Quebec summons the universities and the Order of Psychologists to meet “urgently” within a new working group which will be chaired by Hélène David, former Liberal Minister of Higher Education. What is urgent: to solve the problem of the extremely restricted access to the doctorate in psychology, whereas it is essential to have the right to work as a psychologist in Quebec.
In November, The Press revealed the imbalance in Quebec’s psychology departments. Each year, hundreds of students are admitted to the baccalaureate, but only a handful are accepted for the doctorate.
Result: these young people find themselves in a mad race for notes to see in the vast majority of cases their hopes be disappointed, access to the doctorate being in places even narrower than in medicine. These young people thus find themselves in a dead end, even though the need for psychologists in Quebec is very great.
In a press release published Tuesday morning, Pascale Déry, Minister of Higher Education, indicated that she had asked the parties involved “to meet urgently in order to identify in what way and under what conditions the baccalaureate holders of psychology and other related disciplines could be better used in the field of mental health in public or private networks”.
“I am convinced that stakeholders, such as universities or the Order of Psychologists, under the leadership of Mme Hélène David will find solutions,” said Minister Déry.
The working group will have as its main mandate “to design a roadmap to optimize training paths in psychology”, is it still written in the press release.
For example, at McGill, in 2021, 460 students were enrolled in the bachelor’s degree. At the doctoral level, there were 10. At Concordia University, in 2022-2023, at 1er cycle, the new cohorts are made up of just over 500 students, but only about 13 of them obtain the doctorate allowing them to obtain the title of psychologist. At the Université de Montréal, 60 students were able to register for the doctorate in 2022, while approximately 300 per year are registered for the bachelor’s degree.