ISSN: 1579-9794

Hikma 23(1) (2024), 253 - 288

Public Service Interpreting and Translation and

Employment in Spain: Overcoming Professionalisation

Challenges through Training

Traducción e Interpretación en los servicios públicos y

empleo en España: Superando los retos de la

profesionalización a través de la formación

BIANCA VITALARU

bianca.vitalaru@uah.es

Universidad de Alcalá

Grupo FITISPos

Fecha de recepción: 26/05/2023

Fecha de aceptación: 29/02/2024

Abstract: Despite its under-professionalisation in Spain, Public Service

Interpreting and Translation (PSIT) services are necessary. They are

intensively used in healthcare settings, social welfare services, and police and

court settings, especially during crises. On the other hand, given the

significant role PSIT plays in multilingual societies, training translators and

interpreters in this field is paramount. However, training in PSIT in Spain and

research on the employment and employability of PSIT Spanish

postgraduates are scarce. This article fills this need by focusing on the

employment situation of the graduates of a PSIT postgraduate programme

that trains in different language pairs. It has three objectives: identify the

graduates’ employment situation, determine the relationship between the

programme and its labour market, and fill the gap regarding the literature on

the labour market and employability in PSIT in Spain. Based on an analysis

of employment reports, it follows a descriptive approach, using data obtained

from the 2009/2010 to 2018/2019 cohorts. Results show that the programme

has high employment rates, and a clear and solid relationship exists between

the labour market and the programme. The short period between graduation

and finding a job is a strength of the programme. Respondents tend to be

generally satisfied with their jobs and the professional category is related to

their training.

Keywords: Public service interpreting and translation, Labour market, Spain,

Employment, Employability

Resumen: A pesar de su escasa profesionalización en España, la Traducción

e Interpretación en los Servicios Públicos (TISP) es necesaria. Se utiliza de

254 Public Service Interpreting and Translation and Employment in Spain

Hikma 23(1) (2024), 253 - 288

forma intensiva en entornos sanitarios, servicios de asistencia social y

entornos policiales y judiciales, especialmente en situaciones de crisis. Por

otra parte, dado el importante papel que desempeña la TISP en las

sociedades multilingües, la formación de traductores e intérpretes en este

campo es primordial. Sin embargo, la formación en TISP en España y la

investigación sobre el empleo y la empleabilidad de los egresados españoles

en TISP son escasas. Este artículo cubre esta necesidad centrándose en la

situación laboral de los egresados de un programa de postgrado en TISP que

forma en diferentes pares de lenguas. Tiene tres objetivos: identificar la

situación laboral de los egresados, determinar la relación entre el programa y

su mercado laboral, y llenar el vacío existente en la literatura sobre el mercado

laboral y la empleabilidad en TISP en España. Partiendo de un análisis de los

informes de empleabilidad, se sigue un enfoque descriptivo con datos

obtenidos de egresados de varios cursos académicos (de 2009/2010 a

2018/2019). Los resultados muestran que el programa tiene tasas altas de

empleabilidad y que existe una clara y sólida relación entre el mercado laboral

y el programa. El poco tiempo que los egresados tardan en encontrar trabajo

después de la graduación es un punto fuerte del programa. Los encuestados

están generalmente satisfechos con sus trabajos y su categoría profesional

tiene relación con su formación.

Palabras clave: Traducción e interpretación en los servicios públicos,

Mercado laboral, España, Empleo, Empleabilidad

NTRODUCTION

Public Service Interpreting and Translation (PSIT) is a field within

Translation and Interpreting (T&I) (Valero-Garcés, 2014). The term PSIT,

most frequently used in Spain, overlaps with other terms used in English-

speaking countries, such as “community interpreting” (Hertog, 2010, p. 49),

“public service interpreting” (Mikkelson, 2014, p. 9), “community-based

interpreting” (Pöchhacker, 2004, p. 15), and “community translation” (Taibi

and Ozolins, 2016, p. 7). Although researchers tend to distinguish between

the different activities (translation or interpreting) or areas involved (e.g.,

healthcare or legal), the term “PSIT” encompasses both translation and

interpreting (T&I) activities and several fields.

In fact, PSIT provides the (foreign) population who are not fluent in the

language of the public service providers with equal access to public services

such as education, healthcare, social, administrative, police and judicial

services, among others (Valero-Garcés, 2014 and 2017; Sánchez, 2020). Its

settings are internationally recognised and often classified as follows: “social

services such as, e.g., welfare, housing, employment, or schools; medical

settings such as childcare centres, hospitals, mental health clinics; or legal

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settings such as prisons, police stations or probation offices” (Hertog, 2010,

p. 49).

PSIT is underc-professionalised in Spain (Lázaro and Álvaro, 2020).

Evidence of that are the issues that have been raised in the last decade

regarding aspects such as the lack of regulation, a bar association and training

standards as well as the absence of a code of ethics (RITAP, 2011), suitable

remuneration and recruitment structures. The main elements that characterise

this situation are the:

increase in the outsourcing of services (which has led to a

corresponding deterioration in the working conditions of both

interpreters and translators), the proliferation of telephone

interpreting and the prevalence of volunteer and ad-hoc interpreters

and translators. (Lázaro and Álvaro, 2020, p. 74).

As a result of this under-professionalisation, different solutions have

been pursued to overcome language barriers. The solutions depend on the

subfield (health, education, social care, administrative, court, or police

settings) and the region (the different autonomous communities in Spain)

where the PSIT activity occurs. Moreover, the funding available also affected

the solutions provided. Lastly, as Foulquié-Rubio et al. (2018) underlined, the

economic crisis led to the prevarication in the employment of translators and

interpreters and has prevented PSIT from achieving a professional status

similar to that in Canada, Australia, or United Kingdom.

Thus, for example, in the medical setting, the right to T&I is not

guaranteed by any law in Spain (Foulquié-Rubio et al., 2018), which resulted

in improvised non-professional solutions such as machine translation,

gestures, and the use of patients’ acquaintances, including minors (Del Pozo,

2013). On the other hand, in this setting, different professional solutions have

also been used. Firstly, the independent professional interpreting and

mediation service provided by Salud entre Culturas, at Hospital Universitario

Ramón y Cajal (Madrid), is worthy of mention due to its broad experience

(Foulquié-Rubio et al., 2018). Secondly, the use of telephone interpreting,

which has become increasingly popular in recent years, especially in areas

such as Levante, has a high share of foreign population (Foulquié-Rubio et al,

2018). Other examples are the emergency services at health centres in the

Madrid region (El Mundo, 2009) and hospitals such as Hospital Universitario

de Fuenlabrada (primary care) and Hospital Universitario Clínico San Carlos

(clinical university hospital) (Portal de la Contratación Pública, 2020). Another

example is the recent reactivation of the service provided for medical staff

throughout the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha to cover the

needs of the Ukrainian refugees in this region (Hospital Universitario de

Guadalajara, 2022).

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Another instance is the legal setting related to court interpreting and

translation. Court and police settings translators and interpreters consist of a

mixture of in-house staff and external contractors (RITAP, 2011). The

subcontracting and outsourcing model is, in fact, the predominant system for

the provision of T&I services in court and police settings (Foulquié-Rubio et

al., 2018). The working conditions imposed by the contracting companies that

supply PSIT practitioners in court settings are so precarious at some point that

professional practitioners are not willing to work under such conditions (e.g.,

self-employed, long waiting hours, waiting hours not paid, low fares, no access

to internet or translation tools, etc.). Thus, gaps have sometimes been

covered by bilingual people with no training or qualifications. In general, the

standards for interpreting may be different for court interpreting and police

interviews considering the different types of courts and Spanish regions

involved; however, as Gascón (2017) and Foulquié-Rubio et al. (2018)

underline, as a general rule, the lack of rigorous standards and minimum

quality requirements resulted in a decrease in the quality of court interpreting

services in the last years.

Despite its under-professionalisation and precarious working

conditions, PSIT services are necessary and intensively used. Professional

translators and interpreters are essential to facilitate communication,

especially during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the population

movements caused by the Ukrainian war, in which the foreign population need

urgent and effective communication. Moreover, given the significant role PSIT

plays in multilingual societies, the training of those who work in this field is

paramount. In fact, training is one of the pillars that lead to the full

professionalisation of the discipline (Lázaro and Álvaro, 2020; González,

2019). In turn, training as the foundation of the professionalisation process is

based on four structural pillars: knowledge (and implementation) of the code

of ethics, of “the interpreter’s role and its limitations”, of “the area of expertise

and protocols of the field” involved, and the interpreter’s technical expertise

(Hale and González, 2017, cited by González, 2019, section 2.2).

However, training in PSIT in Spain is scarce, and only one officially

recognised

programme includes training in both translation and interpreting

as modalities and several PSIT areas (healthcare, social services, and legal-

administrative settings): Máster Universitario en Comunicación Intercultural,

Interpretación y Traducción en los Servicios Públicos (the Master’s Degree in

Intercultural Communication, Public Service Interpreting and Translation), as

Official recognition in Spain refers to endorsement by the Spanish regulatory agency: Agencia

Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación (the National Agency for Quality Assessment

and Accreditation).

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opposed to other programmes

that only focus on one field and/or one

modality. This master has been taught at Universidad de Alcalá as a one-year

programme endorsed by Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y

Acreditación (the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation,

or ANECA) since 2006 in a variety of language pairs: Spanish and

Arabic/Chinese/English/French/Polish/Romanian/Russian.

On the other hand, the main challenge for universities lies in designing

a curriculum that applies to the labour market of future graduates (Álvarez et

al., 2009). In fact, in a study carried out by Fundación Universidad-Empresa,

aimed at students and recent graduates of Science or Health Sciences at

Spanish public universities, six out of ten Spanish university students did not

feel prepared for the labour market after completing their studies

(RRHHDIGITAL, 2021). Relying on similar studies in the T&I and PSIT areas

would be useful to compare results. Moreover, the graduate’s employability

and employment rates should also be considered as essential factors by

academic programme coordinators to ensure that the subjects they teach

apply to the labour market. However, research on the employability of Spanish

T&I students is scarce and on PSIT postgraduates even more scarce. Thus,

as Muñoz-Miquel et al. (2020) also underline, there is a gap considering

empirical studies that focus on the employability of master’s degree graduates

and the potential variety of professional profiles.

Considering this gap, a project

is being carried out by the Quality

Committee of the Master’s Degree in Intercultural Communication, Public

Service Interpreting and Translation (or PSIT programme) at Universidad de

Alcalá to determine the employability of the students trained in this PSIT

programme. The project focuses on analysing the employment situation,

employability, and competence development of PSIT graduates. It represents

a follow-up of the training provided and an analysis of aspects such as the

applicability of skills and knowledge, strengths, needs, and weaknesses

considering the PSIT labour market. The project aims to compare the results

obtained by the different instruments used by the programme to collect

information from graduates. These instruments are: a) university reports of

data obtained through a questionnaire designed by the Technical Quality

Department at Universidad de Alcalá for all the master’s degrees at this

university, b) a specific questionnaire designed for the graduates of the

Other officially recognised programmes, such as Máster Oficial en Traducción y Mediación

Intercultural (at Universidad de Salamanca) and Máster Universitario de Traducción y Estudios

Interculturales (at Universitat Rovira i Virgili), were created later and focus on translation and

mediation or intercultural aspects; they do not encompass both T&I modalities and a variety of

settings such as the aforementioned programme.

The project is called «Labour market insertion, internships, and competence development for

translation and interpreting students».

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programme, and c) internship reports from students and advisors. Moreover,

the results are meant to lead to improvement actions that will strengthen the

employability of the PSIT programme graduates.

This article analyses employment data of the PSIT programme’s

graduates gathered through the first of the above-mentioned instruments:

reports of data collected through questionnaires by the Technical Quality

Department at Universidad de Alcalá. It has three objectives. First, to identify

the graduates’ employment situation. Second, to determine the relationship

between the programme and the labour market of the T&I field in Spain, and

third, to fill the gap regarding the literature on employability and employment

in PSIT in Spain. It relies on the hypothesis that, despite the under-

professionalisation of PSIT, the programme has high employability rates, and

graduates find jobs in the T&I industry.

To achieve these objectives, it will use the data included in the

quantitative reports obtained through the questionnaires designed by the

Technical Quality Department at Universidad de Alcalá for all the

postgraduate programmes of this university. The analysis will follow a

descriptive approach using research questions to guide it. The participants

are graduates of the PSIT programme who answered the questionnaire one

year after they graduated from the 2009/2010 to the 2018/2019 cohorts. The

results will be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the

programme and propose improvements that could serve to increase the

employability of its graduates.

1. E

MPLOYMENT AND EMPLOYABILITY IN T&I AND PSIT

According to Gammarano (2019), who represents the International

Labour Organisation’s Department of Statistics, “employment” refers to any

activity performed “to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit”

(para. 5) and is a type of work that constitutes only a small part of the work

that people perform overall. In fact, “work” encompasses all work forms since

it refers to “any activity performed by persons of any sex and age to produce

goods or to provide services for use by others or for own use” (Gammarano,

2019, para. 6).

On the other hand, “employability” is a more complex concept related

to finding and keeping a job, which is defined and understood in different ways.

Employability can be defined as “a set of achievements–skills, understandings

and personal attributes–that makes graduates more likely to gain employment

and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the

workforce, the community and the economy” (Yorke, 2006, p. 8). Moreover,

competence-based approaches to employability underline it as a

multidimensional process developed over time (Römgens et al., 2020).

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Although several studies include definitions, perspectives, and approaches

regarding employability, the descriptions of the concept itself lack clarity and

specificity. That is why Römgens et al. (2020) conceptualise employability and

provide an “overview of [its] competence-based dimensions” (p. 2601). They

compare approaches and insights and observe that all definitions of

employability have in common “an individual's (perceived) ability to obtain and

maintain employment throughout his/her career” (2020, p. 2590). In this study,

employability will be understood as the aspects that facilitate graduates'

employment or labour market insertion.

As mentioned in the Introduction, very few research studies focus on

PSIT labour market and employability in Spain. The studies that follow are

mostly centred on translation. However, we must keep in mind that T&I

undergraduate degrees in Spain include both translation and interpreting

subjects. In some studies, interpreting is considered as part of translation and

in others, it is not specified. In any case, there are no similar studies on

interpreting graduates.

Generally, in the European context, there is a growing interest in

fostering the T&I graduates’ employability (Calvo et al., 2010; Peverati, 2013;

Rodríguez, 2017; Álvarez-Álvarez and Arnáiz-Uzquiza, 2017a). The main

works that focus on Spanish T&I undergraduate studies and employability are

Álvarez-Álvarez and Arnáiz-Uzquiza (2017a; 2017b), Cifuentes (2017),

Galán-Mañas (2017), Schnell and Rodríguez (2017), and Vigier (2018).

Álvarez-Álvarez and Arnáiz-Uzquiza (2017a) analyse the implementation of

practical aspects related to employability after the Bologna process by

comparing the perception of three different groups regarding the acquisition

of employability skills: undergraduates, final-year undergraduates, and

employers. Álvarez-Álvarez and Arnáiz-Uzquiza (2017b) describe the project

on professional skills developed at Universidad de Valladolid during

2016/2017, which consists of two stages: description of the contents and skills

of T&I undergraduate studies in Spain and analysis of training actions focused

on developing professional skills. In the same line, Cifuentes (2017, pp. 209-

211), at Universidad de Murcia, focuses on identifying “the ten essential

employability skills” from the perspective of three groups: undergraduates,

academics translators, and interpreters. Moreover, Galán-Mañas (2017)

examines some of the specific actions to improve the level of employability of

the T&I students of 2011/2015 cohorts from a programme at Universitat

Autònoma de Barcelona. Furthermore, Schnell and Rodríguez (2017) provide

the perspective of the Spanish translation service providers. They underline

employability as one of the main factors influencing higher education quality

and the need to consider both practitioners and academics when designing

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the T&I curriculum. Additionally, including content that enhances employability

skills is essential.

On the other hand, Vigier (2018) highlights some of the challenges

faced by translation as an academic discipline and a professional field and its

unsolved problems. He underlines that, despite the positive employment

figures obtained (30 %) in comparison with other humanities degrees,

language teaching, foreign trade or multilingual administration absorb a much

higher percentage of translation undergraduates (approx. 60 %) than the T&I

industry itself.

Rico and García (2016) show the T&I market tendencies in 2014/2015

by analysing the perspective of both translation companies (those that offer

T&I and remote interpreting were included here too) and freelancers.

Translation related to the field of technology, followed by general and

advertising translation are the main areas of expertise required by translation

companies. Moreover, the primary sectors that the freelancers cover are

industry/technical fields, technology, health/pharmacy, and tourism. In

general, apart from qualifications and specialisations, the translation market

also looks for technological expertise. The industry seems to rely almost

exclusively on translation.

As far as the employment and employability of postgraduates, Navarro-

Brotons and Cuadrado-Rey (2019) analyse the labour market insertion

trajectories of 2013 to 2017 graduates of the Master’s Degree in Institutional

Translation at the University of Alicante. They establish a relationship between

the completion of internships and employment. On the other hand, three

European projects

focused on employability and translation, and/or on the

European Master’s in Translation network's graduates (as described by

Valero-Garcés and Gambier, 2014; Valero-Garcés and Toudic, 2014; Krause,

2017; Valero-Garcés and Cedillo, 2018; and Valero-Garcés, 2018). They

show that there are several professional opportunities for translators.

Moreover, Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) tools and Machine

Translation (MT) skills are essential to increase job opportunities.

“OPTIMALE project” (2011/2013), “Employment and the future of the profession” (2015-2016),

and “EUATC survey” (2016). The first one, the “OPTIMALE project”, created by EU’s Directorate-

General for Education and Culture, aimed to understand the needs regarding translation

competences and the competences that employers looked for in their employees. The second

one, created by the European Commission Directorate-General of Translation (DGT) and the

European Master’s in Translation Network (EMT), gathered information about the access of the

EMT’s programmes’ graduates to their specific labour market, employment details, and

competences. The last project, focused on establishing the characteristics of the translation

industry, includes a survey conducted by the European Union of Associations of Translation

Companies (EUATC) and was supported by the EMT network and the DGT through the Language

Industry project. Further information: Vitalaru (2022b).

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Furthermore, training should be adapted and improved to include a flexible

multidisciplinary approach (Krause, 2017).

All these previous studies characterise the translation sector, to which

PSIT is highly connected. Still, none of them explicitly analyse PSIT as a

professional field nor the situation regarding its graduates’ employment. The

exception is Vitalaru’s (2022a) study, which focuses on the types of jobs and

PSIT graduates’ employability considering the 2006 to 2017 cohorts of

students. The study compares results by language pairs considering aspects

such as the types of jobs, the fields the graduates work in, or the perception

regarding the applicability of several skills to the labour market, among other

issues. It shows that graduates find jobs in PSIT or T&I fields. However, there

also are differences by language pairs, such as regarding the usefulness of

the training received for the labour market and the applicability of several of

the skills developed in their jobs. For example, the degree of applicability of

the training received varied. Thus, in general, the Russian and English groups

reported less applicability for the PSIT labour market (with three-quarters

indicating applicability) than the Arabic, Chinese, French, and Romanian

groups. Moreover, the training received was highly applicable to the

professional setting for most of the respondents from the French and Arabic

groups and only approx. half of the respondents from the other groups.

Furthermore, if the Chinese, Arabic, French, and Romanian groups found a

variety of skills (T&I skills, working adequately with authentic texts,

terminological, cultural and intercultural, and professional skills) highly

applicable professionally, the Russian group considered the terminological

and T&I skills highly applicable (Vitalaru, 2022a).

These studies demonstrate that higher education institutions must

improve and/or adapt the curriculum to include more specific employability

skills, add specific training in entrepreneurship (Álvarez-Álvarez and Arnáiz-

Uzquiza, 2017b; Galán-Mañas, 2017; Muñoz-Miquel et al., 2020), and

consider adapting training to the needs of the language pairs, as suggested

by Vitalaru (2022a and 2022b). Moreover, universities must work together with

practitioners and/or service providers. Furthermore, offering internships and

practical components within the programme is key. Lastly, education

institutions should keep in mind that a multidisciplinary training approach that

includes technological skills increases the graduates’ employability.

2. T

HE PSIT PROGRAMME: TRAINING FOR THE JOB MARKET

In this section, the PSIT programme will be described considering its

institutional recognition, enrolment figures, structure, competences, job

opportunities, and teaching methodologies.

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2.1. General aspects

The programme referred to in this study, the Master’s Degree in

Intercultural Communication, Public Service Interpreting and Translation, is

well-regarded at the national level since 2006. The increase in the number of

students is evidence of that. Therefore, in its inception, the programme had

approx. 30 students and this number gradually increased every year until it

reached approx. 100 hundred students in the academic year 2010/2011. It

has kept similar enrolment figures ever since, depending on the academic

year.

As a reflection of the T&I market needs, three of the language pairs

were taught every year since the master’s first edition as an official

programme in 2006/2007 (Spanish and Arabic/English/French), and two of

them (Spanish and Romanian/Polish) were taught only between a certain

period of time: Spanish-Polish between 2006/2007 and 2011/2012 and

Spanish-Romanian between 2006/2007 and 2011/2012 and in 2013/2014.

Two others (Spanish-Chinese and Spanish-Russian) have only been taught

since 2009/2010 (Vitalaru and Lázaro, 2019).

Moreover, this industry-oriented programme has been included in the

European Master’s in Translation (EMT) network

since 2009. All the masters

from the EMT network follow the framework of competences meant “to

consolidate and enhance the employability of graduates of master’s degrees

in translation” (EMT, 2017, p. 3). Additionally, as per the European Higher

Education Area, postgraduate programmes such as this offer “greater

projection towards the labour market” (Muñoz-Miquel et al., 2020, p. 142) and

facilitate specialisations, as opposed to undergraduate programmes that

cover more generic content in the field. Therefore, the general approach and

practical orientation of the PSIT programme under analysis are meant to

enhance students’ employability skills and increase their possibilities of

obtaining a job in PSIT domains. This approach is reflected in the

programme’s structure, competences, and teaching methodology, which will

be described in 2.2.

2.2. Structure

The programme combines theory, in-classroom T&I practice,

internships in institutions and companies, and research (Table 1). It is

structured in five different modules (which encompass a total of nine subjects

and 60 ECTS)

, each focusing on a different work setting. All the subjects are

E. g., 127 students in 2017/2018, 102 students in 2018/2019, and 107 students in 2019/2020.

This network currently includes 70 universities from 24 countries. Six of the master’s degrees

are Spanish programmes.

ECT: European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System. 1 ECT represents approx. 25 hrs.

workload.

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compulsory. Of the nine subjects, three are common to all language pairs

while six are taught by language pairs:

Modules

Subjects

ECTS

Main topics

1. Intercultural commu-

nication and PSIT tech-

niques and tools

1. Interlinguistic

Communication.

2. Institutional

communication

with foreign pop-

ulation.

3. Techniques

and resources in

PSIT.

18 ECTS

Interlinguistic and inter-

cultural communication.

PSIT research and

translation tools.

2. T&I in healthcare

settings

4. Translation.

5. Interpreting.

10 ECTS

Focus on developing

translation or interpret-

ing competences in

specific fields by lan-

guage pair.

3. T&I in legal and ad-

ministrative settings.

6.Translation.

7. Interpreting.

14 ECTS

4. Internship

8. Internship.

6 ECTS

In one of the institutions

(healthcare or legal),

NGOs, associations,

cultural centres, T&I

companies, or other

centres that the univer-

sity has signed an

agreement with.

150 working hours.

5. Master’s Thesis

9. Master’s Thesis

12 ECTS

Writing an 80-100-page

research paper.

Completion: after pass-

ing the rest of the sub-

jects.

Table 1. Structure of the programme

Source. Based on information from Master’s in PSIT Leaflet (2021/2022) and

Master’s in PSIT Curriculum (2021/2022)

The structure shows that the programme gradually moves from more

general, introductory, and theoretical aspects to everyday intensive practice,

and finally to new situations and environments.

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2.3. Competences, job opportunities, and teaching methodology

The specific competences developed by the PSIT programme students

can be grouped into three categories: related to information mining, to the use

of thematic, strategic and textual knowledge, and to the professional market

As a subfield of T&I, the PSIT programme under analysis defines its job

opportunities based on the same job opportunities as T&I graduates,

but it

adds specific components such as mediation and PSIT fields. Thus, job

opportunities can be classified into four categories: jobs related to T&I and

terminological tasks, jobs that involve intercultural communication and

mediation, teaching jobs, and linguistic advising, managing, and reviewing.

As far as the teaching methodology, the overall approach relies on

situated learning and experiential learning principles.

Situated learning focuses on learning in context and students “are

exposed to real-life and/or highly simulated work environments and tasks,

both inside and outside the classroom” (González-Davies and Enríquez-

Raído, 2016, p. 8). It aims at enhancing students’ ability “to think and act like

professionals” (González-Davies and Enríquez-Raído, 2016, p. 8). Several

characteristics of situated learning can be found in the programme’s

approach. First, authentic materials (Buysschaert et al., 2018) and contexts

are used daily in the two translation-oriented subjects of the programme. In

interpreting-oriented subjects, the topics chosen are based on the needs of

the foreign population (emergencies, primary care, specialised care, or

administrative and legal situations recreated depending on the purpose of the

activity). Second, the “learner-centric pedagogy” and students’ interactions

and involvement with a topic (Kong, 2021, p. 1) can be found through the

practical component of everyday classes based on inductive methods, group

work, reflections, and assuming responsibility for decisions, among other

aspects.

On the other hand, a clear example of an experiential learning strategy,

characterised by the “learning by doing” approach and the subsequent

reflection on the experience (Centre for Teaching and Learning, n.d.), is the

integration of internships (Navarro-Brotons and Cuadrado-Rey, 2019;

Cuadrado-Rey and Navarro-Brotons, 2020; Buysschaert et al., 2018). The

PSIT programme’s internships (6 ECTS, 264, approx. 175 hrs. workload)

are completed in one of the institutions (healthcare, legal, or administrative

See Master’s in PSIT. Competences (2021/2022) and Vitalaru (2022a) for details.

Programmes endorsed by ANECA define job opportunities in their Applications for Quality

Verification. The job opportunities for T&I graduates are mentioned in Libro Blanco del Grado en

Traducción e Interpretación (ANECA, 2004).

Students can work up to 7 hours (maximum) a day during the internships.

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settings), non-profit organisations (NGOs), associations, cultural centres, T&I

companies, or other centres that the university has signed an agreement with.

They are carried out after the introductory and T&I modules have been

completed under the supervision of an internship advisor from the internship

centre and an academic advisor from the PSIT programme. This involves

putting into practice the skills developed in the programme, but also acquiring

knowledge about the professional requirements of a particular field (either

healthcare, social, or legal-administrative settings), depending on the

internship centre assigned, and becoming familiar with the labour market

demands. Thus, the programme’s internships give access to an actual

workplace, allowing students to face new situations and take responsibility for

their performance on the task/job required under the supervision of the

internship’s advisor. Moreover, students reflect on their internship experience

and report to the academic advisor, shaping their awareness and improving

reflection and critical thinking skills. Therefore, both the internship experience

and the reflection contribute to the development of specific and soft skills that

increase their employability.

Ultimately, the programme offers an example of good practices

regarding the application of practical principles that can enhance students’

employability and employment opportunities.

3. M

ETHOD

As mentioned in the “Introduction”, we have focused on the Master’s

Degree in Intercultural Communication, Public Service Interpreting and

Translation for data collection. Thus, the respondents are graduates of this

programme of the cohorts between 2009/2010 and 2018/2019, who

participated voluntarily and anonymously in the study. They were adequately

informed about the objective of the study, the procedures and ethical aspects

required, in compliance with the data protection and privacy policy.

The instrument used to collect data is a structured questionnaire

(UAH), to which the programme belongs, which is sent to graduates one year

after graduation. The data collected is included by the same unit in yearly

reports for each cohort and made available to the programme organisers

approximately two years after each cohort completes their studies. Therefore,

for this study, the reports for each cohort were used to analyse the data.

The UAH reports were based on several questionnaires used to collect

the information from the targeted graduates, since the Quality Department

adds questions and additional details approx. every three years for clarity

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purposes.

The first questionnaire was used for the 2009/2013 cohorts,

while the second questionnaire, which included more questions than the

previous one,

was used for the 2013/2016 cohorts. The third questionnaire,

which was used for the 2016/2019 cohorts, contained even more questions,

with the following nominal scales: very low, low, medium, high, and very high.

For the third questionnaire, data was gathered by language pair, and global

and language pair reports were made available to the programme organisers.

For consistency purposes, we only used the questions that referred to the

same aspects in all the questionnaires. We included the statistics or values

for each cohort in comparative tables by cohorts and calculated the average

for each item to make the analysis easier. Whenever the data was

unavailable, the most related aspect was included separately in the

comparative table.

Specifically, to accomplish the objectives stated above, the following

research questions (RQ) were addressed based on the data provided in the

reports previously mentioned. We include the questions from the 2016/2017

questionnaire as an example:

RQ1: How many graduates find a job one year after graduation and keep it?

The following questions were used from the questionnaire:

-Were you working when you started the Master’s? (Yes/No).

-Please indicate whether you were in any of these situations at the end of your

studies (list of options).

- Did you find a job or manage to set up your own business after graduation?

(Yes/No).

-How long did it take you to get that job? (list of options).

-The job you got was: Full-time; Part-time; Self-employed.

-Is your current job the same as the one you had at the end of your studies?

(Yes/No).

The most updated version of the questionnaire is available in Spanish on the webpage of the

Technical Quality Department: https://gestioncalidad.uah.es/es/centro-de-

datos/encuestas/#encuestas-de-satisfaccion.

This questionnaire included 14 close-ended questions, either “yes/no” or 1-5 Likert scale

questions for questions that focused on the level of satisfaction, with the following options: “1-not

satisfied”, “2-some level of satisfaction”, “3-satisfied”, “4-very satisfied”, and “5-extremely

satisfied”. Both “yes/no” and Likert scale questions included a “non-applicable/no answer” option.

These questions referred to salary.

22 (2016/2017), 24 (2017/2018) and 38 (2018/2019) questions. For the latter, other 18

questions related to satisfaction were included in a separate report. Some examples are the

collection of data by language pairs, differentiating between freelance workers and employed

workers, previous job(s) and current job, salary, differentiating between satisfaction with

professional category and with payment, and indicating satisfaction with a list of competences.

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RQ2: How many graduates are satisfied with their job/s? Question:

-I am/was satisfied with my first job (Likert scale).

RQ3: Is the employment adequate considering the education received?

Questions:

-Considering that first job: was the PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY appropriate

to your level of training?(Yes/No).

-Considering your current job: is the PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY

appropriate to your level of training? (Yes/No).

-Considering that first job: was the SALARY appropriate to your level of

training? (Yes/No).

-Considering your current job: is the SALARY appropriate to your level of

training? (Yes/No)

RQ4: What is the relationship between the training programme and the

graduates’ employment? Questions:

-The job I found is/was related to the programme (Likert scale).

-The master’s degree has helped me: Find a job/Improve my existing job

(Likert scale).

-Regarding to the degree of adequacy between your studies (master’s degree

you are assessing) and the job you had at that time, please rate your level of

satisfaction with (Likert scale for each):

• The job.

• The training received in your UAH studies.

• The knowledge acquired in your UAH studies.

• The competences acquired in your UAH studies.

4. R

ESULTS

4.1. Response rate and level of satisfaction with the programme

The response rate of the different cohorts varies between 20 % and

52 % of the students enrolled in each course. The average response was

32 % (Table 2). The 2013/2014 and 2010/2011 cohorts had the highest

response rates, with more than half of the graduates of those academic years,

followed by the 2015/2016 and 2012/2013 cohorts.

Academic year

Response rate

2009/2010

22 %

2010/2011

51 %

2011/2012

27 %

2012/2013

31 %

2013/2014

52 %

2014/2015

23 %

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2015/2016

40 %

2016/2017

27 %

2017/2018

26 %

2018/2019

20 %

Average

32 %

Table 2. Response rate

Source. Elaborated by the author

Regarding the respondents’ level of satisfaction with the training

received in the programme, an average of 85 % of the respondents identified

levels 3, 4, and 5 of satisfaction, that is, the options “satisfied”, “highly

satisfied”, and “extremely satisfied” on the scale proposed (Table 3). If

considered by cohorts, all the cohorts in question registered a high number of

respondents who expressed satisfaction with the programme (between 70 %

and 100 %), except the 2016/2017 cohort (66 %). From 2014 onward, the

answer to an additional question that involved a scale from 1 to 10, added by

the Technical Quality Department, showed an average of 7.5/10.

Academic

year

Response

rate

Satisfaction with the

programme

Different question.

Level of satisfaction

(scale from 1-10)

2009/2010

22 %

90 %

Not available

2010/2011

51 %

70 %

Not available

2011/2012

27 %

100 %

Not available

2012/2013

31 %

100 %

Not available

2013/2014

52 %

91 %

Not available

2014/2015

23 %

79 %

7.85

2015/2016

40 %

80 %

7.95

2016/2017

27 %

66 %

6.2

2017/2018

26 %

89 %

7.34

2018/2019

20 %

89 %

7.3

Average

32 %

85 %

7.5

Table 3. Respondents with a high level of satisfaction

Source. Elaborated by the author

4.2. Professional aspects

4.2.1 Finding and keeping a job

In this section, the results for the first three research questions will be

addressed through the description of the following professional aspects: the

percentage of respondents who found a job after completing the programme,

the time it took to find a job or create their own company, the rate of

respondents who kept their first job after completing the programme, and the

type of employment.

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First, a “yes/no” question was used to gather information about the

number of respondents who had found a job after completing the programme.

An average of 70 % of the respondents had found a job after completing the

programme, 87 % in less than one year and 69 % in less than six months

(Table 4). Only 7 % had found it in more than a year. Percentages were

generally higher for the 2009/2013 cohorts (86 %, 80 % and 94 %). On the

other hand, the percentage was gradually lower for the 2013/2016 cohorts

until reaching approximately half of the ratio of the 2009/2010 cohort and

started to rise again for the 2016/2019 cohorts (72 % and 74 %).

Second, regarding the time it took them to find that job, the respondents

tended to find employment in less than a year, with percentages between

75 % and 100 %, except for the 2018/2019 cohort (69 %). From the

2017/2018 cohort, 46 % of the respondents had found a job in less than one

month. The 2017/2019 cohorts had students who already had a job when

commencing the programme. It is also noteworthy that half of the 2018/2019

cohort respondents who had found a job did it while enrolled in the

programme.

Academic

year

Resp

onse

rate

Found a job

after

completing

the

programme

Time it took to find a job for the

respondents who found a job

2009/2010

22 %

86 %

Less than one year: 100 %

From which 83 % in less than six

months.

2010/2011

51 %

80 %

Less than 1 year: 68 %

From which 83 %

in less than six

months.

More than one year: 12 %.

2011/2012

27 %

62 %

Less than one year: 75 %

From which 38 %

in less than six

months.

More than one year: 25 %

2012/2013

31 %

94 %

Less than one year: 100 %.

From which 50 %

in less than six

months.

2013/2014

52 %

66 %

Less than one year: 92 %

From which 24 %

in less than six

months.

More than one year: 18 %

2014/2015

23 %

53 %

Less than one year: 100 %. From which

78 % in less than six months.

2015/2016

40 %

48 %

Less than one year: 94 %

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From which 87.5 % in less than six

months.

More than one year: 6 %

2016/2017

27 %

66 %

Less than one year: 90 %.

All of them in less than six months (37 %

in less than one month and 53 %

between one and six months).

More than one year: 10 %

2017/2018

26 %

72 %

Less than one year: 85 %.

All of them in less than six months (46 %

in less than one month, 23 % in less than

three months and 8 %

between three

and six months).

*Already working before studying in the

programme: 15 %

2018/2019

20 %

74 %

Less than one year: 69 %

From which 32 %

in less than six

months. 37 %

while studying in the

programme.

*Already working before studying in the

programme: 31 %

Average

32 %

70 %

Less than

one year:

87 %

Less

than six

months:

69 %

More than

one year:

7 %

Table 4. Respondents who found a job and time it took to find it

Source. Elaborated by the author

Third, a “yes/no” question was used to obtain the percentage of

respondents who kept their first job since they had completed the programme.

Results show that, of the 70 % who had found a job, 46 % kept it when the

questionnaire was sent. The distribution by cohorts can be seen in Table 5.

We observe that the percentage was maintained for the 2009/2012 cohorts

(50 %) and increased by 21 % for the 2012/2013 cohort (71 %). On the other

hand, it decreased to the initial percentages for the 2013/2014 cohort (53 %).

Finally, it fell for the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 cohorts to 36 % and 29 %, only

to rise again in 2016/2017. From the 2018/2019 cohort, 22 % kept their job,

and 53 % found another job.

Academic year

Response rate

Found a job after

completing the

programme

Kept their

first job

2009/2010

22 %

86 %

50 %

2010/2011

51 %

80 %

50 %

2011/2012

27 %

62 %

50 %

2012/2013

31 %

94 %

71 %

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2013/2014

52 %

66 %

53 %

2014/2015

23 %

53 %

36 %

2015/2016

40 %

48 %

29 %

2016/2017

27 %

66 %

60 %

2017/2018

26 %

72 %

Not

available

2018/2019

20 %

74 %

Kept the

job: 22 %

Changed

the job:

52 %

Average

32 %

70 %

46 %

Table 5. Respondents who kept their first job after completing the programme

Source. Elaborated by the author

Fourth, regarding the type of employment that the respondents who

found a job had, three options were included: “full-time”, “part-time”, and

“freelance” (Table 6). For the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 cohorts, additional

information was gathered regarding the type of contract and for “the first job”

and “the current job”. The following observations show tendencies:

- Of the 70 % who had found a job after completing the programme, 62 %

worked full-time, 25 % part-time, 10 % as freelancers, and 3 % had their

own company, mixed full-time and part-time jobs, or had “other” options.

- Generally, the tendency is an increase in full-time workers and a

decrease in part-time workers. The cohorts with the highest percentage

of full-time workers were 2015/2016 and 2013/2014 (100 % and 81 %).

The rate for the 2017/2019 cohorts is also high.

- The percentage of part-time workers decreased except for the

2016/2017 cohort.

- Finally, the percentage of freelance workers is generally low, although

it doubled in 2011/2012.

Academic

year

Respon

se rate

Found

a job

Type of employment of respondents who

found a job

2009/2010

22 %

86 %

Full-time:

40 %

Part-time:

50 %

Freelance:

10 %

For more recent cohorts (2017/2019), the data also shows a tendency to have more temporary

contracts (46 % and 55 %) than permanent contracts (30 % and 33.5 %).

Thus, although it started with a 50 % rate for the 2009/2010 cohort, it gradually decreased by

25 % and 20 % for the 2010/2012 cohorts, and by 40 % and 35 % for the 2012/2014 cohorts. For

the 2017/2019 cohorts, the percentage of part-time workers also decreased considering the

2009/2012 and 2016/2017 cohorts.

It increased from 10 % for the 2009/2013 cohorts to 18 %, 30 %, and 18 %, and decreased to

4 %, 8 %, or 9 %.

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2010/2011

51 %

80 %

Full-time:

30 %

Part-time:

35 %

Freelance:

18 %

Other: 17 %

2011/2012

27 %

62 %

Full-time:

40 %

Part-time:

30 %

Freelance:

30 %

2012/2013

31 %

94 %

Full-time:

60 %

Part-time:

10 %

Freelance:

18 %

Other: 12 %

2013/2014

52 %

66 %

Full-time:

81 %

Part-time:

15 %

Freelance: 4 %

2014/2015

23 %

53 %

Full-time:

56 %

Part-time:

36 %

Freelance: 8 %

2015/2016

40 %

48 %

Full-time:

100 %

Part-

time: %

Freelance: %

2016/2017

27 %

66 %

Full-time:

43,5 %

(average)

Part-

time:47,5

(average)

Freelance: 9 %

(average)

Full-time

(first; current

job): 30 %;

57 %

Part-time

(first;

current

job)

: 60 %;

35 %

Freelance (first;

current job):

10 %; 8 %

2017/2018

26 %

72 %

Full-time:

77 %

Part-time:

23 %

Freelance: %

Specific

question

Permanent contract: 30 %

Temporary contract: 46 %

Freelance: 8 %

Own company:

8 %

Other: 8 %

2018/2019

20 %

74 %

Full-time:

89.47 %

Part-time:

5.26 %

Freelance: %

Mixed 5.26 %

Specific

question

Permanent contract: 33.5 % (first; current

job): 21 %; 64 %

Temporary contract: 55 % (first; current job):

74 %; 36

Average

70 %

Full-time:

62 %

Part-time:

25 %

Freelance:

10 %

Other: 3 %

Table 6. Type of employment

Source. Elaborated by the author

4.2.2 Adequacy and level of satisfaction

This section will focus on describing the adequacy between

professional category/salary and level of education on the one hand, and the

level of satisfaction with their job, on the other.

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The results regarding the adequacy between professional

category/salary, and level of education are included in Table 7. It is essential

to mention that there were differences in some of the questions included in

the questionnaires sent to the graduates. A single more general question that

referred to both the professional category and the salary and the graduates’

opinions regarding adequacy considering the level of education was used for

the 2009/2013 cohorts (first questionnaire). Two separate questions (one for

each aspect)

were used for the 2013/2016 cohorts (second questionnaire).

For this article, an average between these two aspects has been used for

consistency. For the 2016/2017 cohort (third questionnaire), two separate

questions referred to “the first job” and “the current job”, for which we also

used the average. For the 2017/2019 cohorts (third questionnaire), the

questions specifically asked about the salary and the level of education

required. That is why they were not included in the overall average for this

item. The average considering all the aspects is 49 %.

As regards the adequacy between professional category/salary, and

level of education, there had been an increase from the 2009/2010 (40 %) to

the 2015/2016 (77 %) cohort and a certain consistency within the rise

considering that the percentages are similar: 50 %-54 %-53 % for the

2010/2013 and 2016/2017 cohorts and 67 %- 63 % for the 2013/2015 cohorts.

However, if we analyse each concept separately (2013/2016 cohorts),

results show the tendencies more specifically. Thus, we observe that the

percentage of respondents for whom the professional category has been

acknowledged (74 %) is higher than those for whom the salary has been

perceived as adequate to the level of education. Moreover, the

acknowledgement increased to 88 % of the respondents with jobs in the

2015/2016 cohort and decreased to a similar percentage for the 2016/2017

cohort. Furthermore, if we consider the results for the 2018/2019 cohort, for

43 % of the respondents with a job, postgraduate studies were required, while

for 50 %, undergraduate studies were required. This shows that postgraduate

training is acknowledged and required by the professional sector.

Concerning the adequacy between their salary and their level of

education (Table 8), it varies between 42 % and 67 % and has decreased for

the 2016/2017 cohort. Based on the salary for the 2017/2019 cohorts, we

could say that there is a specific acknowledgement in terms of salary, since

62 % and 48 % (37 % first job and 58 % current job) of the respondents

earned between €1,000-€2,000. Of the respondents from the 2018/2019

The first question asked about the adequacy between their level of education and their

professional category. The second one asked about the adequacy between their level of

education and their salary.

274 Public Service Interpreting and Translation and Employment in Spain

Hikma 23(1) (2024), 253 - 288

cohort, 21 % earned more than €2,000 monthly, while 69 % earned more than

€1,000 monthly.

Academic

year

Re-

sponse

rate

Found a

job

Adequacy between professional category/

salary, and level of education

2009/2010

22 %

86 %

40 %

2010/2011

51 %

80 %

50 %

2011/2012

27 %

62 %

50 %

2012/2013

31 %

94 %

54 %

2013/2014

52 %

66 %

67 %:

-Professional category: 67 %

-Salary: 67 %

2014/2015

23 %

53 %

63 %:

-Professional category: 75 %

-Salary: 50 %

2015/2016

40 %

48 %

77 %:

-Professional category: 88 %

-Salary: 65 %

2016/2017

27 %

66 %

53 %

64 %

(‘yes’)

Professional category

First job: Yes: 67 %: No:

33 %

Current job: Yes: 61 %;

No: 39 %

42 %

(‘yes’)

Salary

First job: Yes: 37 %; No:

63 %

Current job: Yes: 46 %;

No: 54 %

2017/2018

26 %

72 %

Not avail-

able

Salary: 62 % between €1,000-

€2,000

2018/2019

20 %

74 %

Not avail-

able

Salary: 48 % between €1,000-

€2,000

21 %> €2,000

Level of

studies

required

Undergraduate studies: 50 %

Postgraduate studies: 43 %

Other: 7 %

Average

32 %

70 %

49 %

Professional category: 74 %

Salary: 56 %

Table 7. Adequacy between professional category/salary and

level of education

Source. Elaborated by the author

An additional question of the results for the 2018/2019 cohort showed

that 100 % of the respondents held positions in their first jobs of professional

categories 1, 2, or 3 considering the Spanish National Classification of

Occupations (INE, n.d.): 1) directors and managers (7.14 %), 2) scientific and

intellectual technicians and professionals (71.43 %), and 3) technicians or

support professionals (21.43 %).

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Regarding the level of satisfaction with their job, the average level of

satisfaction is 78 % (Table 8). The percentage of respondents who were

satisfied with their job varies between 67 % and 100 % of the participants. The

2009/2010 and 2011/2012 cohorts obtained the highest percentages (100 %),

followed by the 2010/2011 and 2012/2015 cohorts with 70 % and 79 %.

Moreover, it is vital to note that, for this question, the 2013/2017 and

2018/2019 questionnaires had different questions for two aspects: the

satisfaction with their first job, on the one hand, and the satisfaction with their

current job, on the other. For this article, an average between these two

aspects has been used for consistency. Thus, we observe that the level of

satisfaction with their current job (78 %) was higher than the level of

satisfaction with their job(s) in general or the first job (62 %) and for three of

the four cohorts analysed: 83 % for the 2013/2014 cohort, 91 % for the

2014/2015 cohort, and 86 % for the 2018/2019 cohort. The 2015/2017 cohorts

had a lower percentage than the rest, but still for more than half of the

respondents: 68 % and 64 %.

Academic

year

Response

rate

Percentage of respondents satisfied with their

job/current job

Satisfaction (1-10)

2009/2010

22 %

100 %

2010/2011

51 %

70 %

2011/2012

27 %

100 %

2012/2013

31 %

79 %

.2013/2014

52 %

70 %:

-Job(s): 56 %

-Current job: 83 %

2014/2015

23 %

79 %:

-Job(s): 67 %

-Current job: 91 %

9.15

2015/2016

40 %

67 %:

-Jobs: 66 %

-Current job: 68 %

7.75

2016/2017

27 %

67 %

-First job: 69 %

-Current job: 64 %

6.7

2017/2018

26 %

Not available

2018/2019

20 %

70 %:

-First job: 53 %

-Current job: 86 %

6.57;

(first job: 5.21;

current job:

7.93)

Average

32%

78%

-Job(s)/first job:

62%

Current job:

78%

Table 8. Satisfaction with their job/current job

Source. Elaborated by the author

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4.3. Relation between the programme and the PSIT labour market

The second objective of this article is to identify the relationship

between the programme and jobs, to which the fourth research question was

assigned. The following aspects will be described: the relationship between

the graduates’ job and the programme, the usefulness of the programme for

finding or improving a job, and the applicability of the knowledge

acquired/competences developed in their jobs.

The first aspect focused on identifying whether there was a relationship

between the graduates’ jobs and the programme. As results show (Table 9),

the average percentage is 63 %. By cohorts, the percentage of respondents

whose jobs were related to the programme increased gradually from 40 % for

the 2009/2010 cohort and to 85 % for the 2017/2018 cohort. The 2013/2015

and 2016/2017 cohorts had similar percentages (67 % and 69 %) and entailed

a 27 % and a 29 % increase. The 2015/2016 and 2017/2018 cohorts had the

highest percentages (83 % and 85 %) and involved a 43 %-45 % increase

considering the 2009/2010 cohort.

Therefore, although an average of 38 % of the graduates did not end

up working specifically in the PSIT field, the percentage by cohorts decreased

for the 2015/2016 and 2017/2018, and 2018/2019 (current job) cohorts to

17 %, 15 %, and 21 %, which means that the situation improved in the last

years.

Academic year

Response rate

Found a job

Job relationship to

the programme

2009/2010

22 %

86 %

40 %

2010/2011

51 %

80 %

56 %

2011/2012

27 %

62 %

50 %

2012/2013

31 %

94 %

50 %

2013/2014

52 %

66 %

67 %

2014/2015

23 %

53 %

67 %

2015/2016

40 %

48 %

83 %

2016/2017

27 %

66 %

69 %

2017/2018

26 %

72 %

85 %

2018/2019

20 %

74 %

62 %

(first

job;

current

job):

45 %;

79 %

Average

32 %

70 %

63 %

Table 9. Job relationship to the PSIT programme

Source. Elaborated by the author

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The last aspect considered was the applicability of the content acquired,

and the skills developed to their job. Results show a 76 % average (Table 10).

By cohorts, we observe a continuous increase from the initial 60 % of

respondents that identified applicability for these aspects from the 2009/2010

cohort: first, to 73 % and 70 % for the 2010/2012 cohorts; second, to 75 %

and 79 % for the 2014/2016 and 2017/2018 cohorts; and finally, to 87 % for

the 2012/2014 and 2018/2019 cohorts.

As far as other variations, only the questionnaire sent to the 2013/2016

cohorts distinguished between content and competences in general and for

the current job. The 2016/2017 and 2018/2019 cohorts gave separate

answers for knowledge and competences. Thus, we can highlight that the

percentage for the applicability for the current job was higher than the

percentage for the relevance for all the jobs in general (between 75 %-90 %).

For the 2018/2019 cohort, the knowledge and the competences had

applicability for more than 84 % of the respondents who had found a job.

Table 10. Applicability of knowledge/competences to the job found

Source. Elaborated by the author

5. DISCUSSION

The results obtained provide insights into each of the research

questions addressed.

Academic

year

Response

rate

Knowledge acquired and competences

developed were applicable to the job found

2009/2010

22 %

60 %

2010/2011

51 %

73 %

2011/2012

27 %

70 %

2012/2013

31 %

87 %

2013/2014 52 % 87 %

-In general: 83 %

-Current job: 90 %

2014/2015 23 % 79 %

-In general: 76 %

-Current job: 82 %

2015/2016 40 % 75 %

-In general: 75 %

-Current job: 75 %

2016/2017 27 % 62 %

-Competences: 6.24/10

-Knowledge: 6.14/10

2017/2018 26 % 79 %

-Competences: 7.86/10

-List of competences: between

6.66-8.66/10.

2018/2019 20 % 87 %

-Competences:

84.21 %

-Knowledge: 89.4 %

7.11/10

7.26 /10

Average

32 %

76 %

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Hikma 23(1) (2024), 253 - 288

Regarding RQ1, How many respondents find a job one year after

graduation and keep it? Three questions gathered specific data: a) the

percentage of respondents who found a job after completing the programme,

b) the time it took to find a job or create their own company, and c) the

percentage of respondents who kept their first job found after completing the

programme. Results show that most of the respondents tend to find a job one

year after completing the programme, most of them in less than a year, a

tendency also confirmed by Vitalaru (2022a). Moreover, variations may

suggest some difficulties at some point, either in finding a job in general or a

job related to PSIT. The fact that percentages increased implies that the job

was still in demand. Most respondents tend to work full-time. Although initially

the situation of part-time and freelance workers was similar, the number of

freelance workers increased for the following cohorts. This reflects, perhaps,

the needs of the labour market, that is, the collaboration with different

institutions or companies, specialising in several fields, self-sufficiency, etc.;

but then, the number of jobs decreased again. Only half of the respondents

kept their jobs, which could suggest a certain instability of the labour market

for the PSIT sector. We could think of several reasons for not keeping their

jobs, such as, for instance, shorter contracts or contractual issues in general,

job dissatisfaction due to low salaries and working hours, or even career shifts

and creating their own company, among other possibilities. Still, since the

statistics also include jobs other than T&I, it is difficult to draw specific

conclusions. On the other hand, if analysed individually, most of the cohorts

had a percentage of half or more than half of the respondents keeping their

jobs, which shows that, despite the initial suspicions of instability underlined

by Vitalaru (2022a), the job market of the PSIT graduates is somewhat stable,

depending on the cohort. Additionally, most of the respondents who had jobs

held recognised job positions.

The research does not include information regarding the actual jobs,

except the fact that most of the respondents of the 2018/2019 cohort worked

as scientific and intellectual technicians and professionals, and that all the

respondents held positions corresponding to relevant professional categories.

If we compare our results to Vitalaru (2022a), who focused on the 2006/2017

cohorts of PSIT graduates and asked more specific questions, we can assume

that the jobs related to the T&I sector are translators/interpreters, trainers, and

coordinators. In Vitalaru’s study, 41 % worked as translators/interpreters in

the linguistic service (LS) sector, 3 % as copyeditors, 21 % as trainers, and

16 % as T&I event coordinators. Moreover, apart from the T&I/LS sector, other

fields that those graduates worked in are healthcare, education, international

aid, and tourism, which are related to PSIT. By language pairs, Vitalaru

(2022a) showed that the respondents from the Arabic (71 %) and French

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(55 %) groups had the highest percentage of T&I jobs, followed by the

Romanian, English, Russian, and Chinese groups (approx. 30 % each).

RQ2, How many respondents are satisfied with their job/s?, has been

addressed through a specific question that asks about the graduates’

satisfaction. Most respondents are generally satisfied with their job, with high

percentages. Moreover, the level of satisfaction with their current job is higher

than the level of satisfaction with their job/s in general. These results suggest

that, overall, respondents are satisfied with their jobs. This means that there

is some actual stability in the PSIT labour market and that the profession is

recognised. Vitalaru’s (2022a) study highlighted that graduates from certain

language combinations were more satisfied (Spanish and Arabic/Romanian)

than others (Spanish and English/Russian/Chinese), underlining differences

regarding job opportunities by language pairs.

RQ3 focused on the type of employment and its adequacy to the

education received, that is, what could be considered as the adequate

acknowledgement of the master’s studied through professional category and

salary.

First, considering the type of employment, the number is distributed

among full-time workers, with more than half of the respondents finding a job,

and the rest, divided between part-time and freelance workers. The

percentage of full-time workers increased while the rate of part-time workers

decreased, which is promising in terms of the acknowledgement of the field

and stability. Finally, the percentage of freelance workers increased for three

of the cohorts and decreased for the rest. Considering that 63 % indicated a

relationship between their PSIT studies and the job found, we can assume

that there are job opportunities for the PSIT sector considering the training

received. The programme’s renown may have also contributed to this

percentage. The relationship between the graduates’ jobs and T&I was also

underlined by Vitalaru (2022a), who found an average response of 73 % of

that study, with even higher percentages by language pairs.

Second, concerning the adequacy between professional

category/salary and level of education, only approx. half of the respondents

indicated that their professional category and salary were acknowledged

according to their training. On the other hand, the percentage for most of the

cohorts was half or higher, which suggests a positive change. Moreover, when

the results related to the professional category and salary are analysed

separately, they reflect a tendency to perceive these aspects differently. Thus,

the rate of acknowledgement of the professional category is significantly

higher than the adequacy of salary according to their training. If we keep in

mind the salary details of the 2017/2019 cohorts, more than half and close to

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Hikma 23(1) (2024), 253 - 288

three-quarters of those who had a job earned a salary consistent with the

minimum social security contribution base categories for bachelor’s degree

holders and is increasing (Seguridad Social, 2023).

The salary might be

considered low considering the training received and specialisation involved.

However, we must also keep in mind that PSIT has not been professionalised,

which means that the situation should improve as the profession gains more

recognition. Still, there is sustainability for PSIT training.

Finally, the results for RQ4, What is the relationship between the

training programme and the respondents’ employment? This involved two

aspects. The first aspect is the potential relationship between their job and the

programme. There is an important relationship between both variables, since

the job that more than half of the respondents found was related to the

programme. If considered by cohorts, the percentage gradually increased

from approx. half to more than 80 % of the respondents. These aspects exhibit

growth considering the employment of PSIT respondents and, to some extent,

more job opportunities. Regarding the second aspect, most of the

respondents perceived the knowledge acquired and the competences

developed in their jobs as applicable. By cohorts, a continuous increase is

observed, which shows a clear perception of the usefulness of the content and

skills developed in the programme to their jobs.

ONCLUSIONS

Generally, this descriptive study determines general tendencies

regarding the PSIT programme’s graduates.

Considering the first objective, the graduates’ employment situation, the

employment rates are high. Most of the respondents find a job within one year

after completing the programme, a tendency also confirmed by previous

studies such as Vitalaru (2022a). Thus, the short period between graduation

and finding a job is a strength of the programme. The majority work full-time,

and the salary is adequate. In general, respondents tend to be satisfied with

their jobs, and the professional category is acknowledged according to their

training. However, the fact that only assumptions were made about the

specific jobs is a limitation of the study.

As for the second objective, most jobs are specifically related to the

programme. This suggests either a growth considering the employment of

PSIT respondents and, to some extent, more job opportunities, or the fact that

the training has been adapted to fulfil specific labour market needs. Some

This applies if we keep in mind, for example, the minimum social security contribution base

categories: Engineers and bachelor's degree: 1629.30 €; technical engineers, experts, and

assistants with a bachelor's degree: 1351.20 €.

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specific adaptions that the programme has made over the years are allotting

more training hours to information mining strategies and the practice with

Computer Assisted Translation and corpus management tools, diversifying

the tools used for practice (i. e., both a variety of free software and Trados

Studio; AntConc and Sketch Engine), and generally stressing the importance

of strategic and methodological aspects during classes. It is also worth noting

that, although an average of 38 % of the graduates did not end up working

specifically in the PSIT field, as it is still under-professionalised (as the review

of the situation in Spain showed), the situation improved for the last cohorts

of graduates in the study. On the other hand, graduates of the same

programme seemed to achieve good employment rates in the T&I sector and

other related industries such as education, event coordination, copy-editing,

healthcare, international aid, and tourism (Vitalaru, 2022a). Therefore, we

could assume that the situation could be similar in this case.

Moreover, there is a clear increase in the perception of the applicability

of the knowledge learned in the programme. Generally, there is high

applicability of both the knowledge acquired and the competences developed

in their jobs. If we keep in mind Vitalaru’s (2022b) study, which focuses on

graduates of the same PSIT programme, these competences are linguistic

competences, specialised translation (including interpreting), terminological

competence, and cultural competence. This applicability, combined with the

competences that the programme aims to grow (related to information mining,

the adequate use of thematic, strategic, and textual knowledge in different

fields and situations, and to the professional market), and the pedagogical

approach used, could suggest the work-readiness of the graduates regarding

the training received. However, no specific question on whether the graduates

felt ready before taking the job or the level of preparedness of these skills

concerning the T&I job was included in the study. Further research to

determine whether or not the teaching approaches used are the reason

behind a higher rate of employment related to the training received would also

be necessary, as well as establishing a direct relationship between the

internships carried out by the students and the jobs that they end up having.

Another limitation that could affect the results is the level of

representativity, which is not the same for all the cohorts. Moreover, the data

we gathered came from a questionnaire that was used for all the masters and

programmes taught at Universidad de Alcalá. Therefore, the questionnaire did

not distinguish between different linguistic specialities and its results have not

been analysed by language pair, which could have shown different market

tendencies or needs, as Vitalaru (2022a and 2022b) showed.

These findings provide a general picture for researchers and trainers,

partly filling the gap in the literature about the PSIT employment market in

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Hikma 23(1) (2024), 253 - 288

Spain. The under-professionalisation of PSIT in Spain might make us question

the sustainability of this training (specialised, professionalising, high

education). However, overall, the hypothesis stated at the beginning has been

confirmed. The programme has high employment rates, and a clear and

important relationship exists between the labour market and the programme.

Further research can offer more details regarding the types of jobs, the

requirements of the various PSIT areas, and the students’ level of

preparedness for its different areas.

We also learned that, to ensure that the programme can be helpful in

the different areas it includes, it would be useful to become acquainted with

the competences required for those specific jobs by areas (e. g., healthcare,

legal, and international protection and social services settings), and language

pairs. It would also be useful to gather information about the training aspects

missing from the programme that would have helped graduates in their jobs.

Offering systematic entrepreneurship training about the job market

possibilities (by language pairs) and areas can also be key to ensuring that

students are familiar with these professional requirements and expectations.

Finally, extracurricular internships can also be encouraged to provide

additional practice.

Ultimately, this research shows an example of good practices regarding

training, employability, and applicability to the labour market. It can contribute

to raising awareness that trained students can cover a variety of PSIT

services, that the training is gaining more professional recognition, and that

this gradual recognition contributes to the highly necessary

professionalisation of the PSIT field in Spain.

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