The Master of Counselling is designed to give students the opportunity to extend their theoretical grounding and professional skills to work as counsellors in a variety of settings. Students are trained to identify systematic, effective ways to help clients find simple, acceptable solutions to their current concerns and problems. The MCouns consists of 240 points of study, taken as a combination of practical and theory courses. The MCouns consists of two parts: Part I includes four compulsory courses, which involves up to 70 hours of supervised clinical practice; Part II includes a practical course (with up to 300 hours of counselling experience), and either a research course or selection of coursework. In either Parts, students also complete one other course in research methods. The minimum period of enrolment for a full-time student is 2 consecutive years; the maximum period is 4 years.

Students wishing to enrol in the MCouns must have qualified for one of the following: a degree from Aotearoa New Zealand with either acquired experience in counselling, teaching, nursing, social work, or an equivalent profession, or been deemed suitable for training as a counsellor; or been admitted Ad Eundem Statum (with equivalent standing) to enrol for the Master of Counselling; or been approved for enrolment by the Dean of Education and Health Sciences. English language requirements: IELTS Academic: an average score of 6.5, with a minimum of 6.0 in reading, writing, listening and speaking TOEFL iBT: total minimum score of 90, minimum score of 19 in reading, writing and listening. TOEFL PBT: with a minimum score of 575 and TWE with a minimum score of 4.5 Pearson Test of English (Academic): with an overall score of 58 and no PTE communicative skills score below 50