Preparation and institution assessment
Stage 1
Through stage 1 of our two-stage process, we focus on assessing the institution delivering the proposed programme(s).
We need to take assurance that institution-level standards are met through this stage, and we do this in one of two ways.
- Take assurance that institution meets standards from previous assessments as a baseline
- We will consider how the new proposal aligns to existing provision at the provider
- Information provided through the approval request considered
- HCPC-internal review of alignment
- This stage of the process should take around two weeks from the submission of your approval request form
- No historical assessments with the HCPC to establish institution baseline
- Provider will need to actively demonstrate how they meet institution level standards
- Information provided through the approval request considered, along with a bespoke documentary submission from the provider
- Partner visitors assess whether institution-level standards are met
- This stage of the process should take around two months from your stage 1 documentary submission
Through this stage, we will work with you on how institution level standards are met where we need to. The potential outcomes of this stage are:
- Progress to stage 2 of the process
- Institution does not meet standards and is therefore not approved
Stage 2
Through stage 2 of our two-stage process, we focus on assessing the programme(s) proposed.
We need to take assurance that programme-level standards are met through this stage, and will undertake the following process to reach conclusions:
- We support you in supplying a documentary submission to address programme-level standards
- We will undertake a detailed review against the standards, with professional input (our partner visitors)
- We will contact you with next steps, including the undertaking of any quality activities
- We undertake quality activities together to address themes we have identified for exploration
- We will come to initial conclusions about the approval of your provision
- We will produce a report covering the above, and will make a recommendation to our Education and Training Committee (ETC) to either approve the programme(s), approve the programme(s) subject to the meeting of specific conditions, or not approve the programme(s)
This stage of the process should take around two months from your stage 2 documentary submission.
Findings review
Our legislation requires that our Education and Training Committee (ETC) makes decisions about institution and programme approval, including the setting of any formal requirements (conditions).
In this stage of the process, the ETC:
- Reviews partner visitor findings of the process to date
- Considers any ‘observations’ you supply
- Decides what further action is required