J. Cranney & colleagues: The International Competences for Undergraduate Psychology (ICUP) Model: Rationale, Development, Current Status, and Future Directions

Abstract
Worldwide the numbers of psychology programs in Higher Education are increasing.
The expansion of psychology programs raises the question of what competencies
psychology students should acquire at undergraduate and graduate levels. In 2016, this
question was addressed for professional psychology (usually at the graduate level,
depending on the country) via the International Declaration on Core Competences in
Professional Psychology (International Project on Competence in Psychology, 2016). Yet,
there had not been a similar process to develop competences at the foundational
undergraduate level. In our presentation, we will briefly describe the rationale and the
process to develop foundational competences for undergraduate psychology, with
input from more than 100 educators from over 40 countries.

We will then present the most up-to-date version of the foundational psychology competence model. The first iteration (the Alpha model) was completed in June 2022, with the following seven categories as umbrellas for the competences: 1) Psychological Knowledge; 2) Psychological Research Methodologies and Methods; 3) Psychology-relevant Values and Ethics; 4) Psychology-relevant Cultural Responsiveness and Diversity; 5) Psychologyrelevant Critical Thinking and Problem Solving; 6) Psychology-relevant Communication and Interpersonal Skills; and 7) Psychology-relevant Personal and Professional Development. We will describe the competences for each category, as well as the principles that guided the drafting of these competences. Future directions for the
project will be outlined. Finally, the attendees will be invited to provide feedback,
particularly regarding the competence model, the potential adaptation to local context,
and processes to share resources to support such adaptation.