The PSI and BPS memorandum of cooperation runs in both directions — and it stops at the undergraduate stage

Yes, in both directions, and both societies say so on their own pages. This is one of the few reciprocal arrangements in this whole field that actually works the way people hope.

It is also narrower than people hope, and the narrowness is the useful part of this page.

Both halves, in the societies’ own words

Britain to Ireland. The Psychological Society of Ireland:

“Following a Memorandum of Cooperation with the British Psychological Society (BPS), those who have completed a BPS accredited undergraduate or conversion degree and achieved a 2:2 honours or above are eligible for PSI Graduate Membership.”

Ireland to Britain. The British Psychological Society:

“Following a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Society and the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI), those eligible for Graduate Membership of the PSI after having gained an academic award accredited by the PSI are also eligible for the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) of the British Psychological Society.”

Note the slight asymmetry in how each is drafted. The PSI’s version names the degree and the classification directly. The BPS’s version is conditioned on your already being eligible for PSI Graduate Membership on the basis of a PSI-accredited award — so it carries across an eligibility, not a document.

What the memorandum saves you: the GMA form

This is the concrete administrative saving, and it is worth more than it sounds.

An applicant with an overseas psychology degree must normally complete the PSI’s Graduate Membership Application Clarification (GMA) form in addition to the online application, and have equivalence determined by the PSI’s Graduate Membership Committee against its accreditation guidelines. The PSI states the substantive test:

“To be considered ‘equivalent’ a qualification should be based on a relatively broad range of psychology courses including the biological bases of behaviour, developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, social psychology, personality and individual differences (including psychometrics) and research methodology.” Applicants “must demonstrate research competence in practical work and in the completion of a supervised research project.”

Under the memorandum, that whole assessment is skipped. The PSI: “Please submit a scanned or online copy of your transcripts from your BPS accredited course to the online application. Please note, you do not need to submit a GMA form.”

The time difference the PSI publishes is stark. “Applications of those with PSI or BPS-accredited undergraduate/conversion qualifications are usually processed within 10 working days.” For overseas qualifications assessed individually, “The average processing time for applicants with overseas qualifications is currently a minimum of 20 weeks”, which the PSI attributes to application volume.

Ten working days against a minimum of twenty weeks is the real value of the memorandum.

The three conditions that decide whether you are inside it

1. Accreditation is by intake year, not by institution. The BPS is explicit: “you need to check whether your degree was accredited for your intake year”, using its “Find an accredited course” search. A university’s current accreditation says nothing about the year you started. This is the single most common way people discover they are outside the arrangement.

2. The classification threshold. The PSI requires “a 2:2 honours or above”. The BPS’s own GBC conditions require you to “gain a 2:2 or above if you started after September 2006”, to follow any specified pathway shown on the search results, and — a condition that catches people — “You must also pass the psychology project in order to be eligible for the GBC.”

3. Accredited means accredited by one of these two societies. The BPS states its own limit plainly: “Although the society began accrediting UK awards delivered outside of the UK in 2014/15, it doesn’t currently accredit international degrees.” A degree from anywhere else, however good, is assessed individually rather than carried across — the BPS route for that is set out at overseas psychology degree: the BPS does not accredit it, it assesses you.

There is a related BPS rule worth knowing if your accredited degree involved study abroad: “Our accreditation standards allow students to undertake up to one-third of the credits for their accredited programme outside of the UK.” Beyond that fraction, you are no longer inside an accredited award.

Where the memorandum stops

This is the part to read twice.

It carries the undergraduate stage only. PSI Graduate Membership and BPS Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership are both academic-eligibility statuses attached to a first qualification in psychology. What GBC is and is not is set out at Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership: an academic standard, not a licence.

It does not carry Chartered status. PSI Chartership requires Graduate Membership first, then one of three postgraduate routes — the Doctoral Professional Qualification Route, the Doctoral Research Qualification Route, or the Masters Professional Qualification Route together with supervised work experience in psychology. Nothing in either society’s memorandum wording transfers a chartered or practitioner status.

It does not bypass the Irish Department of Health validation step. The PSI publishes a process that sits outside its own membership decision: applicants “with Non-Irish (RoI) qualifications in Clinical, Counselling and Educational Psychology who do not have Validation by the Department of Health” face a Chartered application processing time of “around 4-6 months”, and the PSI pauses a Chartered application where a validation application is in progress — “This ensures consistency in decision-making and avoids the same qualifications being assessed in parallel by different PSI committees.” Its instruction is direct: “If you intend to apply for validation through the Department of Health, you should do so before applying for Chartered membership.”

Neither society is the statutory regulator in its country. In the UK, practitioner psychologist titles are protected by the HCPC. In Ireland, psychologists appear on CORU’s list of “professions soon to be regulated” — there is no open register and therefore no Competent Authority for the profession today, a position explained at which CORU board covers your profession. Membership of a learned society is not registration in either jurisdiction.

The published fees, for planning only

PSI Graduate Membership is €260 per calendar year, and on application you are charged €260 “which includes a non-refundable €100 processing fee”; if the application is unsuccessful, €160 is refunded. A reduced rate of €75 exists for certain circumstances, and student members who upgrade pay €75 for three calendar years. PSI Chartered Membership carries a €220 application fee made up of a €150 processing fee plus a €70 chartered top-up, with €70 refunded if the application is not approved; the annual chartered fee is €330. The PSI also offers a free first-year membership for people with refugee, asylum-seeker or international protection status.

These figures were read on 3 September 2026 and are set annually.

If you are choosing between a BPS-accredited and a PSI-accredited conversion course rather than checking an existing degree, the wider comparison — entry rules, price and what each register publishes — is at BPS or PSI conversion course.

What to do

1. Check your intake year against the accrediting society’s course search before assuming anything.
2. Check your classification and, on the BPS side, that you passed the psychology project.
3. If you are inside the memorandum, apply with transcripts and skip the GMA form — and expect ten working days rather than twenty weeks.
4. If you are outside it, plan for the individual assessment route and its timeline on whichever side you are applying.
5. If your goal is practice rather than membership, go to the statutory regulator for that country, not to the society.

What this page does not do

It does not tell you whether your specific degree is accredited; only the two societies’ own course searches can. It does not predict any membership decision, which belongs to the PSI’s Graduate Membership Committee or the BPS’s membership team.

It contains no clinical content and gives no guidance on psychological practice. Everything above is membership administration.

All quotations, fees and processing times were read from the PSI’s and BPS’s own pages on 3 September 2026.