What is the Practical Evaluative Placement (TPV)?
The Practical Evaluative Placement in Psychology (Tirocinio Pratico Valutativo, TPV) is a compulsory placement that must be undertaken with organisations external to the University. Completion of the TPV is a prerequisite for admission to the Practical Evaluation Examination (Prova Pratica Valutativa, PPV) and for obtaining the qualifying Master's degree in Psychology.
The TPV consists of supervised, practice-based activities carried out under the guidance of a qualified psychologist employed by the host organisation. It involves direct observation and participation in professional activities designed to promote situated learning and the development of the procedural, relational, and professional competencies required for psychological practice.
These competencies relate to the core and protected activities of the profession of psychologist, as defined by Italian legislation (Law No. 56 of 18 February 1989). They include the use of psychological knowledge and intervention methods for prevention, assessment, habilitation and rehabilitation activities, psychological support for individuals, groups, organisations, and communities, as well as activities related to research, experimentation, and teaching.
TPV activities are carried out in professional settings and correspond to a minimum of 14 ECTS credits (CFU), equivalent to 350 hours of placement activities. Placements must be completed with approved external partner organisations.
The TPV must be completed before sitting the Practical Evaluation Examination (PPV) and before the final degree examination. Each Master's programme provides specific guidance regarding the timing of the placement, which may take place during either the first or second semester of the first or second year of study.
The placement must be activated through a dedicated procedure on the STEP platform. Detailed instructions are available at the following link:
For placements undertaken abroad, students must first contact the TPV academic tutor, who will provide guidance regarding the documentation required for the evaluation of the host organisation. The subsequent administrative procedure will be managed with the support of the University's International Relations Offices.
All documentation relating to the TPV is available on the Faculty of Psychology TPV webpage:
Upon completion of the TPV, students are required to:
- Submit the placement completion documents.
- Register for the TPV assessment and transcript recording session.
Students should follow the procedures outlined in the designated TPV guidelines document.
Please note that students are not required to complete a placement evaluation questionnaire. Evaluation is carried out exclusively by the host organisation.
1. Before starting the TPV, what should I know?
Before starting the TPV and beginning your search for a host organisation, it is ESSENTIAL that you carefully read the document available at the following link: TPV Procedures Document.
2. Which organisations are eligible to host a TPV placement?
The TPV may be undertaken with public or private organisations, including private practices and self-employed professionals, provided that they carry out psychological activities and have a qualified psychologist among their employees and/or collaborators who can act as placement supervisor.
To serve as a supervisor, the psychologist must:
- Work for the organisation for at least 15 hours per week.
- Have been registered with the professional register of psychologists for a minimum of three years.
In addition, the organisation must be accredited by the Order of Psychologists of Lombardy (OPL) and hold a valid agreement with Università Cattolica.
3. How can I verify whether an organisation is affiliated with Università Cattolica for TPV placements?
You can find the list of affiliated organisations at the following link: List of affiliated organisations.
If the final column on the right displays "OK", the organisation has already completed the updated TPV agreement required for qualifying degree programmes. Otherwise, before activating the placement, the organisation must initiate and complete the new affiliation procedure, even if it was previously affiliated for post-graduate internships.
4. Can I request an affiliation agreement for an organisation that is not yet affiliated with Università Cattolica?
Yes. If the organisation is already accredited by OPL, it may enter into an agreement with Università Cattolica.
Students should contact the TPV tutor for their Master's programme and follow the instructions provided in the TPV Procedures Document.
5. What does it mean to have a deficit of prior academic credits (AFP) to be fulfilled through the TPV, and how should I proceed?
Students who obtained their Bachelor's degree from another university may be required to make up a shortfall in academic credits. In such cases, students receive a formal communication from the Academic Office indicating the number of missing CFU credits.
These credits must be recovered through additional TPV hours. A single TPV placement must be activated with one host organisation for the total number of required hours.
Since 1 CFU corresponds to 25 hours of TPV, a student who needs to recover 7 CFU must complete a placement of 525 hours in total, consisting of:
- 350 hours of TPV (14 CFU)
- 175 additional hours (7 CFU)
Students with the maximum deficit of 10 CFU may be required to complete up to 600 TPV hours in total.
6. Can I undertake the TPV abroad?
Yes. The TPV may be completed outside Italy through a formal agreement between the overseas host organisation and Università Cattolica.
The host organisation may be public or private (but not a university) and must employ a qualified psychologist who can act as placement supervisor.
Specific instructions regarding the procedure are provided in Section 4 of the TPV Procedures Document.
7. Who should enter the placement project into the STEP platform: the student or the host organisation?
Once the host organisation has entered into an agreement with the University and a training project has been agreed, the placement project may be entered either by the student (instructions in Section 2 of the TPV Procedures Document and, for further details, in the ST&P Portal Guide) or by the host organisation (instructions in the ST&P Portal Guide).
The student and the host organisation should therefore agree on who will be responsible for entering the project.
The procedures and the STEP Portal Guide are available on the following page:
Please note: the person who enters the project into the system (either the host organisation or the student) will also be responsible for submitting it for approval once it has been confirmed by the three parties involved in the initial phase of the process: the host organisation, the student, and the University tutor (i.e. the TPV tutor).
8. How many placement hours can be completed in one week?
In accordance with recommendations issued by the Joint Commission of the Order of Psychologists of Lombardy (OPL), students are advised to undertake no fewer than 8 and no more than 16 placement hours per week.
This recommendation is intended to ensure that students can continue their academic studies alongside their placement activities. However, this indication is not binding.
Where the placement project is consistent with the proposed activities and workload, the University tutor (TPV tutor for the Master's programme) may authorise a different number of weekly hours, usually a higher workload.
9. By when must I complete the TPV in order to graduate?
The placement must be formally concluded and all required documentation submitted before the deadline for the degree application.
As a general indication, this deadline falls approximately six weeks before the graduation session in which the student intends to participate.
Information regarding deadlines is available on the Faculty of Psychology PPV Information Page.
10. Do I need to complete Health and Safety training before starting the TPV?
Yes. In accordance with current regulations, students must fulfil the mandatory training requirements relating to health and safety in the workplace, including:
- General risk training (4 hours)
- Specific risk training (4 hours)
Detailed information is available in Section 3a of the TPV Procedures Document.
If you have previously completed general and/or specific health and safety training in accordance with the relevant regulations and hold a valid certificate, please verify with both the host organisation and the University (through your TPV tutor) whether your previous training can be recognised. In such cases, it may not be necessary to complete a new training course.
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