Description of the project

Early selection in education can negatively affect educational attainment and increases social inequality in educational opportunities. However, these negative effects can be offset by the flexibility of an educational system to ‘repair’ initial misallocation. This flexibility can be external (end-of-phase adjustment: stacking degrees) or internal (within-phase adjustment: dealing with misallocation by track mobility, retaining grades, acceleration or individual support programmes). This flexibility is crucial for an optimal development of talent and can reduce social inequality in educational opportunities. Although separate types of flexibility have been studied distinctly, they have not yet been systematically integrated within an overall framework of flexibility as a system characteristic. Moreover, the extent to which flexibility can reduce negative effects of early selection is not yet studied. This project aims to fill this gap by analysing the relation between policy reforms, different types of flexibility, and outcomes both from a Dutch and an international perspective.

Job description

The Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) of Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics is seeking to appoint one postdoc and two PhD-candidates on the project: How the flexibility of the Dutch educational system affects educational outcomes. The candidates should have a solid understanding of quantitative methods, and a strong background in quantitative social science (such as Sociology, Economics, Econometrics, Educational Studies or a related discipline). The candidates will be part of an energetic multidisciplinary research group, specialized in the effects of system and school characteristics on educational careers. Both PhD candidates and the Postdoc are expected to complete studies that will be published in leading peer-reviewed journals.

Candidates will be judged on the basis of the requirements outlined below. To be considered, candidates should make sure that their application letter demonstrates how they meet these requirements:

• Successful completion of an MPhil or MSc degree in a quantitative social scientific discipline (such as Sociology, Economics, Econometrics, Educational Studies or related discipline), or the expected completion of such a degree within the next 3 months.

• Advanced skills in research design and relevant quantitative analysis, as demonstrated in education and/or work so far.

• Strong analytical capacity.

• Affinity with work in an interdisciplinary and international environment.

• Flexible, pro-active, independent but also motivated to work in a team.

• Excellent proficiency in English (working language).

• Good command of Dutch (for the Postdoc project and one of the PhD projects).

• Outstanding organizational, verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills.

• Willingness to relocate to (the vicinity of) Maastricht.

Fixed-term contract: 4 years.

Salary scale:

PhD (CAO-NU) PhD scale: €2222 - €2840 gross per month.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl.

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 16,500 students and 4,000 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.

School of Business and Economics

The Maastricht University School of Business and Economics offers you a truly international perspective. We are an integrated, synergetic and society-oriented institute, focusing on conducting excellent research and educational innovation. Our renowned Problem Based Learning method fosters authentic students, critical thinkers and gives rise to societal conscious leaders. Our multidisciplinary approach inspires us to explore, in fundamental as well as in more applied research. As such we function as the interface between Society, Business and Academia. We work collaboratively, in openness, towards a sustainable future. We are driven to share responsibility with all those involved in the SBE community.

We inspire you to be an interdisciplinary and engaged professional.

The Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA)

ROA is a leading research institute of the School of Business and Economics at Maastricht University. ROA intends to make a significant contribution to both academic and societal discussions on the effects of human capital on the performance of individuals, firms and societies as a whole.

ROA offers unique research opportunities by its involvement in the National Education Panel Study (www.nationaalcohortonderzoek.nl), the international adult literacy survey PIAAC, the national school-leaver surveys (HBO-Monitor, MBO-Monitor, VO-Monitor), the international graduate surveys REFLEX and HEGESCO, ROA’s Life-long Learning survey and a linked employer-employee panel in the Dutch public sector. ROA also has in-house access to many Dutch administrative data sets provided by Statistics Netherlands. Strong ties with policy makers at the national and international level ensure societal relevance of ROA’s research.

The Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) is a research institute of the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics, established in 1986. Through its research, the institute aims to improve the understanding of the relationship between education and the labour market. The overarching research theme of ROA is the acquisition and depreciation of human capital over the life course in relation to the dynamics of the labour market. This is studied in four different programmes:

-Education and Occupational Career
-Training and Employment
-Dynamics of the Labour Market
-Human Capital in the Region

The first two programmes take education and training as point of departure and look at outcomes at the individual and organizational level. These programmes represent ROA’s focus on Education. The last two programmes take national and regional labour markets as point of departure and focus on individual and firm behavior, and the interaction between the two. These programmes represent ROA’s focus on the Labour market.

In these fields ROA contributes to both the academic literature and the public debate on education and labour market issues. ROA’s research activities are being carried out and supported by a dedicated scientific and support staff, consisting of about 40 employees.

http://www.roa.nl/