Prof Dr Rolf van der Velden (R.K.W.)
Rolf van der Velden (1955) is professor emeritus at the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) of Maastricht University. He studied sociology at the University of Groningen and got his Ph.D. degree at the University of Amsterdam with a thesis on 'Social Background and School-success'. He is research fellow at the Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE) at Maastricht University, and fellow of the Amsterdam Centre for Learning Analytics (ACLA).
In the 90’s, he initiated, developed and coordinated the annual schoolleaver and graduate surveys in the Netherlands: WO-Monitor, HBO-Monitor and VO/MBO-Monitor. These surveys are still conducted today. He was involved in several international graduate surveys as national coordinator (CHEERS), international coordinator (REFLEX) or advisor (HEGESCO). These surveys resulted in the current EUROGRADUATE survey. He supervised a large international project on the employer’s perspective on the recruitment for higher education jobs and was one of the coordinators in the first cycle of the international PIAAC survey on adult literacy and numeracy skills in 2012. In 2015, he took the initiative to develop and coordinate the largest educational database in the Netherlands linking educational careers data, test data, schoolinformation and householdinformation in the current annual Netherlands Cohort Study on Education. He also developed a unique database linking educational cohort data from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s to information on the respondent’s children in the Intergenerational Transmission of Skills project.
He has published many papers in international journals like Plos One, European Sociological Review, Journal of Marriage and Family, European Societies, Journal of Research on Educational Effectivenes, Studies in Higher Education, Labour Economics, Economics of Education Review, and Oxford Economic Papers. He received several awards recognising the scientific and policy relevance of his work. Current research focuses on the intergenerational transmission of skills, the ratrace in education, knowledge economy and the demand for 21st century skills, skills mismatches and the acquisition and decline of skills over the life course.
Expertises
Current research focuses on the intergenerational transmission of skills, the ratrace in education, knowledge economy and the demand for 21st century skills, skills mismatches and the acquisition and decline of skills over the life course.
Career history
Degrees:
Ph.D. Sociology (doctoraat), University of Amsterdam, 1991 (Thesis: Sociale herkomst en schoolsucces (Social Background and School-success), Supervisors: prof. dr. G.W. Meijnen and prof. dr. B.P.M. Creemers, co-supervisor: dr. A. Boomsma)
Master Sociology (doctoraal), specialisation: sociology of education, University of Groningen, 1983 (Thesis: Het leerlingwezen, een onderwijsinstelling of een arbeidsmarktinstrument? (The dual system: education or labour market instrument?)
Work experience:
2022-present: Professor Emeritus Education and Occupational Career at the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA), Maastricht University
1990-2022: Program Director Education and Transition to Work at ROA, Maastricht University
2015-2021: Coordinator of the Netherlands Education Cohort Study (NCO) for the Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO)
2013-2020: Director at ROA, Maastricht University
2005-2022: Full Professor Education and Occupational Career at ROA, Maastricht University
1986-1990: Head of the Division of Labour Market Research at the Institute for Educational Research (GION), University of Groningen
1983-1986: Researcher at GION, University of Groningen
1976-1983: Student assistant at Sociology Department and GION, University of Groningen
Files
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CV Rolf version July 21 2025.pdf (1012.88 KB, PDF) <p>Full cv</p>