Application Form to Study at The Scotland College of Chiropractic

How We Use the Information You Provide in this Application

To comply with data protection legislation the personal information we obtain and hold about individuals must be accurate, held securely and only for as long as necessary, collected only for the purposes specified and used lawfully, fairly and transparently. This information is required in order to assess an applicant’s suitability for the MChiro programme and any additional support that may be required.

Applicants from Outside the UK

As a new higher education provider the Scotland College of Chiropractic will, initially, only be able to recruit students whose residential status is within the UK (this includes British Overseas Territories, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man). The way you complete Section 3 of this application is particularly important and you can contact the College if you have any questions.

Preparation Prior to Submission

Before you begin this application form please ensure that you have the following ready to upload to the form. Personal Statement (500-750 words), original copy of transcripts of qualifications from school, Further and/or Higher Education, and a letter of recommendation from a Chiropractor.

Save Function

There is a save button at the end of the form. Click the save button to generate a link which will to allow you to edit the form prior to submission.

If you have any issues completing this form please contact: admissions@scotlandcollegechiro.ac.uk

*As the programme has not yet received approval from the GCC, students enrolling on the programme prior to approval being granted by the GCC, under the terms of the Chiropractors Act 1994, risk not being entitled to register as a chiropractor in the UK. The College is working to obtain programme approval by the GCC, with consideration by the General Council being dependent on the progress of the application by the College. This is unlikely to be before 2025.

 

At present, the College may only recruit UK students and must therefore confirm your residential category in order to establish your status as a UK student. (You should not confuse your residential category with your ethnic origin).

Your answers in this section will establish your provisional status and the College will make the final decision in relation to this. Please read the explanations below carefully.

If you normally live in the UK on a permanent basis select Yes

If you normally live outside the UK then select No

If you normally live outside the UK but are attending school in the UK, select No.

If you normally live in the UK but are attending school outside the UK, select Yes - school is not a permanent residence.

If you normally live within the UK but are currently using a BFPO (British Forces Post Office) address, select Yes.

These brief explanations below should establish your provisional status.

UK citizen - England: You are a UK citizen, or are the child or grandchild, or the spouse or civil partner of a UK citizen, and have lived in England for the past three years, but not just for full-time education. If you have been living in England for three years partly for full-time education, you also lived in England prior to that three year period.

UK citizen - Scotland: You are a UK citizen, or are the child or grandchild, or the spouse or civil partner of a UK citizen, and have lived in Scotland for the past three years, but not just for full-time education. If you have been living in Scotland for three years partly for full-time education, you also lived in Scotland prior to that three year period.

UK citizen - Wales: You are a UK citizen, or are the child or grandchild, or the spouse or civil partner of a UK citizen, and have lived in Wales for the past three years, but not just for full-time education. If you have been living in Wales for three years partly for full-time education, you also lived in Wales prior to that three year period.

UK citizen - Northern Ireland: You are a UK citizen, or are the child or grandchild, or the spouse or civil partner of a UK citizen, and have lived in Northern Ireland for the past three years, but not just for full-time education. If you have been living in Northern Ireland for three years partly for full-time education, you also lived in Northern Ireland prior to that three year period.

British citizen - Channel Islands and Isle of Man: You are a British citizen, or are the child or grandchild, or the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen, and have lived in the Channel Islands or Isle of Man for the past three years, but not just for full-time education. If you have been living in the Channel Islands or Isle of Man for three years partly for full-time education, you also lived in the Channel Islands or Isle of Man prior to that three year period.

British citizen - British Overseas Territories: You are a British citizen, or are the child or grandchild, or the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen, and have lived in the British Overseas Terriories for the past three years, but not just for full-time education. If you have been living in the British Overseas Territories for three years partly for full-time education, you also lived in the British Overseas Territories prior to that three year period.

Refugee: You have been recognised as a refugee by the British government or you are the spouse, civil partner or child under 18 of such a person at the time of the asylum application.

Humanitarian Protection or similar: You have been granted Exceptional Leave to Enter or Remain, Humanitarian Protection or Discretionary Leave or you are the spouse, civil partner or child under 18 of such a person at the time of the asylum application.

Settled in the UK: You have Indefinite Leave to Enter or Remain in the UK or have the Right of Abode in the UK and have lived in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man (or more than one of these) for three years, but not just for full-time education. (However, this does not apply if you are exempt from immigration control, for example, as a diplomat, a member of visiting armed forces or an employee of an international organisation or the family or staff member of such a person: if this is your situation your residential category is Other).

In this section, you should provide details of your educational qualifications up to Level 6 (Scottish qualifications) or up to Level 3 (qualifications from England, Wales, and NI). Other equivalent qualifications include the Irish Leaving Certificate, the International Baccalaureate, and BTEC awards.

Please upload a transcript or certificate that details nationally-recognised and certificated qualifications received while at school/college (at National, GSCE, Higher, A-Level etc) or a word/excel document for any qualifications pending.

Only use the format below for qualifications pending:

Subject Name / Level (Higher, A-Level / Date Pending / Grade Pending / Awarding Body/ Resit Year and Grade.

 

Recognition of Prior Learning

The College is willing to consider applicants for advanced entry onto the MChiro who have already completed elements of a chiropractic degree elsewhere. This process is known as the accreditation of prior certificated learning (APCL). Please note, however, that we will now be able to consider entry to Year 3 of the MChiro programme from September 2025.

A detailed investigation of previous subjects studied and grades attained will take place to judge congruence (level, content, length) with those elements of the College’s programme for which application for exemption is made. Applicants must submit official transcripts as documentary evidence before any recognition of prior learning can be considered.

The College is committed to a policy of equal access for those living with a disability, learning difficulty or health condition that impacts on their study, and we will make provisions wherever possible for you to be able to follow this programme. The information you provide here will help us do this. 

If you are concerned about disclosing your disability please don't be. The College will need to make an assessment of your fitness to practise chiropractic, but any condition or disability with the potential to impair this may be mitigated in various ways and, generally, early disclosure will help support to be put in place for you.

You may want to provide details about any of the following:

• Having a social/communication impairment such as Asperger's syndrome/other autistic spectrum disorder.
• Being blind or having a serious visual impairment uncorrected by glasses.
• Being deaf or having a serious hearing impairment.
• Having a long standing illness or health condition such as cancer, HIV, diabetes, chronic heart disease or epilepsy.
• Having a mental health condition such as depression, schizophrenia or anxiety disorder.
• Having a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia, dyspraxia or AD(H)D.
• Having physical impairment or mobility issues, such as difficulty using your arms or using a wheelchair or crutches

 

The College wishes to make applicants aware of the following information that is specific to the training of chiropractors, including:

• The requirements that will be placed on their behaviour in their personal as well as professional life due to the fact that students are training to become a registered healthcare professional.
• The potential difficulties of registering if an individual has any issues in their past which may preclude them from becoming a registered chiropractor.
• The requirement for applicants who are offered and accept a place on the College’s MChiro programme to complete, at their own expense, a Disclosure Scotland PVG check prior to registration and to make the results of this check available to the College.
• The nature of teaching and learning activities, including classroom exercises for students to develop and practise technique-based skills in relatively large numbers in their underwear.

As indicated in Section 8 above, successful applicants to the College will be required to complete, at their own expense, a Disclosure Scotland Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme check. The main purpose of this check is to ensure that students can safely have contact with vulnerable adults and children, since this is a feature of many healthcare degree programmes and professions. The PVG scheme is a disclosure database that is updated daily using details from all UK records.

Please read the help text provided in this section. This help text is included as general guidance only and does not constitute definitive legal advice, guidance or interpretation of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (as amended and associated legislation and regulations). The law is different in Scotland and England and Wales (and other jurisdictions will vary). If you are in doubt, please seek independent legal advice.

Help Text

If you have a relevant criminal conviction that is unspent, please tick the box; otherwise leave it blank.

This question requires you to disclose whether you have a criminal conviction which is both relevant and unspent. The College needs this information because, under The Chiropractors Act 1994 and associated rules and regulations, all applicants for registration with the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) must show that they are of good character and have sound physical and mental health. We are required to make applicants aware of the potential difficulties of registering with the GCC at the end of their studies if any past conduct or previous convictions might call their fitness to practise into question.

 

Applicants are encouraged to read the following GCC publications:

GCC The Code: Standards of conduct, performance and ethics for chiropractors

GCC Health and Good Character guidance

 

There are two elements to the question we ask: 

(i)  is the conviction for a relevant offence and

(ii) is the conviction unspent?

If you answer Yes to both these elements, you will need to tick the box.

Relevant offences include one or more of the following:

• any kind of violence including (but not limited to) threatening behaviour, offences concerning the intention to harm or offences which resulted in actual bodily harm;
• sexual offences, including those listed in the Sexual Offences Act 2003;
• the unlawful supply of controlled drugs or substances where the conviction concerns commercial drug dealing or trafficking (drug offences only involving possession are not relevant offences);
• offences involving firearms;
• offences involving arson; or
• offences involving terrorism.

If you were convicted outside the United Kingdom for an offence listed above, this is also considered a relevant offence.

For the purposes of this question, cautions, reprimands and final warnings and direct measures may be considered as convictions and you should consider your circumstances carefully.

Penalty notices for disorder (PNDs), anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) or other orders are not convictions, unless you have contested a PND or breached the terms of an ASBO or other order and, in either case, this has resulted in a criminal conviction.

If your answer is 'No' to this question, because you don't have a relevant conviction, you should not tick the box.

If your answer is 'Yes' to this question, because you have a relevant conviction, you must then go on to consider whether your conviction is unspent.

A criminal conviction can become 'spent' after a period of time. The length of time it takes to become spent is defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (as amended and under applicable regulations), and depends on the sentence or disposal made by the court following the conviction. Until that period has passed, the conviction is considered 'unspent' and you must tick the box.

Further convictions can influence when other convictions become spent. Sentences of over certain specified lengths in prison cannot become spent. Many cautions, reprimands and final warnings and direct measures become spent immediately, so will not normally be ‘unspent’.

If you were convicted outside the United Kingdom, you will need to follow the same process above.

Please Note
Registration with the GCC is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (as amended or and under applicable regulations). This means that, at the end of your training any application to register with the GCC, you must declare any convictions or police cautions, reprimands and final warnings and direct measures that you have received, even if these are ‘spent’ under that Act, unless these are cautions, reprimands and final warnings and direct measures or convictions that do not require to be disclosed under applicable legislation on account of an individual being under 18, and the relevant conditions are
met.

Further guidance is provided by Disclosure Scotland at:
https://www.mygov.scot/convictions-higher-level-disclosures

 

How will the College handle my application if I tick these boxes?

If you tick the box, you will not automatically be excluded from the application process and no decision will be made on the basis of a ticked box/boxes at this stage. Information concerning criminal convictions will be treated sensitively, confidentially and managed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018. It will be shared only with those members of College who are responsible for carrying out a risk assessment: they will consider any criminal convictions or cautions, reprimands and final warnings and direct measures separately from the rest of your application.

As part of this assessment we will ask you to provide further information about your conviction or cautions, reprimands and final warnings and direct measures. If, once we have concluded our risk assessment, we are satisfied, your application will proceed in the normal way although we may add certain conditions to any offer we may make. Otherwise, we will notify you of our decision.

It is important to note that a failure to declare a relevant unspent or spent criminal conviction is taken very seriously and could result in the termination of your studies at the College. You should therefore seek advice before answering the questions above if you are unsure how to answer them.

What if I receive a relevant criminal conviction after I have applied?

If you are convicted of a relevant criminal offence or receive any cautions, reprimands and final warnings and direct measures after you have applied, you must tell us. We will then ask you for more details.

Please note that students domiciled in Scotland or who meet the residency criteria are eligible to apply for funding via Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS). The College has designated status in Scotland. If you live in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland, or the Crown Dependencies you should check with your funding body regarding financial assistance, however, you may find that you are responsible for self-funding until the College achieves designated status in the rest of the UK.

Students who meet the residency criteria in Scotland should check if they are eligible to apply for funding from SAAS (Students Awards Agency Scotland). Depending on your circumstances you could be eligible for a range of financial support. The main types of finance are tuition fees, bursaries and student loans. 

There are other types of funding available based on personal circumstances including grants for students who have a disability or impairment, student carers,
care experienced students and lone parents.

Student Loan repayments are based on future earnings and not on what you borrow. You only repay once you have left SCC and earn over a threshold.

Applying is easy and you do not have to have a confirmed place - we recommend that you determine what funding might be available to you as soon as possible.

For further details please visit: Students Awards Agency Scotland

The College requires one letter of recommendation from a Chiropractor (must not be related to the applicant), and an academic reference from an academic (from a teacher, tutor or lecturer, to comment on academic performance within the last two years) otherwise, and for mature students, an employer. 

Please ensure that you have contacted your referee and that they have agreed to provide your reference. If you have any pending qualifications please also discuss whether they can provide predicted grades.

Academic/Employer References: Please include contact details below, thereafter, the admissions panel will follow-up with your referee and request a reference.

Letter of recommendation from a Chiropractor: Please upload a letter of recommendation as per the section below. Please ensure that the recommendation is on headed paper, dated and includes a signature.

Right to cancel: Please indicate your acceptance that we have the right to cancel your application should it be found that you have not complied with the terms an conditions, and that in such circumstances you would have no claim against the College. If you do not indicate your acceptance we will be unable to process your application further.

We have a legal obligation to make sure applicants are not discriminated against or disadvantaged. The information you provide here will not influence any decision in respect of your application and will be managed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.