In 1988, the university hired a student dean with a background in psychology, but this student dean mainly dealt “with regular duties, such as providing social support for students with socio-economic issues”, Observant wrote a year later. It was never entirely clear what exactly that meant, but it probably had something to do with money (troubles). The dean could refer students to the Regional Institute for Ambulatory Mental Health Care (RIAGG), but its focus was mainly on serious psychological disorders and long-term treatment. Most students didn’t need that level of support. Realising this, the Executive Board eventually set aside money for a student psychologist.
Part-time
One was supposed to start on 1 January 1991, “hopefully putting an end to years of plans, good intentions and unsuccessful experiments”, wrote Observant at the time. We don’t know whether the delay was due to difficulty finding the money or finding the right candidate, but according to our archives, it would be at least another year before a psychologist was finally appointed. In 1992, Ruud van den Berg started working at the university on a part-time basis.
In an interview with Observant, he said he would be available on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday mornings for “students who have fallen out with their parents, who are depressed or who are too shy to speak up during tutorials.” Initially, things were fairly quiet; in the first few months, he saw only around four students a week on average. And not everyone who came to him received help. Students struggling with problems such as erectile dysfunction would, Observant wrote at the time, be referred to sexual health specialists at RIAGG. It’s unclear whether anyone actually came forward with this problem, but given the era – before the internet made it easy to find answers to all your questions – it’s entirely possible. “Not all seven thousand students are my target group”, Van den Berg pointed out. “Most just want to have a quick chat.”
Doubled
Over time, more and more students did. Within two years, the number of support requests had doubled. In 1996, a second psychologist was hired to support the growing student population. Even so, the workload remained high for years. In 2002, Observant reported that students were complaining about waiting times of three to five weeks just for an intake appointment. “That’s unacceptable, but we simply can’t keep up with the demand”, said the psychologists at the time. Sometimes they even referred students to colleagues outside the university.
Things never really became quieter after that. As the university grew and attracted more international students, the number of support requests continued to rise. Most concerned issues “such as stress, fear of failure, procrastination and low mood”, according to the head of student counselling in 2007. These are the same issues the university’s nine student psychologists still deal with today. In 2024, they saw more than nine hundred students during daily walk-in hours, and they now offer workshops, online modules and activities to support students’ mental wellbeing. Long waiting times are now largely a thing of the past: “Thanks to additional staff, students can now be seen within a week”, Observant reported earlier this year. However, there are still some complaints that not all students know where to find the student psychologists, even though information is available online and through lecturers and student advisers. As the head of the UM psychologists told Observant, visibility “remains a key focus of attention”.