About the course
In order to streamline our website, while still making sure that you leave here with everything that you need to know about becoming an acupuncturist with us, we have put together a comprehensive Prospectus which you can download using the button here. This is constantly updated with the most recent and relevant course information and covers everything, in detail, from course structure, through to vision and values, accreditation, graduate stories and much more.
We have learned over the years though that there are some repeat questions that first-time visitors tend to have, information on fees and funding being one. With this in mind we have picked a few common themes which we'll look at briefly on this page.
The Qualification
Our main acupuncture course is a three year Honours Degree Level Professional Licentiate, fully accredited by the BAAB (British Acupuncture Accreditation Board).
The level of the award, and TAA’s full accreditation status, means that our graduates will not only have achieved the highest educational standards for acupuncture in the UK, but are able to apply to join the British Acupuncture Council (the UK’s largest professional body) on graduation.
An Honours Degree-Level Professional Licentiate is the industry standard qualification and ensures that your education will be balanced between the skills needed for the highest level of individualised patient care, and the academic and scientific knowledge required of all modern day health professionals.
The 'Graduate Stories' in our main Prospectus will give you a good idea how this works in practice, and what being a TAA graduate can lead to.
A Basic Course Overview
The course runs over three years and is a well tested blend of home study for theoretical subjects, using e-lessons and busy forum spaces, as well as regular college attendance (up to ten weekends a year) for learning and practising those all-important clinical skills such as pulse taking and point location. Our e-learning is extremely high quality (not just handouts and videos), and is supported in class, as well as by ongoing and lively interaction with classmates and tutors through our forums, our closed Facebook groups, group Zoom sessions, and all with additional support from your own personal tutor.
As well as weekends at college then, and e-lessons in between visits, you will also be undertaking treatment observations, attending additional point location practice sessions, and undertaking your own self-directed study which will include practising those new skills at home.
Our clinical, third year model is unique again, in that you will work with your own patients, wherever possible with a supervisor in a clinic near to where you live. Not only are you starting to build your business during your final year then, but by the time you graduate, your clinic will already be up and running. In addition, providing you have passed all of your clinical assessments, you will be able to take on new patients and charge for their treatment in the second part of your clinical year, semi-independently, and with the support of the TAA team. There are a couple more visits to college before completing the course at this time, but it does mean that you are able to earn money from your practice while finishing your studies. This model has worked exceptionally well for our graduates, as you will see from their stories in our the Prospectus.
College Attendance
and an outline of study hours
College attendance during the first and second year is for 10 set class blocks, generally speaking a Saturday and Sunday, but with the addition of the occasional Friday. The first session runs from a Thursday to Saturday however, so that you have an opportunity to regroup at home on the Sunday, before heading back into your other life commitments.
Between visits in first and second year there is a gap of at least four weeks, which we call a study period, and each of these has three e-lessons for you to work through. Overall you will need to factor in 18 additional hours a week then, alongside class attendance which is usual for a degree level course.
Third-year is slightly different as the focus is on treating your patients, and there are no more e-lessons to study. Here you can expect eight more visits to college, for case discussions, teaching clinics, and to cover new, specialist subject areas. You will however, be working with your own patients in clinic as we mentioned before, and therefore need to allocate a weekday, every the week, for this. The big plus here though, is that you are already building up your own practice, ready for your new life as an acupuncturist.
And also, in case you missed it, wherever possible we organise a clinical supervisor near to where you live, which means that you are building up your own practice, near to home, from the very beginning of third year.
Fees, Funding & Course Dates
Fees for the March intake are set at £6800 (inc. VAT), for each of the first and second years, with third year at £8000 pa (inc. VAT), as the clinical year includes one-to-one supervision fees.
Fees are set to rise slightly for the September 24 intakes, so please be aware of this. Current fees are available via the Current Fees button above.
As a private higher education institution, student loans aren't available, however students are able to start earning money from clinic, therefore recouping their outlay, from the middle part of their third year of study.
In addition, our Graduate Surveys show that our graduates are very successful in practice, and so the outlay, on average, can be set aside after a relatively short time in practice (more on this in our prospectus!)
