Introduction: In India, the dearth of mental health professionals is a known concern that ironically goes hand-in-hand with the increasing number of citizens with mental health issues. One factor that contributes to this state of affairs is the lack of opportunities to gain a high quality education in the field of mental health. To contribute to bridging this gap, the Department of Psychology, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous) has started a new Master’s degree course - M.A. Psychology: Lifespan Counseling in June 2019. This course has been designed with the primary objective of creating competent mental health practitioners.

Number of seats: The intake is a maximum of 30 students per year.

Reservation of seats: (Refer PG admission overview)

Selection Process: Admission to the course is merit-based. Eligible students must fill in the online application form and then appear for the entrance examination held on campus. A merit score is then assigned to every student that is weighted as follows: Their marks in the third year of their Bachelor’s degree course (40%) + Their marks on the entrance examination (60%).

Eligibility Criteria: Students with a Bachelor’s degree in any faculty or discipline having studied at least one paper in Psychology during the three years of their undergraduate course can fill out the online application.

Fees: As sanctioned by the Board of Management of St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Mumbai: M.A. Part I: Rs. 92,000/- & M.A. Part II: Rs. 92, 000/-

Semester-wise Syllabi

Credit Distribution: The course consists of 96 credits. Each credit equals 15 hours. The credit distribution across the course is as follows:

Semester-wise: 21 credits (Semester I) + 25 credits (Semester II) + 25 credits (Semester III) + 25 credits (Semester IV)

Theory to Fieldwork ratio: 64 credits (Theory) + 28 credits (Fieldwork) + 4 credits (Research)

Scheme of Evaluation

For each theory paper, the evaluation weightage is divided as follows: 40% to CIA and 60% to End Semester Examinations (ESE).

For fieldwork, evaluation is divided as 40% to case presentations (CIA), 60% to case file (ESE).

For the research dissertation, evaluation is divided as one presentation to the expert panel per semester + report submission.