Undoubtedly we have seen a noticeable expansion of our discipline, especially in recent years. It is true that psychology had been considered only very modestly and conservatively in the decisive first recommendations of the Council on Scientific Affairs. The efforts of many colleagues were successful, however, to the effect that not only the number of psychological institutes in the Federal Republic increased from 22 in 1959 to 39 within only 10 years. But also the number of those members of the institutes who have at least their Ph. D. went up from 122 to 358 (an increase of 192 %), during the same period. Since the number of graduate students in psychology quadrupled over the same period of time, however, the demands made upon the staffs of the institutes had increased after the ten years of expansion. Not only does an increase in teaching load and difficulty pertain to the demands, but also an increasing amount of administrative work for professors and assistants because of the growing size of the institutes. The ratio of those who have finished their Habilitation to those with the doctorate of about 1/1 remained quite constant over the past years. The percentage of research assistants who do not hold a Ph. D., however, increased from 29% to 55%. This means that a steadily growing number of advanced students, who have not yet finished their professional training, and also of Ph. D. candidates, have been employed in the institutes, mostly for teaching, and have lost more time intended for their own research than agreed upon in employment interviews and contracts. Thus, a state of emergency has become chronic, a temporary arrangement permanent. At present an attempt is being made to master the personnel situation in many institutes by employing student tutors, sometimes without exercising sufficient control over the quality of such tutors. Even this expansion, which was intended as part of the curricular reform rather than as an enlargement of the faculty, is at the very beginning endangered by the shortage of resources provided without prospect of a continuous tutoring program. The present personnel situation in our psychological institutes, which has unfortunately already become chronic has to be characterized as wanting if not as downright poor, if only compared in terms of numbers with neighboring countries in East and West.
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