Actually, says Ida Popp, she can’t imagine anything else than becoming a psychotherapist. The closeness to the people, the opportunity to help. She is also on the right track: in her fourth semester, the 20-year-old is studying psychology at the University of Eichstätt. But what comes after the bachelor’s degree is currently completely open to her and her 30 fellow students. After the reform of psychotherapy training, there are not enough master’s places throughout Bavaria. As of now, there will only be 75 spots when Popp and her fellow students finish — a fraction of what’s needed. “We don’t know at all how things will continue,” says Popp.
After the nationwide reform of the path to becoming a psychotherapist, students will have to complete a specially tailored master’s degree from next year. The students should gain practical experience as quickly as possible. In addition, the training should be aligned with that of a medical specialist. In Bavaria there will only be 75 Master’s places in the coming semester. A fraction of the 375 that the Bavarian Chamber of Psychotherapists estimates the need for.
That is “serious”, says its President Nikolaus Melcop. “The Free State cannot do that.” Thomas Ehring, Chair of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, sees it similarly. If the conditions at the universities were not created, “then we are threatened with a supply bottleneck”. Ruth Waldmann, the health policy spokeswoman for the SPD in the state parliament, speaks of a “crazy” and “inefficient” decision not to fund the new master’s degree courses adequately: “That’s not a good signal for a shortage of jobs.”
There are already long waiting lists, and the gap could widen
There are 6,169 psychotherapists licensed by statutory health insurance in Bavaria, many of whom have waiting lists for months. The situation is exacerbated by delayed psychological reactions to the Corona period and increased demand due to the war in Ukraine. In addition, more and more people simply dare to go to a psychologist or psychotherapist. Even before the far-reaching reform of training, there was always more demand than supply. Now many fear that the gap will get bigger – and that young people like Ida Popp will find themselves in a dead end.
Like many of her fellow students, Ida Popp, 20, is hoping for one of the rare master’s degrees in psychotherapy.
(Photo: private)
You and your Eichstätt fellow students have the visit of the Minister of Science, Markus Blume (CSU). This Academicus used on Tuesday to draw attention to it. They wrote slogans on posters such as “Master – Disaster”, “The new law on psychotherapists – no master plan”, “Psychology without a license to practice medicine is like Eichstätt without a cathedral”. In Eichstätt, it hits the students particularly hard. There, students like Popp Stand would get nothing at all.
“We have 60 people left behind,” says Rita Rosner, Chair of Clinical and Biological Psychology and Head of the Psychotherapeutic University Outpatient Clinic. That was “unfair” to the young people. One thing is certain: people like Popp would have to try elsewhere in or outside of Bavaria for one of the rare master’s places. However, the chances of success are slim. Even before the reform, there were always more Bachelor’s than Master’s places, and in-house graduates are preferred in many places.
There should still be numerous applications from all over Bavaria. Because while the universities in Bamberg, Würzburg, Munich, Nuremberg-Erlangen and Regensburg will initially each be offering 15 master’s courses in psychotherapy in the coming winter semester, things are progressing elsewhere. In Hesse there will be a total of 330, NRW is aiming for 530 places per year.
The idea of only offering the master’s degree at two or three universities was rejected
The crux: Since the new master’s course requires significantly more supervision, more teaching staff is also needed. The universities rejected the idea of bundling resources at a few locations in Bavaria and only offering the Master’s degree at two or three universities. It is now up to you, in addition to the ten new positions, to reallocate them in the long term so that you can offer prospects to students like Ida Popp. Science Minister Blume also emphasizes their responsibility. The universities decided on the establishment and equipment of courses, some like the FAU would have used the scope of the high-tech agenda.
Ida Popp shouldn’t care where the money for her future university place comes from. She has already completed an internship in a clinic, which has further strengthened her career aspirations. Now she hopes that it will continue, somehow. Although, she does have one wish: “If it’s possible, I’d really like to stay in Eichstätt.”