Graduate · Psychology
Master of Psychology (Professional)
Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia
About this program
Curtin's Master of Psychology (Professional) is a genuinely compressed program: one year full-time, integrating coursework, a research project, and supervised practical placements all within twelve months, which is unusually fast for a professional psychology masters and reflects Curtin's design choice to front-load the experiential placement work rather than spread it across a longer program. Part-time enrolment exists but is limited and offered mainly on equity grounds rather than as a standard option.
The placement component is where the degree earns its "professional" label specifically: students are taught and then supervised administering psychological assessments, conducting mental status examinations, and applying counselling skills in real placement settings, not just discussing these skills in seminar. That hands-on structure is what leads toward the practical competencies assessed in the National Psychology Examination.
Graduates who pass the National Psychology Examination become eligible for registration with the Psychology Board of Australia, making this one of the more direct routes from an accredited undergraduate psychology sequence into registered practice, compressed into a single intensive year rather than the two-year professional masters some other universities require.
Cost & duration
English test scores
Course structure
4 terms of coursework
- Semester 1: Advanced Psychological Assessment, Psychopathology and Diagnosis, Counselling Skills, placement orientation and commencement
- Semester 2: Research Project (professional application focus), supervised clinical placement (assessment and counselling practice), Ethics and Professional Practice in Psychology
- Throughout: integrated placement hours across both semesters combining assessment, mental status examination, and counselling skill application
- Outcome: eligibility to sit the National Psychology Examination and apply for registration with the Psychology Board of Australia
Admissions
Bachelor's degree in psychology or equivalent