Advanced Professional Diploma in Addiction Studies: Complete ICPS College Course Guide

ICPS College professional-learning guide • Course page: https://www.icps.ie/addiction

A detailed guide to this area of professional learning

Advanced Professional Diploma in Addiction Studies addresses addiction, recovery, trauma, behavioural dependency and integrated therapeutic practice. This guide is designed to help a prospective learner understand why the subject matters, what careful study can involve, how learning may connect with practice and where the limits of a continuing-professional-development course must remain clear. It should be read alongside the current official course page, cohort dates, learner agreement and any individual guidance issued by the ICPS College Academic Registry Office.

It brings together contemporary addiction theory, relational work, neuroscience, recovery perspectives and psychodynamic thinking so that complex presentations are considered in context rather than reduced to one behaviour. The aim is not to offer a shortcut, a fixed script or a claim of competence based on reading alone. Meaningful professional development combines theory, applied discussion, skills rehearsal, self-reflection, supervision and responsible attention to the context in which each learner already works.

The subject is especially relevant for counsellors, psychotherapists, addiction practitioners, social-care professionals, allied healthcare workers and experienced learners seeking advanced continuing professional development. Learners may arrive with different academic backgrounds and professional responsibilities, so the practical meaning of the material will vary. Every participant remains responsible for working within their existing role, competence, insurance, organisational procedures and applicable ethical or statutory duties.

Why this subject deserves careful study

Work involving addiction, recovery, trauma, behavioural dependency and integrated therapeutic practice rarely presents as one isolated issue. People bring histories, relationships, social circumstances, identities, strengths, vulnerabilities and patterns of meaning. A useful educational approach therefore asks not only “what is happening?” but also “what function might this serve, what context sustains it, what risks require attention, and what response is proportionate to my role?”

Good practice requires both conceptual clarity and humility. Models can organise thinking, but no model captures a whole person. Assessment and formulation should remain collaborative and open to revision. Language matters because labels may support shared understanding while also narrowing perception or increasing stigma when used carelessly. The practitioner’s task is to remain curious, precise and respectful.

The therapeutic or helping relationship is also part of the work. Expectations, dependency, avoidance, idealisation, fear, shame, anger, transference and countertransference may all influence what becomes possible. Reflection and supervision help practitioners notice these processes before acting on them, particularly when a situation evokes urgency, rescue, frustration, helplessness or overconfidence.

Key areas explored

• 1. Foundations and professional language for addiction, recovery, trauma, behavioural dependency and integrated therapeutic practice

• 2. Assessment, context and integrative formulation

• 3. Ethics, boundaries, risk and referral

• 4. Applied skills, reflection and supervision

How learning can support practice

A strong learning experience moves between theory and application. Concepts are more useful when learners can test them against anonymised scenarios, compare alternative formulations, practise language and consider how culture, power and difference alter the meaning of an interaction. This process develops judgement rather than memorisation.

Skills practice should be approached as rehearsal within a learning environment, not as proof that every intervention can immediately be used in every setting. Learners benefit from noticing pace, timing, consent, collaboration, non-verbal communication and the impact of their own assumptions. Feedback is most useful when it is specific, respectful and connected to observable practice.

Self-directed study extends the live classroom. Reading, Moodle resources, reflective notes, case formulation exercises and assessment preparation allow learners to revisit difficult ideas at a sustainable pace. A reflective journal can help identify questions for class or supervision, changes in understanding and areas where further specialist training may be required.

Questions for reflective discussion

• What assumptions do I bring to addiction, recovery, trauma, behavioural dependency and integrated therapeutic practice, and where did those assumptions originate?

• How would I distinguish observation, inference, formulation and diagnosis?

• What signs would indicate a need for urgent escalation, safeguarding action, medical review or specialist referral?

• How might identity, culture, inequality, power or previous service experiences influence engagement?

• What reactions might this work evoke in me, and how would I use supervision responsibly?

• What would informed consent and genuine collaboration look like in this context?

Professional boundaries and learner responsibility

Education about addiction, recovery, trauma, behavioural dependency and integrated therapeutic practice does not remove the need for professional scope, referral networks or multidisciplinary collaboration. Learners should never interpret a CPD award as authority to diagnose, prescribe, conduct statutory assessments or deliver specialist procedures for which separate recognised training, supervised practice or registration is required.

Anonymity and confidentiality remain essential in class discussion. Practice material should be sufficiently disguised, and learners should avoid sharing details that could identify a client, service user, colleague or organisation. Immediate risk or safeguarding concerns must be managed through the appropriate real-world policy and reporting pathway rather than brought only to a classroom discussion.

Professional learning can also evoke personal experiences. Participants should plan appropriate supports and make thoughtful use of personal therapy, supervision, medical care or employee supports where relevant. Stepping back, seeking help or choosing not to participate in a particular exercise can be an ethically responsible decision.

Frequently asked questions

Is this course delivered live online?

The current course page should be checked for the exact cohort format, dates and hours. ICPS College programmes commonly combine lecturer-led live-online classes with structured self-directed learning through Moodle. Live attendance supports discussion, skills development and contact with the lecturer; Moodle supports reading, revision and assessment preparation.

Does completing the course make someone a specialist practitioner?

No single CPD course automatically replaces a learner’s primary professional qualification, registration, supervised experience or employer requirements. The award records completion of the stated programme. How the learning may be used depends on the learner’s existing role, competence, ethical framework and any additional specialist requirements.

Will there be assessment?

Assessment arrangements differ by programme and cohort. Where written, oral, attendance or skills components apply, the official course information and learner documentation are authoritative. Learners should allow time for independent reading, preparation, feedback and any mandatory live component.

How should a learner choose between related courses?

Begin with the professional question you want to answer. Compare the curriculum, depth, entry expectations, assessment, CPD hours and relevance to your current role. For addiction, recovery, trauma, behavioural dependency and integrated therapeutic practice, consider whether you need a foundation, a focused workshop or a broader advanced programme. Registry can clarify factual course information but cannot make a professional-scope decision on behalf of a learner or employer.

Where can current dates and fees be confirmed?

Use the official course page at https://www.icps.ie/addiction and the College booking information. Because cohorts, availability and administrative arrangements can change, confirm any detail that is central to your decision before paying or making professional commitments.

Current programme information from the course page

The following section brings together the detailed programme information currently available for this subject. It should be checked against the live course page before enrolment because dates, availability and cohort-specific arrangements may be updated.

Course Title — Accredited Advanced Professional Diploma

Advanced Professional Diploma in Addiction Studies

for Counselling, Psychotherapy & Allied Healthcare Professionals

120 CPD Credits | 10 Modules | Live Online via Zoom | Fully Accredited

Enrolment

Important Information on Enrolment & Securing Your Place

Course Status: Fully Accredited

Course Cost: €645

Deposit Due Now: 50%

Payment Now to Secure Your Place: €322.50

Schedule: 1 Class per Week (3 Hours)

At a Glance

Course Details

Delivery: Live-Online (Lecturer-Led)

Credits: 120 CPD Credits

Format: Live-Online Lecturer-Led Modules via Zoom

Duration: 1 Class per Week (3 Hours) Over 10 Weeks

Online Live Attendance: 30 Hours

Self-Directed Learning: 900 Hours

Course Open To: Practitioners, Students & All Members of the Public with an Interest & Speciality Area of Practice

Assessment: Written Assignment and/or Viva Voce Assessment and/or Skills Assessment

Award: Accredited Advanced Professional Diploma

Overview

Course Description

This Advanced Professional Diploma in Addiction Studies provides comprehensive, academically grounded and clinically informed training for practitioners who wish to deepen their understanding of addiction across neurobiological, psychological, behavioural and psychoanalytic perspectives. The programme is designed for counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists, social care practitioners, healthcare workers, educators and allied professionals who wish to develop specialist competence in working with addiction and its many presentations.

The course begins with the conceptual and historical foundations of addiction studies, including its etymology, key psychoanalytic terms such as the pleasure principle and jouissance, and the shift from moral models to contemporary biopsychosocial understanding. Learners then examine the neuroscience of addiction in depth, including the dopamine reward pathway, neuroplasticity, genetic and epigenetic vulnerability, and the psychodynamic and integrative perspectives that integrate neurobiology and unconscious meaning.

A central strength of the programme is its structured examination of psychological theories of addiction, spanning behavioural, cognitive, psychodynamic and attachment-based frameworks, alongside a dedicated module on behavioural addictions such as gambling, gaming, sex and love dependency, and compulsive shopping or eating. The programme then moves into sustained psychoanalytic territory, exploring transference and the social bond in addiction work, toxicomania and the addictification of contemporary society, addiction as the search for a lost object, and the wounded, trauma-related roots of addictive formations from a Freudian perspective.

The programme devotes a full module to Jacques Lacan's theory of need, demand and desire. It concludes with integration, ethics and the clinic of addiction, drawing together the psychoanalytic threads of the whole programme into a coherent, reflective clinical orientation. Freudian concepts, including the pleasure principle, repression, repetition compulsion, mourning and melancholia, and working-through, and Lacanian concepts, including jouissance, the object a, the Other, and the ethics of desire, are integrated throughout as substantive theoretical content, not as brief asides.

Practical application is central throughout the course, with case discussion, breakout-room case studies, skills practice and reflective exercises woven into every module. Learners are encouraged to think carefully about pacing, professional boundaries, scope of competence, supervision, countertransference and their own responses when working closely with addiction and its underlying psychic structure.

By the end, learners should be able to understand addiction from neurobiological, psychological, behavioural and psychoanalytic perspectives, apply structured assessment and formulation skills, and integrate psychoanalytically informed, ethically grounded practice into their own professional context. The programme supports reflective, informed and clinically responsible practice while emphasising that specialist addiction treatment, high-risk presentations and complex psychiatric comorbidity should be undertaken only by appropriately qualified professionals through recognised specialist training and appropriate supervision.

This programme is open to practitioners, students and members of the public who wish to deepen their understanding of addiction studies. Practitioners already working in counselling, psychotherapy, healthcare, education, or social care will find that the course strengthens their existing clinical skill set. It provides a structured, psychoanalytically enriched framework for addiction-informed practice. Students who are building toward a career in counselling or psychotherapy will benefit from an advanced theoretical and practical foundation that complements their ongoing studies. Members of the public with a personal interest in this area of study and who are considering a future career in counselling and psychotherapy are equally welcome to enrol.

Why Choose This Course

Course Highlights

• Comprehensive advanced training in addiction studies across neurobiological, psychological and psychoanalytic perspectives

• Detailed exploration of the etymology, history and conceptual foundations of addiction

• In-depth coverage of the neuroscience of addiction, including the dopamine reward pathway and neuroplasticity

• Structured examination of behavioural, cognitive, psychodynamic and attachment-based psychological theories

• Dedicated module on behavioural addictions, including gambling, gaming, sex, love, shopping and food

• Sustained integration of Freudian concepts, including the pleasure principle, repetition and mourning

• Sustained integration of Lacanian concepts, including jouissance, the object a, need, demand and desire

• Applied focus on transference, countertransference and the social bond in addiction work

• Exploration of toxicomania and the addictification of contemporary consumer society

• Conceptualisation of addiction as the search for a lost object, loss and psychic void

• Deep exploration of trauma, defence and addictive formations from a Freudian perspective

• A dedicated module on Lacan's theory of need, demand and desire and its clinical implications

• Strong emphasis on ethics, boundaries, supervision and the practitioner's own countertransference

• Strong emphasis on skills practice, breakout-room case studies and reflective learning

• Final integration of the programme's psychoanalytic threads into a coherent clinical orientation

• Suitable for practitioners seeking to formalise existing addiction-related experience within an advanced academic framework

• Accessible to students building toward a career in counselling, psychotherapy, or allied helping professions

• Open to members of the public with a personal interest in addiction studies

• Flexible, live-online delivery designed to suit practitioners, students and members of the public, balancing work, study and personal commitments

• Rigorous, academically robust approach that values psychoanalytic depth alongside applied clinical skill

What You Will Achieve

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this programme, learners will be able to:

1. Define addiction, toxicomania and behavioural addiction, and trace their conceptual and historical development.

2. Explain the neuroscience of addiction, including the dopamine reward pathway, neuroplasticity and genetic vulnerability.

3. Compare behavioural, cognitive, psychodynamic and attachment-based theories of addiction and their clinical implications.

4. Recognise and work with major behavioural addictions, including gambling, gaming, sex, love, shopping and food.

5. Apply Freudian concepts, including the pleasure principle, repetition compulsion and mourning, to addiction presentations.

6. Apply Lacanian concepts, including jouissance, the object a, and need, demand and desire, to addiction presentations.

7. Establish and work with transference, countertransference and the social bond in addiction-focused clinical work.

8. Critically evaluate the addictification of contemporary consumer culture and the modern imperative to enjoy.

9. Conceptualise addiction as a search for a lost object and understand its structural relationship to loss and lack.

10. Understand addiction as a defensive formation arising from trauma, dissociation and failures of containment.

11. Distinguish need, demand and desire, and apply this framework to the addicted subject's relation to the Other.

12. Apply ethical principles specific to addiction work, including boundaries, the therapeutic frame and safeguarding.

13. Recognise vicarious trauma, countertransference strain and the importance of supervision in addiction practice.

14. Integrate neurobiological, psychological and psychoanalytic perspectives into a coherent clinical orientation.

15. Integrate psychoanalytically informed addiction studies into existing professional practice.

16. Build an advanced theoretical and clinical foundation for further study in counselling and psychotherapy.

17. Reflect on personal responses and assumptions about addiction within a safe, structured and supported learning environment.

Good to Know

Additional Information

This programme provides an advanced professional foundation in addiction studies, integrating neurobiological, psychological and psychoanalytic perspectives. It is not a full specialist training in addiction medicine, psychiatric treatment or any single addiction-treatment modality. It does not qualify participants to practise outside their existing scope of competence. Learners should apply the material within their existing professional role, training background and ethical responsibilities.

The course is particularly relevant for professionals who encounter addiction, compulsive behaviour or dual diagnosis in their work. Learners are encouraged to seek appropriate supervision, further specialist training and referral pathways when working with acute withdrawal, medical complications, safeguarding concerns, severe psychiatric comorbidity or presentations requiring specialist addiction or medical services.

The Freudian and Lacanian material included throughout the programme is presented as substantive theoretical content central to this course's advanced, psychoanalytically informed orientation to addiction. These concepts should never be used to impose interpretation prematurely or to replace evidence-informed, collaborative and client-centred care. Instead, they support listening carefully to speech, repetition, desire, and the symbolic or relational meanings that may shape the relationship, all held alongside humility, ethical restraint, and appropriate supervision.

Learners should understand that addiction work can raise difficult and sometimes distressing material, both clinically and personally, and that the client's safety, consent, pace and lived experience must remain central throughout. Compassionate, psychoanalytically informed practice can enrich assessment and support when held alongside evidence-informed practice and clear professional boundaries.

Teaching is delivered live online and includes lecturer-led input, case discussion, breakout-room case studies, skills practice and reflective exercises. Learners are expected to actively engage with the live sessions, Moodle LMS materials, self-directed reading, reflective tasks and assessment preparation. The programme supports students in developing not only academic knowledge but also professional judgement, ethical reasoning, self-awareness and the capacity to work confidently and reflectively with addiction.

The course may support continuing professional development for counsellors, psychotherapists, trainees, social care workers, healthcare professionals, educators, psychologists, supervisors, community workers and allied professionals. Students should consult the lecturer, course leader or academic registry office if they require clarification regarding accreditation, assessment, attendance, professional pathway requirements, suitability, scope of practice or progression.

This programme welcomes practitioners, students and members of the public alike. Practitioners already working in counselling, psychotherapy, healthcare, education or social care are encouraged to use the course to consolidate and extend their existing knowledge of addiction studies through advanced psychoanalytic perspectives. Students working toward a qualification in counselling or psychotherapy will find the course a rigorous foundation that complements their wider studies. Members of the public, including those with a personal interest in this area of study, are warmly encouraged to enrol.

The College recognises that learners come to this subject from diverse personal and professional backgrounds, and the course is designed to be rigorous and meaningful regardless of prior experience. Reflective exercises, case discussion and skills practice are structured to support learners at all levels, while maintaining the academic depth expected of an Advanced Professional Diploma for Level 8/9 CPD learners. Learners are encouraged to engage honestly and thoughtfully with the material, and to seek appropriate support, supervision or further training where relevant to their personal circumstances or professional development goals.

Programme Structure

Course Curriculum — Ten Modules

1 | Introduction to Addiction Studies

• Conceptual foundations: etymology, key terms and psychoanalytic frames

• A-diction, diction and toxicomania: the linguistic and psychoanalytic roots of addiction

• The pleasure principle (Freud) and jouissance (Lacan) as regulatory principles

• The urgency, immediacy and demand that characterise addictive behaviour

• Key definitions and diagnostic characteristics from DSM-5-TR and ICD-11

• Substance and behavioural categories, with illustrative case examples

• Historical evolution of addiction, from moral failing to biopsychosocial understanding

• Addressing common myths and facts, and the biopsychosocial model

• Impact on individuals and families, including safeguarding considerations

• Skills practice in reframing case presentations through a trauma-informed lens

2 | The Neuroscience of Addiction

• Addiction as brain disease: reward, stress and executive-control systems

• The dopamine reward pathway and substance-induced hijacking of natural reward

• Neuroplasticity, habit formation and the shift from goal-directed to habitual control

• Genetic vulnerability, epigenetics and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

• Prefrontal cortex changes, amygdala hyperactivity, withdrawal and cue-induced craving

• Psychodynamic and integrative perspectives: holding neuroscience and psychic conflict together

• Skills practice in applying neuroscience and self-medication frameworks to a case example

3 | Psychological Theories of Addiction

• Behavioural psychology: classical conditioning, operant reinforcement and social learning

• Cognitive approaches: addictive thinking patterns and CBT-based relapse prevention

• Psychodynamic theories: unconscious conflict, the self-medication hypothesis and defence patterns

• Attachment and developmental psychology: insecure attachment as a vulnerability factor

• Personality disorders and dual diagnosis: prevalence and treatment complexities

• The therapeutic relationship: empathy, trust, boundaries and countertransference

• Professional assessment instruments: ASI, CAGE, AUDIT and DAST

• Skills practice in reframing cognitive distortions and mapping the behavioural habit loop

4 | Behavioural Addictions

• Conceptual framework: behavioural addictions and shared neurobiological features

• Gambling disorder: diagnostic criteria, brain science and co-occurring presentations

• Gaming and internet addiction: classification, presentation and cultural context

• Sex, love and relationship dependency: clinical perspectives and diagnostic controversy

• Compulsive buying and food addiction: emotional regulation and shared mechanisms

• Treatment approaches: CBT, motivational interviewing,d group therapy and peer support

• The classification debate: clinical legitimacy versus the risk of over-pathologising

• Skills practice in foundational counselling skills for behavioural addiction presentations

5 | Addiction, Transference & the Social Bond

• Freudian foundations of transference: displacement, anticipation and the stereotype plate

• Positive and negative transference, and the shift from resistance to therapeutic instrument

• Lacan on transference: the analyst as empty mirror and the subject supposed to know

• Countertransference in theory and in addiction practice specifically

• The difficulty of establishing transference when the substance offers a "perfect solution"

• Creating a demand for treatment, and moving the subject from demand to desire

• The analyst is the object cause of desire, and the restoration of the social bond through speech

• Skills practice in the analytic stance and countertransference awareness

6 | Toxicomania: One Form of Modern Enslavement

• Defining toxicomania and distinguishing it from behavioural addiction

• The pleasure principle, jouissance and the social bond of shared human speech

• Need, demand, desire and symbolic castration as the precondition for desire

• Freud's cocaine studies: why the subject, not the substance, determines the effect

• Implications for the limits of substance-focused approaches to addiction

• The addictification of contemporary consumer society and the modern command to enjoy

• Guiding clinical principles: transference, speech, diagnosis and the role of abstinence

• Skills practice in privileging speech and listening for jouissance and the social bond

7 | Addiction: The Search for a Lost Object

• Freud on mourning and melancholia, and structural parallels with addiction

• The lost object in early development: absence, the transitional object and symbolisation

• Desire, absence and substitution: the addictive object as a stand-in for the missing Other

• Lacan's objet petit a and addiction's attempt to materialise the psychic void

• Symbolic versus Real satisfaction and its clinical implications

• The limits of recovery without subjective meaning and unmourned loss

• Skills practice in listening for unexpressed loss and the function of the addictive object

8 | Wounded Roots: Addiction & Trauma

• Freud's theory of trauma: the protective shield, the compulsion to repeat and defence

• Deep psychoanalytic framing: Ferenczi's confusion of tongues and Laplanche's enigmatic signifier

• Affect, transitional objects and repetition compulsion in addictive formations

• PTSD, complex PTSD, dissociation and splitting as structural responses to trauma

• Addiction as defence, compromise formation and an attempt at psychic repair

• Trauma therapy, transference and trauma-informed care in addiction work

• Formative assignment: 1,000-word essay on trauma, defence and addictive formation

• Skills practice in recognising defences, hearing repetition and offering containment

9 | Jacques Lacan: Need, Demand & Desire

• Core distinctions between need, demand and desire

• "Every demand is a demand for love": recognition and the gap that remains

• The nature of desire: unsatisfiable, structural and the motor force of a life

• Desire and the unconscious: the illusion of free choice and crystallised sentences

• The neurotic strategy of renouncing desire, and the aim of bringing desire into existence

• Addiction as a short-circuiting of desire, and the clinical task of reawakening it

• Skills practice in listening for demand, recognition and desire within a case account

10 | Integration, Ethics & the Clinic of Addiction

• Integrating the psychoanalytic threads of the programme: transference, loss, trauma, desire and the social bond

• From behaviour to structure: neurotic, psychotic and perverse relations to the substance

• The ethics of desire in the clinic of addiction: not ceding on one's desire, and the tragic sense of life

• Boundaries, the therapeutic frame and safeguarding in addiction practice

• Countertransference and the practitioner's own desire in addiction work

• Supervision, reflective practice and the wounded healer

• Sustainable, ethical practice and synthesis of the whole programme

• Formal Skills Assessment: live online fishbowl-format assessment evaluated by two examiners

Mandatory Component

Skills Assessment

The skills assessment is a mandatory component of the programme and must be completed to qualify. The assessment is conducted live online in a fishbowl-style format and is evaluated by two examiners for quality assurance, moderation and academic standards. Students will be paired for the assessment, and each student will be required to demonstrate their applied counselling, psychotherapy, relational and course-specific clinical skills for approximately 25 minutes. The skills assessment is designed to assess the student's ability to integrate the full content of the course into ethical, reflective and professionally appropriate practice.

The fishbowl skills assessment will be recorded for quality assurance and moderation purposes. Students must sign and agree to the recording of the fishbowl skills assessment before taking part. The recording is used only for legitimate academic, quality assurance and moderation purposes in line with College requirements and relevant policies. Successful completion of the skills assessment is mandatory for qualification from the programme and, where applicable, for entry or progression toward registration or accredited membership pathways with the ICPHAA.

Where a student is required to repeat a failed skills assessment examination, a repeat assessment fee of €285 applies. This repeat fee reflects the high professional fees paid to lecturers and examiners for the delivery, examination, review and moderation of formal skills assessment examinations. Students who keep up with the learning material, attend classes, engage with the Moodle LMS resources and practise the required skills throughout the course should be well prepared for the official skills assessment examination.

Live Delivery

Zoom Delivery

All live online classes are delivered via ICPS College's secure enterprise Zoom platform, providing a stable, professional and confidential environment for lecturer-led teaching, discussion and skills practice. Students are expected to engage fully with live sessions, including breakout room discussions and applied skills practice, to gain the maximum benefit from the programme.

Given the personal and reflective nature of some of the material covered in this course, students are encouraged to attend live sessions from a private, confidential space and to take breaks or seek support where needed. Students experiencing technical difficulties should contact the College promptly so that alternative arrangements can be made where possible.

Learning Platform

Moodle LMS

Students are provided with access to the College's Moodle Learning Management System, where lecture notes, reading materials, module resources and assessment guidance are made available throughout the course. The Moodle LMS supports independent study and allows students to revisit key concepts, review recorded material where applicable, and prepare thoroughly for assessment.

Students are expected to engage regularly with the Moodle LMS as part of their self-directed learning hours. The platform is updated throughout the course to reflect the content covered in live sessions and to support consistent, structured academic progression.Up

Bringing the learning together

Study of addiction, recovery, trauma, behavioural dependency and integrated therapeutic practice is most valuable when it improves the quality of questions a practitioner asks, the care with which they formulate, and the clarity with which they recognise both possibility and limitation. The goal is thoughtful, ethical application—not certainty, overreach or technique without relationship.

Before enrolling, read the current information at https://www.icps.ie/addiction, consider how the curriculum relates to your role and development plan, and contact the ICPS College Academic Registry Office if a factual course detail requires clarification. This draft guide is intentionally comprehensive so that it can support comparison, reflection and informed discussion.