumstances for adults training to work with vulnerable people within the helping professions, regardless of any provocation a person feels they have been exposed to, as we have established processes in place to manage such concerns in a professional and fair manner.
Please see the Code of Conduct (Support for Learners Policy) for a full list of unacceptable behaviours and the PCI College procedure for managing the same.
The College is responsible for ensuring a safe and comfortable environment for staff and students. In the rare circumstance in which a student is not in a position to identify their own deterioration in health or wellbeing, the policy will allow PCI College to intervene for the wellbeing of the student and the wider student community. The Fitness to Study policy may be used in cases where a health condition has not been diagnosed or when the College has not been notified of the diagnosis.
The Fitness to Study policy is intended to address concerns that a student's extenuating circumstances are:
Financial difficulties are not acceptable as a reason for a Pause of Study, and as such, any student who feels they cannot commit to the financial requirements of the programme should link directly with Student Services to arrange a payment plan to ensure tuition fees are paid and progression is possible; contact studentservices@pcicollege.ie If progression to the next year is not possible due to outstanding fees from a previous year students should avail of deferral within the guided timeframes above.
The Fitness to Study Policy and Procedure is available in Support for Learners.
PCI College uses Turnitin as a tool for textural comparison to help in the detection of unoriginal work including plagiarism whether human-written or generated by artificial intelligence. All learners’ submissions to PCI College courses are subject to review on Turnitin.com for textual similarity and/or writing generated by artificial intelligence. All assessments submitted to Turnitin by either the learner or PCI College will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting unoriginal writing, including plagiarism. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the Turnitin acceptable use posted on the Turnitin.com website. When using Turnitin as part of their studies learners must not remove any proprietary notices (e.g., copyright and trademark notices) from either the services or any documentation, content, or reports provided by Turnitin.
Due to the sensitive nature of working with vulnerable people, students are required to fulfil fitness to practice requirements. These include, but are not limited to:
Lecturers and relevant programmes personnel will review and monitor student's fitness to practice on an ongoing basis via the following formal mechanisms:
Please see the PCI College Fitness to Practice Policy in our Support for Learners.
When you fill out an application form on our website, we add you to PCI College’s database management system and finance package to enable us to process your application. When an applicant is enrolled on a programme of study, information is shared with the validating and accrediting bodies where applicable.
Please note that where we are required to share information with external organisations, for example, the Garda Vetting Bureau, consent will always be sought.
For further information, see our Privacy Policy.
For students enrolled in Middlesex programmes from academic year 2021/22 and before, you are protected under the Student Protection Plan.
From September 2023, all new enrolments for students based in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) across all programmes which are longer than three months in duration are covered under an Enrolled Learner Protection (ELP) insurance policy provided by Aviva. Under this policy, in the highly unlikely event that PCI College was to stop trading or was unable to continue to offer a programme, for example where appropriately qualified staff are not available, students are eligible to receive a return of the fees most recently paid.
From September 2023, all new enrolments for students residing in the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, across all programmes which are three months in duration or more will be protected through a designated bank account set up by PCI with Ulster Bank to hold student fees so that in the highly unlikely event that PCI was to stop trading or was unable to continue to offer a programme, for example where appropriately qualified staff are not available students are eligible to receive a return of the fees most recently paid.
The change in providing ELP above was necessitated by a change in regulations following the UK government’s decision to leave the European Union that has prevented Aviva continuing to provide cover to students resident in the UK.