Few responsibilities of a world-class medical College carry more weight than shaping its Fellowship Program. Preparing the next generation of psychiatrists is fundamental to our purpose and to the expectations of our members and the communities who rely on us.

The New Fellowship Program Taskforce (NFPT) approaches this work with a strong commitment to accountability, equity, and meaningful partnership. Our goal is to design a program that develops compassionate, globally aware, culturally safe, and digitally literate medical experts and leaders, equipped to meet the complexity of modern mental health care with confidence and integrity.

Several questions have guided the work of the New Fellowship Program Taskforce since its establishment in mid-2025. Is the current Fellowship Program truly fit for purpose in equipping and supporting the next generation of psychiatric specialists? Has it been deliberately planned, robustly consulted on, and rigorously evaluated? Does it demonstrate clear alignment between curriculum, desired outcomes, and assessment? And does it reflect contemporary priorities while harnessing advances in medical education?

At its inaugural meeting in July, the Taskforce reached a unanimous view: incremental changes to the 2012 Fellowship Program would no longer suffice. A new Fellowship Program is required. 

In November, the Board approved the development of a New Fellowship Program for implementation by 2030 to ensure the College can deliver the highest standards of psychiatric education and training and prepare psychiatrists for a rapidly changing world.

Taskforce members have been unanimous in their desire for regular, open and two-way communication with Members and trainees in developing the New Fellowship Program. It is pleasing, therefore, to now be able to give you more information about the Taskforce’s progress and, importantly, invite you to contribute your thoughts and feedback.  

The new Fellowship program will be a whole-of-program redesign to create a psychiatrist workforce prepared for the future, a program that meets community and workforce needs and expectations, and to retain the confidence of the Fellowship and trainees.

It will involve a comprehensive review and redevelopment of curriculum, competencies and assessments, in line with these guiding philosophies:

• a generalist focus aligned with national workforce needs in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
• a competency-based medical education framework and
• a hybrid assessment model, with both workplace-based assessments and external clinical and written exams.

As a time-limited body, the Taskforce will set the overall vision and strategic direction of the new Fellowship program. The NFPT will deliver a program prototype in 2026 - a high-level conceptual design that defines the vision, guiding principles, and overall structure of the new Fellowship program. Implementation and delivery of the new program will then be a priority for the Education Committee and our new Executive Dean of Education, Professor Andrew Teodorczuk, who is also a member of the Taskforce.

In developing the prototype, the Taskforce is reviewing and taking into account surveys, external reviews, curriculum evaluations, and member feedback from recent years, and is also benchmarking with specialist medical colleges bi-nationally and internationally.

As this occurs, the Education Committee will continue to manage ongoing quality improvement to the current Fellowship program but may pause selected activities to limit changes prior to the new program.

While extensive consultation on the prototype will take place next year, initial consultation begins now. We’d value your input on the following broad questions as you consider the New Fellowship Program:

1. What aspects of the current program should be retained?
2. What elements of the current program should be discontinued?
3. What are the limitations in the current program that we should address?
4. Are there any innovative approaches, trends, technologies, or unique features we should explore and consider integrating into the new Fellowship program?
5. What would make the program more relevant, appealing, and engaging for medical graduates and psychiatry trainees?
6. What else would you like to tell us?

Provide your input on the questions above via the link below:

Have your say 

 Otherwise reach out to the taskforce directly by emailing newfellowshipprogram@ranzcp.org. 

The New Fellowship Program presents a rare opportunity for generational change to prepare the psychiatrists of the future.