APAC Accreditation Summary Assessment Report Department of Psychology, James Cook University Higher Education Provider James Cook University, Department of Psychology Date of determination 20 December 2010 s version August 2009 Version 9 This is a summary of the outcomes of an APAC accreditation assessment of the Department of Psychology at James Cook University (JCU) Townsville, Cairns and its courses. This summary highlights selected key features of the assessment. Comprehensive analysis of the assessment is contained in the full APAC Assessment Team Report. The JCU Department of Psychology in Australia is split between two campuses, Townsville and Cairns, which are separated by around 400 km. It was clear from the assessment that the Head School does not possess sufficient academic or financial control to ensure a high standard of education and training in psychology can be maintained. Moreover, the assessment found significant staffing issues in particular inadequate student:staff ratios, with the Psychology Department failing to satisfy the requirements of 2.1.4. The two campuses across which the Psychology Department s Australian operations are divided are located a considerable distance apart. The undergraduate degree structures for both the BA and the BPsych, including the fourth year components, are presented as equivalent degrees regardless of campus, however the assessment team found that students on the Cairns campus did not have access to the full range of module choices available to the Townsville students. s 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 therefore failed to be satisfied. The Department, on both Australian locations, has been allocated adequate, but not generous accommodation, with appropriate office resources and well equipped and maintained lecture theatres and other facilities for specialisised teaching. Undergraduate laboratory classes are appropriately catered for both in regard to space and equipment. IT facilities both for staff and students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) were found to be adequate. A comprehensive test library is kept in the on-campus clinic on the Townsville campus, and in appropriate accommodation on the Cairns campus. The University library provides a high standard of service, with good psychology monograph holdings and e-journal availability.
The Singapore campus of JCU acts essentially as an agent of the Townsville campus in that all courses offered in Singapore are largely developed by staff of the Department in Townsville and Cairns and delivered largely unaltered by local staff on the Singapore campus exams too are set by staff on the Townsville campus and taken by students on the Singapore campus. The Singapore campus is small, and all teaching is conducted in what were originally school class-rooms, in a refurbished high school in the suburbs of Singapore. Accommodation is adequate for the purpose of teaching. The assessment team observed that campus has very limited dedicated research space either for staff or for postgraduate students, such that s 2.5.3 and 2.5.4 are not satisfied. The Singapore campus has a very small library with an extremely limited set of psychology monographs, and there is no inter-library loan facility between the Townsville and Singapore campuses nor is there any reciprocal borrowing privileges with other universities in Singapore. All students have access to the electronic journal collection based at the JCU Townsville campus but many complained of restricted holdings and of difficulties in accessing journals. Moreover, since course materials (notes, readings and so on) are sent directly from the Townsville campus, a number of students also indicated that this service is often delayed well past the time when this material is useful for study purposes. s 2.5.11 and 2.5.12 are therefore not satisfied. By contrast, a well stocked and up-to-date test library is available, largely to service the honours and postgraduate (clinical) programs. The three year undergraduate sequence taught in the Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) at the Cairns and Townsville campuses satisfied 3.1. s 4.1.9 to 4.1.13 for the research project are therefore satisfied for Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and the Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology and the fourth year of the four year Bachelor of Psychology at both Pass and Honours. All s related to the assessment of fourth year work (s 4.1.16 to 4.1.19) are satisfied. Both the University and the Department have established procedures in place to deal with internal benchmarking and moderation, student appeals, and plagiarism (or other academic misconduct) s 4.1.21 and 4.1.22 are therefore satisfied. There is, however, no current process of external benchmarking as required by 4.1.20, which must be instituted. The fourth year program did not satisfy the 4.1 and is required to develop a unit at fourth year level providing adequate coverage of the evidence-based approaches to psychological assessment and psychological intervention. The fourth year program at JCU Singapore is essentially identical to that offered by JCU s Australian campuses. JCU at the Townsville campus offers professional programs in two areas, Clinical and Forensic Psychology, at both Masters and Doctoral levels. It also seeks to offer a professional Doctorate in Clinical Geropsychology. The Doctor of Psychology (Clinical Geropsychology) was considered for the purpose of the assessment to be a clinical program with specialised content rather than a specialist geropsychology program. The staff of the Clinical programs were observed to be well qualified but staffing levels must increase in order to satisfy 5.1.2. The University is also required to address the staffing 2
issues within the Forensic program since 2.4.8 is not met. The assessment team came to the conclusion that the teaching of some subject content in the Clinical Programs, specifically the teaching of therapeutic interventions as required by 5.1.12b, needs to be addressed. The structure of the Forensic programs was appropriate. The post-graduate students expressed approval of the standard of teaching and supervision they received. They appreciated the level of organisation of the program and the standard of their preparation for commencing practice with clients. The University Clinic was deemed to be inadequate during the last accreditation assessment but there has clearly been significant improvement since that time. The Clinic now runs well and students were very complimentary about their experiences of training in it. There remains however some concern about the number of psychological tests available for teaching and for clinical purposes. Field supervisors were enthusiastic about their role and generally thought that the students were well prepared for their training in external placements, however the assessment team observed a lack of University staff monitoring of students while completing external placements. Review of students progress does occur but the frequency of these reviews does not comply with s 5.3.29 and 5.3.30. External supervisors, who were all of suitable qualifications and experience, also expressed concern about this issue. In relation to assessment throughout the professional programs, s 5.3.31 and 5.3.32 appear to be met. The Singapore campus of JCU offers a popular program in clinical psychology to local students together with the National University of Singapore s conjoint clinical program with the University of Melbourne, this provides the only opportunity for Singaporean students to train in clinical psychology without attending an overseas university. It therefore forms a strong part of JCU s presence in Singapore. The program in clinical psychology is strongly sought by local graduates in psychology. The entire program in clinical psychology has been developed and constructed in Townsville, and is then sent to JCU Singapore for delivery by local academic staff. Thus, conditions attached to the accreditation of the clinical psychology program at JCU Townsville attach also to the clinical psychology program at JCU Singapore. The Team also found no evidence of the existence of a local advisory or liaison committee to undertake quality assurance of the teaching and training, meaning that 5.1.4 was not met. The accreditation outcomes are summarised in the attached Accreditation Summary Checklist. 3
APAC Accreditation Summary Checklist for use with APAC s August 2009 Version 9 Name of Institution: James Cook University Name of AOU: Department of Psychology Date of Site Visit: 20-23 July 2010 (Cairns and Townsville) 28-29 October Accreditation of the AOU Rules Rule Section 5 Accreditation Status 5.1-5.6 Section 6 New Course Development 6.1-6.3 General Accreditation s The Psychology AOU 2.1.1-10 Multi-Campus Institutions 2.2.1-2 Nomenclature 2.3.1-13 Academic Staffing 2.4.1-11 Resources 2.5.1-12 Teaching and Materials: Managing the Learning Process 2.6.1-14 Special Arrangements for Offshore Teaching 2.6.15 Undergraduate 3-Year Sequence Courses Length 3.1.1 Course Structure 3.1.2-5 Course Content 3.1.6-10 Assessment 3.1.11-16 Awarding of Credit or Advance Standing 3.1.17-19 Undergraduate Fourth Year Courses Entry Requirements 4.1.1 Length 4.1.2 Course Structure 4.1.3 Course Content 4.1.4-7 Research Methods and Professional and Research Ethics 4.1.8 Research Project 4.1.9-15 Assessment 4.1.16-22 1
Awarding of Credit or Advance Standing 4.1.23-25 Four Year Sequence Course Structure 3.1.2-5 /4.1.3 Course Content (Years 1-4) 3.1.6-10 / 4.1.4-7 Research Methods and Professional and Research Ethics 4.1.8 Research Project 4.1.9-15 Assessment 3.1.11-16 /4.1.16-22 Assessment of 4 th Year Research Project 4.1.18-20 Awarding of Credit or Advance Standing 3.1.7-19 /4.1.24 Fifth and Sixth Year Masters Course of Professional Education Clinical Stream Advisory/Liaison and Quality Review Committee 5.1.4 Resources 5.1.5-8 Credit for Previous Study 5.1.9-11 Core Capabilities and Attributes Ethical, Legal and 5.1.12(b) Core Capabilities and Attributes Psychological 5.1.12(c) Assessment & Measurement Core Capabilities and Attributes Intervention Strategies 5.1.12(d) Evaluation Assessment Procedures 5.1.26 Entry Requirements 5.3.1-2 Length 5.3.3-4 Course Structure 5.3.5-8 Coursework 5.3.9-11 Research 5.3.12-17 Practical Placements 5.3.18-30 Assessment 5.3.31-2 2
Fifth and Sixth Year Masters Course of Professional Education Forensic Stream Advisory/Liaison and Quality Review Committee 5.1.4 Resources 5.1.5-8 Credit for Previous Study 5.1.9-11 Core Capabilities and Attributes Ethical, Legal and 5.1.12(b) Core Capabilities and Attributes Psychological 5.1.12(c) Assessment & Measurement Core Capabilities and Attributes Intervention Strategies 5.1.12(d) evaluation Assessment Procedures 5.1.26 Entry Requirements 5.3.1-2 Length 5.3.3-4 Course Structure 5.3.5-8 Coursework 5.3.9-11 Research 5.3.12-17 Practical Placements 5.3.18-30 Assessment 5.3.31-2 Professional Doctorates Clinical Stream Advisory/Liaison and Quality Review Committee 5.1.4 Resources 5.1.5-8 Credit for Previous Study 5.4.12 Core Capabilities and Attributes Ethical, Legal and 5.1.12(b) Core Capabilities and Attributes Psychological 5.1.12(c) 3
Assessment & Measurement Core Capabilities and Attributes Intervention Strategies 5.1.12(d) Evaluation /5.3.22-32 Entry Requirements 5.3.1-2 Length 5.4.1 Course Structure 5.4.2-5 Coursework 5.3.9-10 Research 5.4.6-11 Practical Placements 5.3.17-30 Professional Doctorates Forensic Stream Advisory/Liaison and Quality Review Committee 5.1.4 Resources 5.1.5-8 Credit for Previous Study 5.4.12 Core Capabilities and Attributes Ethical, Legal and 5.1.12(b) Core Capabilities and Attributes Psychological 5.1.12(c) Assessment & Measurement Core Capabilities and Attributes Intervention Strategies 5.1.12(d) Evaluation /5.3.22-32 Entry Requirements 5.3.1-2 Length 5.4.1 Course Structure 5.4.2-5 Coursework 5.3.9-10 Research 5.4.6-11 Practical Placements 5.3.17-30 4
Professional Doctorates Clinical & Forensic Streams Advisory/Liaison and Quality Review Committee 5.1.4 Resources 5.1.5-8 Credit for Previous Study 5.4.12 Core Capabilities and Attributes Ethical, Legal and 5.1.12(b) Core Capabilities and Attributes Psychological 5.1.12(c) Assessment & Measurement Core Capabilities and Attributes Intervention Strategies 5.1.12(d) Evaluation /5.3.22-32 Entry Requirements 5.3.1-2 Length 5.4.1 Course Structure 5.4.2-5 Coursework 5.3.9-10 Research 5.4.6-11 Practical Placements 5.3.17-30 Comments: The Clinical Steam checklists are a combined list of the programs offered at the Townsville and Singapore campuses Authorised: Professor Trevor Waring AM FAPS Chair, Australian Psychology Accreditation Council Date: 20 December 2010 5