2007:30 R
Evaluation of programmes in Psychotherapy at universities and independent programme providers
The National Agency employed an external assessment team for the evaluation. The report includes both the National Agency´s decisions and reflections, and the assessment team´s report. The assessment team alone is responsible for the contents of the latter.
The following education providers were evaluated: Beteendeterapeutiska Föreningen; Center för Cognitiv Psykoterapi och Utbildning i Göteborg; the Erica Foundation; Göteborgs Psykoterapi Institut; Göteborg University; the Karolinska Institute; Linköping University; Häggmark Psykoterapi och konsult AB for Linnéstadens Psykoterapi Institut; Lund University; Otterhällans Institut för psykoanalys, psykoterapi och utbildning; Psykoterapisällskapet i Stockholm; the St Luke Organization; Stockholms Akademi för Psykoterapiutbildning; Svenska Institutet för Kognitiv Psykoterapi; the Swedish Psychoanalytical Society; Svenska psykoanalytiska sällskapet; Umeå University; and Uppsala University.
The programmes were audited on the basis of the quality criteria that the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education normally applies in national evaluations, and on the reference framework that the assessment team had established especially for evaluating psychotherapy training. The texts about individual institutions follow a standard model in which the education provider has been given the opportunity of reviewing the descriptive parts. The views of the assessment team are based on information from the education providers´ self-assessments, and on the team´s visits. The assessment team´s views are summarised at the end of each individual institution section.
The evaluation comprises psychotherapy programmes offered at both state and private education providers. Since these programmes lead to the same qualification, which in turn is the basis for a licence to practice within the health care sector, the same quality criteria have been applied for state and private education providers.
The programmes form the basis for licensing by the National Board of Health and Welfare. Education providers who admit students and provide them with training which leads to licensing in the health care sector have a big responsibility. The Psychotherapy programme is a continuation programme leading to a professional qualification, which means that there is no standard eligibility for this qualification. Education providers are therefore free to set their own eligibility requirements, but the limitations in the Higher Education Ordinance on granting a qualification affect the eligibility requirements, and must be followed. Uncertainties about how admission and eligibility requirements should be interpreted have meant that students with very varied prior qualifications have been admitted. This variation in knowledge has consequences for the content and quality of the training.
Many of the evaluated programmes are run by small, private education providers. The university programmes are sometimes also run by small units within the institution, but are then part of the university´s organisation, with access to an infrastructure that can contribute to an environment conducive to critical and creative thinking.
Running higher education programmes places big demands on the organisation with the entitlement to award degrees. Based on the results of the evaluation, there is reason to consider whether the private education providers running these programmes in small education environments are able to fulfil the requirements that must be made on an academic education. These requirements include teachers with PhDs, research-based teaching, dissertations in which the student specialises in one area, an environment conducive to critical and creative thinking, a long-term view, and stability.
All of the private education providers included in the evaluation have previously had their degree-awarding entitlements appraised by the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education. The National Agency agrees with the assessment team´s observation that surprisingly little has developed, either in terms of the form or content of the programmes, since the entitlement was granted. To hold a degree-awarding entitlement and to be a proper higher education institution involves keeping up with developments and adapting the programme offered so that it fits with society´s current demands. Several of the programmes have not taken on board the changes that have occurred in the psychiatric care area in such matters as working methods, the requirement for conclusive proof for treatment methods in care, and the rapid developments in the neurosciences and in psychopharmacology. The National Agency would second the assessment team´s observation that most of the private education providers give an impression of standing still and holding on to established methods.
On the basis of the assessment team´s conclusions and recommendations, the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education calls into question the entitlement to award degrees in the psychotherapy programmes at Beteendeterapeutiska Föreningen; Center för Cognitiv Psykoterapi och Utbildning i Göteborg; Göteborgs Psykoterapi Institut, Linköping University; Häggmarks Psykoterapi och konsult AB for Linnéstadens Psykoterapi Institut; Otterhällans Institut för psykoanalys, psykoterapi och utbildning; Psykoterapisällskapet i Stockholm; the St Luke Organization; Stockholms Akademi för Psykoterapiutbildning; Svenska Institutet för Kognitiv Psykoterapi; the Swedish Psychoanalytical Society; Svenska psykoanalytiska sällskapet; Umeå University; and Uppsala University.
The degree-awarding entitlement is not called into question at the Erica Foundation, Göteborg University, the Karolinska Institute, or Lund University.
Contact person: Iréne Häggström, e-mail: forename.surname@hsv.se
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Phone: 08-563 085 00 Fax: 08-563 085 50 Email: hsv@hsv.se
