R. van der Velden

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.

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 

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 

1990-2022: Program Director Education and Transition to Work 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

Key publications

Publications

Kovačević, M., T. Dekker, R. van der Velden (2024), Liberal Arts Graduates in the Labour Market: A Comparative Study of Dutch University Colleges and Conventional Bachelor’s Programmes, Research in Higher Education, 65, 1911–1933. Published online 30 July 2024 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-024-09813-7)

Vugt, L. van, M. Levels, R. van der Velden (2024), The Low Skills Trap: The Failure of Education and Social Policies in Preventing Low-Literate Young People from being Long-Term NEET, Journal of Youth Studies 27(2): 217-251. Published online: 9 September 2022.(https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2022.2118036) (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13676261.2022.2118036)

Kovačević, M., T. Dekker, R. van der Velden (2023), Employability Development in Undergraduate Programmes: How Different Is Liberal Arts Education? Teaching in Higher Education, (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/13562517.2023.2212602?needAccess=true&role=button).

Haelermans, C., M. Jacobs, R. van der Velden, L. van Vugt, l., S. van Wetten (2022), Inequality in the effects of primary school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic: evidence from the Netherlands. In AEA papers and proceedings (vol. 112, pp. 303-307). American Economic Association.(https://doi.org/10.1257/pandp.20221107)

Dicks, A., M. Levels, R. van der Velden, M. Mills (2021), How young mothers rely on kin networks and formal childcare to avoid becoming NEET in the Netherlands, Frontiers in Sociology, section Sociological Theory, Vol 6. Published online: 27 January 2022, (https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.787532)

Jacobs, M., Huijts, T., van Broekhoven, K., Straetmans, S., Meng, C., & van der Velden, R. (2021). Effects of participation in Excellence Programmes on cognitive and non-cognitive skills among higher education students in the Netherlands. European Journal of Higher Education, 11(1), 44-63. (https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2020.1850315) 

Broekhoven, K. van, B. Belfi, I. Hocking, R. van der Velden (2020), Fostering University Students’ Idea Generation and Idea Evaluation Skills With a Cognitive-Based Creativity Training. Creativity. Theories–Research-Applications, 7(2), 284-308. doi: 10.1080/03057925.2019.1695197 (https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/ctra-2020-0015) 

Haelermans, C., T. Huijgen, M. Jacobs, M. Levels, R. van der Velden, L. van Vugt and S. van Wetten (2020), Using Data to Advance Educational Research, Policy and Practice: Design, Content and Research Potential of the Netherlands Cohort Study on Education, European Sociological Review 36 (4): 643–662 (https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcaa027) or (https://academic.oup.com/esr/article/36/4/643/5871552?guestAccessKey=beb34fb7-3e49-476e-9f7b-9ae9a0b03a9a)

Bijlsma, I., J. van de Brakel, R. van der Velden, J. Allen (2020), Estimating literacy levels at a detailed regional level: an application using Dutch data. Journal of Official Statistics, 36, (2): 251–274, (https://doi.org/10.2478/jos-2020-0014) 

Cornelisz, I., R. van der Velden, I. de Wolf, C. van Klaveren (2020), The Consequences of Academic Dismissal for Academic Success, Studies in Higher Education 45 (11): 2175-2189, Published online: 30 Mar 2019 (https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1596076)

Fregin, M-C, M. Levels, R. van der Velden (2020), Labour market institutions and the challenge of allocating the right people to the right jobs: Evidence on the relation between labour market institutions and optimal skill matching from 28 industrial countries, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 50, 2: 257-275 | Published online: 06 Dec 2019 (https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2019.1695197) 

Ferreira Sequeda, M., A. de Grip, R. van der Velden (2018), Does on-the-job informal learning in OECD countries differ by contract duration? Labour Economics, 55, 18-40 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537118300903)

Humburg, M., A. de Grip, R. van der Velden (2017), Which Skills Protect Graduates Against a Slack Labour Market?, International Labour Review, Vol. 156, 1, pp. 25-43, DOI: 10.1111/j.1564-913X.2015.00046.x (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1564-913X.2015.00046.x/epdf)

Verhaest, D., S. Sellami, R. van der Velden (2017), Differences in horizontal and vertical mismatches across countries and fields of study, International Labour Review, Vol. 156, 1, pp. 1-23. DOI: 10.1111/j.1564-913X.2015.00031.x (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1564-913X.2015.00031.x/epdf)

Velden, R. van der, I. Bijlsma (2016), College wage premiums and skills: a cross-country analysis, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 32 (4): 497-513, doi: 10.1093/oxrep/grw027 (https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/article/32/4/497/2236422/College-wage-premiums-and-skills-a-crosscountry?guestAccessKey=46cb63ad-e05a-4f97-b6df-f6e0f2f79bb1) 

Humburg, M., R. van der Velden (2015), Self-assessments or tests? Comparing cross-national differences in patterns and outcomes of graduates’ skills based on international large-scale surveys, Studies in Higher Education, 40, 3, pp. 482-504  (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2015.1004237)

Levels, M., R. van der Velden, V. Di Stasio (2014), From school to fitting work: How education-to-job matching of European school leavers is related to educational system characteristics, Acta Sociologica, 57 (4), pp. 341-361, DOI: 10.1177/0001699314552807 (http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0001699314552807 ) 

Verhaest, D., R. van der Velden (2013), Cross-Country Differences in Graduate Overeducation, European Sociological Review, 29, 642-653. DOI: 10.1093/esr/jcs044 (http://esr.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/3/642.abstract.html?etoc)

Dronkers, J., R. van der Velden, A. Dunne (2012), Why are Migrant Students Better off in Certain Types of Educational Systems or Schools than in Others? European Educational Research Journal, 11, 1, 11-44. (http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2304/eerj.2012.11.1.11)

Traag, T., R. van der Velden (2011), Early school-leaving in the Netherlands: The role of family resources, school composition and background characteristics in early school-leaving in lower secondary education, Irish Educational Studies, 30,1, 45-62. DOI: 10.1080/03323315.2011.535975  (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03323315.2011.535975)

 

Files

Other activities

Research fellow at the Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE) at Maastricht University and fellow of the Amsterdam Centre for Learning Analytics (ACLA).

Additional roles & tasks

Professor Education and Occupational Career