EuroPsy

Background

The EuroPsy (or European Certificate in Psychology) is intended to provide a standard of academic education and professional training which informs clients, employers and colleagues that a psychologist can be considered to have gained the necessary competences for the provision of psychological services. EuroPsy aims to set a common standard of competence in all the countries where it is issued. It envisages the free movement of psychologists across the countries of the European Union, and in other countries which have accepted the standard, and aims to support mechanisms to facilitate this.

EuroPsy builds on the educational framework and minimum standards of EuroPsyT accepted in 2001 and the so-called European Diploma framework agreed in 2005. These earlier projects devoted considerable attention to the variety of educational, occupational and regulatory settings that exist in Europe. It has been noted that educational curricula have tended to differ in length as well as in the presence or absence of differentiation or specialization. Considering such differences EuroPsy was introduced to provide the standard to evaluate academic education and professional training of psychologists across the different countries of the EU, and other countries within EFPA.
Any psychologist who meets the standard (a university education in psychology of at least 5 years and at least 1 year of supervised practice) can obtain a Certificate and be included in the Register of European Psychologists.

EuroPsy has been developed under the auspices of the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA ) which also oversees the development of Specialist Certificates in more specialised areas of psychological practice.

The main purposes of EuroPsy are:

• to guarantee to clients and employers a level of education, professional competence, and ethical conduct by psychologists that are awarded the EuroPsy
• to facilitate the mobility and cross-border services of psychologists
• to give psychologists an opportunity to obtain continuing and specialized education throughout Europe.

Psychology is a differentiated discipline, thus EuroPsy considers particular “areas of practice” in which psychologists are competent. Areas of practice recognized by EuroPsy are:

• Clinical and health psychology
• Work and organizational psychology
• Educational psychology
• Other (to be specified)