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I confess that I’m writing this article from a deep dark place – I’m in the middle of trying to apply for recognition with CORU amidst the COVID-19 crisis. A time when offices are closed, universities are freaking out and postal services aren’t fully operational. Who doesn’t love a good challenge?
Make no mistake, this is going to be a pretty mammoth task.
There is a lot of information to gather, a lot of writing to do, and a lot of emails to be sent.
I hope you’re ready.
Ok sorry, so maybe that’s a bit dramatic (I’ve been in iso for a while and not much else is happening haha…). It’s not impossible, but to reduce the likelihood that your experience over the next few months is as traumatic as mine, I’m going to break each step down for you and give you some advice along the way.
Your first step is to head to the coru.ie website and follow the link to International Qualifications.
Have a read over all the information there, including the Guidance Notes and Standards of Proficiency to ensure you’re happy with what you’re signing yourself up for.
If you’re satisfied that you’re ready to go ahead with the recognition process, download the Recognition Application Form and let’s get started.
Disclaimer: This information is up to date as of 2020. I’ve done my absolute best to give you some advice based on my own experiences, but the CORU website and their guidance documents should always be your first port of call.
Pages 1-3 were just filled with a whole bunch of information, so I’ve skipped ahead.
Page 4 is super simple, tick the profession you’re applying for and indicate whether or not you’ve previously applied for recognition in Ireland.
Your personal details – not something I’m much help to you with!
Most importantly, ensure you’ve got certified copies of the documents listed at the bottom of the page.
Fairly straight forward again.
If you can’t practice your profession in the country you obtained your qualification, you aren’t eligible to practice in Ireland either (makes sense right?)
Give the title of your qualification as it’s written on your certificate.
Provide the details of your regulatory body whether that be AHPRA, HCPC, your province regulatory body in Canada, the Physiotherapy Board of New Zealand etc. etc.
If you’d like some help regarding what to write for your activities, restrictions and level of autonomy just send me an email for a copy of my example Recognition Form.
If you’re registered in your home country, provide your rego details here.
Regarding the original documentation they request, I can say from experience that Australians will need to log on to their online AHPRA account and request a “Certificate of Registration Status” be sent to CORU. This cost me $50 AUD at the time of writing.
This is the space to write about your qualifying degrees.
If this was a Bachelor of Physiotherapy, enter those details here.
If you completed an undergraduate degree followed by an entry level Masters degree you need to provide the information for both degrees so that CORU can ascertain your knowledge base.
Your old course co-ordinator may be able to help you with the finer details e.g. percentage of allocated placement time etc.
Originally on my form I didn’t write anything in the “Qualification Accreditation Body” and “Awarding Body in English” sections, as they were not different to what I had written above, and CORU pulled me up on it – I’d recommend you just write them in there anyway.
The details from your course outlines will go in here (it will end up being a million pages long thanks to the narrow columns in the table!)
You’ll need to provide the details of every clinical placement you did as part of your course (bit of a funny trip down memory lane!)
Again your course co-ordinator should be able to help you out with all the details.
Don’t miss any boxes!
If you did a research project, pop your abstract in here.
This part is for your course co-ordinator to fill out.
But it’s your job to ensure all the supporting documents are correct.
They are very specific when it comes to a “certified description of the course content” and would not accept copies of the course handbook, course outlines, or it seemed any other document I provided. You must provide a “module descriptor” that summarises the subjects taken in each year, their content, and the number of hours studied (this was the source of all my pain during my application!)
Another painful section to me as I got this wrong and had to do it all over again!
Section 4.2 is where ANY post-graduate study you might have completed goes, even if it is not a qualifying course.
I made the mistake of putting my postgraduate Masters in Section 5 (as in my opinion it was “relevant additional” education) only to be told to put it all in Section 4.2 and resubmit my form. That was a sad, sad day…
** Update: I was later told that I could put my postgraduate degree in any section I liked. Needless to say I wasn’t impressed!
Same as page 9.
Same as page 10.
Same as page 11.
Same as page 12.
Again, just to be clear, don’t make the same mistake I did by putting additional post-graduate coursework here – it doesn’t matter if you disagree with them, they’ll make you submit it all again in Section 4.2!
But if you HAVE done any additional training that may make up for any deficits in your qualifying degree, it’s worthwhile putting here.
** Update: Put your post-graduate coursework in whatever section you like…
Get ready for the longest bit!
It’s time to write (in detail) about every job you’ve ever had!
This is your chance to brag about all your skills and abilities, in reverse chronological order. Your most recent or current job is “Professional employment 1”.
If you’d like some tips on what to include in “Main duties and tasks” just send me an email and I can give you my template with a few suggestions.
I didn’t realise it was common practice for businesses to have “official stamps” but there you are.
If your most recent employer doesn’t have a stamp, ask them to provide you with a letter on their official letterhead instead.
Print and sign your life away!
Another signature to allow them to check up on the info you’ve provided.
Your final instructions.
(I really hope you didn’t go through this whole form handwriting your answers…)
Fingers crossed you don’t have as many corrections to make as I did – 4 months after I first submitted my application I’m still trying to get CORU the documents they want!
Told you it was a mammoth task…
Just to confirm by the end of this process you should have:
Now it’s time to pay your fee online on the coru.ie website, email off the electronic copy of your form, and post off your printed hard copy with all of your supporting documents.
If your application is complete, congratulations! You get past the first hurdle and your paperwork will be handed over to the assessors.
They will take 4 months to review your application. The possible outcomes are:
Fingers crossed for a certificate that allows you to go through the Registration process!
I’ll let you know if I ever get mine…
*Update: it took 6 weeks from my file being considered complete until I received a decision and got the green light from CORU to go ahead with the next step!
** Another Update: a big thank you to FLiP reader Sanyu who, while applying for recognition with CORU, was told to provide additional information due to her position as a self-employed physiotherapist. If this is you, be prepared for a request to provide the following alongside your application:
Thanks for helping the FLiP community Sanyu!