Career prospects
There is no single job waiting at the end of your studies. You can become a transformative leader who works across business, government, civil society, community, and research in support of just, societal and sustainable transitions.
Depending on your bachelor education and interests, you could end up working in strategic or entrepreneurial positions helping to shape change. This could be in a public organization, as a policymaker or strategic advisor, or in a private company, as a consultant or sustainability programme manager. As this is an academic programme, you could also be as a researcher and educator. Some students have even gone beyond traditional forms of employment, like setting up their own farm collective or traveling arts center. The emphasis on personal skills and social entrepreneurship in the programme will prepare you to take adventurous routes such as becoming a social entrepreneur yourself.
Designing your own path
The MA Societal Transitions helps you to develop a powerful set of skills and a reflective stance that you can take into many different environments. During the Graduation Project, students have the opportunity to apply these skills in a greater professional and societal context. Alongside the curriculum itself, Erasmus School of Philosophy offers a lively academic community, student-run journals, and representation in the faculty council – all of which allow you to gain experience that is directly relevant to future employers.
Where will you end up after graduating? That depends on your interests, choices and initiative. But you will not be starting from zero. You will carry with you:
A proven ability to handle complex ideas and problems, and provide solutions.
A track record of independent research and collaborative projects.
A sharpened sense of responsibility for the social and ethical implications of decisions.
A heightened awareness of your own positionality when confronting societal problems.
From classrooms and ministries to boardrooms, NGOs and cultural spaces, alumni of the MA Societal Transitions show that the skills developed in this study are deeply relevant for this rapidly changing world. The MA Societal Transitions at Erasmus University Rotterdam is designed to help you turn your passion for making positive societal impacts into a concrete and meaningful career.
Life After Graduation: Where Transition Studies Take You
Academia and research
Some graduates discover during the MA that they want to continue thinking, teaching and writing about societal transition questions at the highest level. For them, the MA Societal Transitions is an excellent stepping stone to a research master or a PhD, either at Erasmus or at other universities in the Netherlands and abroad.
Typical roles in this trajectory include:
PhD researcher or junior lecturer in transition studies or related fields (social science, political science, sustainability management, governance, etc.).
Researcher at think tanks, policy institutes or NGOs, working on topics such as sustainability governance and social justice.
Academic coordinator, advisor or policy officer within universities and research organisations.
Education and teaching
Our alumni have gone on to teach in different countries, at different levels of education and different kinds of education-related roles.
Graduates of the MA Societal Transitions may go on to:
Teach political science, social studies, transformative design, or related subjects in secondary education (often after a teacher-training qualification).
Work in higher education as course coordinators, tutors, student counsellors, skills trainers or educational developers.
Design educational materials, ethics programmes or critical-thinking modules for schools, universities or companies.
Your training in explaining complex ideas and in guiding discussions is directly relevant here.
Public sector, policy and civil service
Modern societies face difficult questions about climate policy, healthcare, migration, energy crises, housing and more. These are not merely technical problems: they involve values, conflicting interests and long-term visions of the good society. This is precisely the space in which the skills taught in the MA Societal Transitions are valuable.
MA Societal Transitions graduates can be found working as:
Policy officers or advisors in ministries, municipalities and regional governments.
Staff members at political parties, parliamentary support units or advisory councils.
Analysts and project officers for NGOs, human-rights organisations, environmental groups and international institutions.
Business, consulting and corporate roles
Another possible destination for MA Societal Transitions graduates is the business world. Employers in consulting, finance, marketing and strategy look for people who can quickly grasp complex situations, ask the right questions and communicate clearly with different stakeholders.
In this domain, MA Societal Transitions graduates can become:
Strategy or management consultants, helping organisations to clarify their goals, analyse options and make justified decisions.
Policy or risk analysts in banks, insurance companies or other financial institutions.
Corporate trainees and (later) managers, where their ability to see the bigger picture and navigate competing interests proves useful.
Specialists in organisational ethics, compliance, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability.
NGOs, international organisations and social impact
If you are considering pursuing the MA Societal Transitions, you are likely interested in social justice, human rights or environmental sustainability. Across these dimensions, you will find many opportunities in the NGO and international-organisations landscape. MA Societal Transitions graduates are valued here for their ability to understand different cultural and moral perspectives (including their own), to think critically about power structures, and to translate complex issues into concrete solutions.
Graduates often work as:
Policy or advocacy officers for NGOs and charities.
Project managers in international development, human rights or humanitarian aid.
Researchers and analysts in organisations that monitor public policy, corporate behaviour or global trends.
