Offered by University of Victoria in Victoria, Canada, Counselling Psychology: Master of Arts (MA) is a master's degree in Counselling & Psychotherapy programme. The programme is delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 2,857 per semester (CAD 2,265 per semester for local students).
At a glance
Degree:Master's Degree
Field:Counselling & Psychotherapy
Delivery: On Campus
Language: English
Local tuition: CAD 2,265 / semester
International tuition: CAD 2,857 / semester
Information for the 2027/28 academic year · Last reviewed September 2026 ·
Program details
Overview
This trauma-informed MA balances theory, supervised practice and research, offering either a thesis or a course-based completion stream over roughly two to three years of full-time, on-campus study. Admission calls for specific upper-level coursework in developmental and abnormal psychology, three named counselling courses completed at B+ or better, documented counselling-related experience hours, two assessment reports, two counselling-skills evaluations and a personal statement. The program builds competencies aligned with Canadian Counselling Association standards through a required practicum and internship placement. International applicants must meet English-proficiency thresholds of a TOEFL score of at least 95 or an IELTS overall band of 7.0 with no component below 6.5, and the CNPY 417 and 418 prerequisite courses must be completed by December 31 before the program begins. Applications for September entry are due December 1.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Admission follows UVic's general Master's requirements: a four-year bachelor's degree (or equivalent) with a minimum “B” average over the last two years, plus substantial program-specific prerequisites. Applicants need three units of relevant third- or fourth-year coursework in educational psychology, psychology or a related helping discipline covering developmental psychology and abnormal psychology or behaviour disorders, and must complete CNPY 414, 417 and 418 with at least a B+ grade, with 417 and 418 finished by December 31 of the year before the program starts; thesis-track applicants also need at least 1.5 units of undergraduate statistics credit. Applicants must document a significant number of counselling-related hours, and submit two academic or supervisor assessment reports plus two counselling-skills evaluations (one from a CNPY 417 instructor, one from a counselling/applied-work supervisor) and a three- to five-page personal statement on career plans and motivation. This program sets its own, higher English-language proficiency scores: TOEFL iBT 95 overall with no section below 21, IELTS 7.0 overall with no component below 6.5, or MELAB 92.
Application Details
Start Date:September
Application Deadline:Domestic applicants apply through EducationPlannerBC, which opens for 2027-entry applications on 1 October 2026: most degree programmes see September 2027 entry close 31 January 2027, January 2027 entry close 30 September 2026, and Summer 2027 entry close 31 March 2027, though Teacher Education post-degree programmes close 2 January 2027, Indigenous Education post-degree admits on an ongoing basis, and Engineering's Summer entry (high-school graduates only) closes 31 December 2026. International applicants use the same portal and face identical dates, since UVic publishes no separate international deadline. UVic treats these as fixed annual dates rather than rolling admission, though it warns any programme can close early without notice. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
