Fewer good job opportunities for psychology students

Erroneous information. Psychology graduates often find it far more difficult to find a job at their academic level than aspiring students are told. That must be rectified as soon as possible, says Minister Bussemaker.

According to the website studiekeuze123.nl, 86 percent of psychologists have a good job within eighteen months of graduating. The television programme De Monitor doubts whether this is the case.

In two broadcasts, the programme makers (mainly) focused on psychologists who found it almost impossible to find a good job and who were fobbed off with ‘work experience placements’. They couldn’t all have found a good job.

‘Very worrying’

In reality, only 55 percent of the psychologists have a job at their academic level. Furthermore, the definition of ‘a job’ implies working at least 12 hours a week, regardless of the salary. These jobs could therefore be work experience placements. Of the remaining students, 16 percent work at high vocational education level, while the rest are unemployed (15 percent) or working at a lower or unknown level (14 percent).

“This is very worrying and it’s something we must rectify at once,” says Minister Bussemaker in the Sunday evening programme. If the problem persists, the Minister pledges to intervene.

An error has definitely been made, says university association VSNU. By accident, unemployment has not been included in the indicator. That obviously needs to be put right.

Independent research

The student union LSVb feels that independent research into job prospects is needed. The current figures come from research commissioned by universities and universities of applied sciences. The union wants a national alumni survey, similar to the National Student Survey.