Shaping the Future Workforce: Exploring Academic Experiences and Career Aspiration Among Psychology Students in Pakistan

Career aspiration shapes the leadership, achievement, and educational goals that guide graduates’ transition from academic study into the labor market, yet little is known about its correlates among psychology students in Pakistan, where the professional scope of the discipline remains comparatively narrow. Grounded in developmental and social-cognitive perspectives on career psychology, this study examined the relationship of academic program satisfaction and academic level with career aspiration among final-year and recently graduated psychology students. Using purposive convenience sampling, data were collected from 285 BS and MS/MPhil psychology students and recent graduates enrolled in universities across Islamabad, Pakistan. Career aspiration, including its leadership, achievement, and educational dimensions, was measured with the Career Aspiration Scale (CAS; Gregor & O’Brien, 2015), and academic program satisfaction with the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ). Data were analyzed in SPSS using Pearson correlation, independent-samples t-tests, and one-way ANOVA. Academic program satisfaction was strongly and positively correlated with career aspiration (r = .504, p < .01). MS/MPhil students scored significantly higher than BS students on overall career aspiration (p = .003), achievement aspiration (p = .028), and educational aspiration (p < .001), whereas the difference in leadership aspiration was not significant (p = .052). Career aspiration also differed significantly across BS final-semester, MS/MPhil final-semester, and recently graduated groups (p < .001), with the highest scores among recent graduates. These findings indicate that academic program satisfaction is positively associated with career aspiration and that career aspiration differs across educational-stage groups, with implications for career counseling and curriculum design in psychology programs in Pakistan.