NCA is an educational charity dedicated to acupuncture, Chinese medicine and nutrition science and practice. Students from many different backgrounds and from all over the UK and beyond, train with us and become highly successful practitioners. The College is a learning community built around our large team of teaching practitioners who love their work and inspire our students and are committed to excellence. We are located in the centre of the historic city of York in a beautiful Georgian building on an old Roman and Viking street a few minutes walk from the river. We place clinical practice at the heart of our work, with students involved in our teaching clinic from the start of their courses, and interactive learning focussed on clinical casework. We also make a significant contribution to research by practitioners. We are particularly proud of our teaching clinics, our library and our friendly and supportive staff.The Northern College of Acupuncture was founded in 1988 by Hugh MacPherson and Nicholas Haines, when we offered our first acupuncture programme. The College is now a registered charity, and we added programmes in Chinese herbal medicine in 1994 and nutritional therapy in 2008. We see our educational work as being both challenging and inspiring. The challenge comes from learning new ways of seeing and understanding. The inspiration comes from the insights, knowledge and skills that come with fresh perspectives. Our educational programmes are designed to meet high standards of excellence and quality. They have a focus not just on acquiring knowledge and learning techniques of practice but also on the development of the practitioner. Our aim is to help our students to become balanced and well-rounded practitioners as well as educating them to a high academic level. At the NCA we recognise that pr