ACAP University College Avis 

I’m currently enrolled in the Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy at ACAP University College, and I genuinely regret choosing this institution. My experience has been so poor that I feel more in need of counselling than prepared to deliver it. Here’s why:

Extremely Expensive & Poor Quality Content: For a course with such a hefty price tag, the quality is shockingly low. Much of the content is self-taught. While a few lecturers are passionate and competent, most of the material is outdated, riddled with errors, and poorly maintained. Lecture slides are sloppy, readings link to expired articles, and the Perth campus has no physical library. The online resources are also limited.

Misleading Fees: I’m now being charged a Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF), despite never using these services. When I do attend campus once a term for mandatory workshops, it’s unclear what exactly this fee covers. It feels like another cash grab.

Unavailable or Poorly Delivered Units: Units are frequently unavailable or delivered so poorly that students are forced to attend repetitive ‘make-up’ workshops. These workshops are generic, uninspired, and the same each time, regardless of the missed content.

Underprepared Teaching Staff: Lecturers often don’t know the assignment requirements and regularly deflect student questions to unit coordinators, who can also be unresponsive.

Placement Process is a Disaster: This is by far the most frustrating part. ACAP claims to have hundreds of placement connections—this is simply not true. Particularly in Perth, there appear to be zero active partnerships. I spent six months securing my own placement because the university offered no support. Even after handing a willing organisation directly to the placement team, they failed to act. I’ve had to chase them every single week to do their job. The team is passive-aggressive, unresponsive, and entirely ineffective.

Final Thoughts:

ACAP needs to stop advertising for more students until they fix the issues plaguing the student experience—especially the placement process. Either be honest that students will need to find their own placements or invest in building real partnerships and a competent placement team.

If I had known this was what I was signing up for, I would have avoided ACAP entirely. I chose this course for flexibility, but the disorganisation, lack of support, and extra burden placed on students have made it anything but flexible.

I strongly urge prospective students to look elsewhere.