Career prospects
Governmental, non-governmental and private organisations are increasingly faced with rapidly changing decision-making conditions. In a period that is heading towards an ever more complex information society there will be an increasing need for generalists who are able to deal with our cultures of innovation in a reflexive and politically conscious way. The programme's graduates will be well equipped to find employment as science and technology managers, advisors, consultants, researchers, engineers, journalists, etc. The programme provides them with first-class competence to analyse and influence society's response to the challenges posed by scientific and technological change.
The ESST programme in particular aspires to train problem-solvers who address the relationship between society, science and technology not from a singular point of view but by using a multidisciplinary and international approach.
In most cases, the ESST programme leads to two different career paths:
Graduates aiming for a university career: These graduates will typically continue after their ESST master with a PhD training. Some ESST graduates go on to doctorate programmes in the social sciences, cultural studies, business, communications, engineering , etc. in Europe as well as the United States to get their PhD. Their topics of analysis can be found in the field of ICT; healthcare; rural development; sustainable city planning; sustainable technology; strategic management; innovation studies.
ESST graduates are allowed to enroll into the second year of the STS research master CAST at the University of Maastricht, which is aimed to prepare students for PhD training. Some students prefer to participate in the ESST Master programme first as a way to find out if they prefer an academic career at all. Being allowed to enter the second year of the two year research master CAST after ESST graduation implies that this 'time of contemplation' does not need to cost extra time.
Graduates aiming at working in non-academic institutes: Some graduates prefer a career in non-academic environments and have gone into government (research) agencies, industry think tanks or consultancies. These graduates will mainly be employed by public and private research institutes, such as an Advisory Council for Science and Technology Policy; an Energy research Centre; an Health Council; an Advisory council for research on spatial planning, nature and the environment; Management Agencies of several Ministries (e.g. Environment; Transport, Public Works and Water) and possibly large corporations such as DSM and Philips.
ESST gave me the confidence to tackle complex ideas >>