Ada Kool

Dr. Ada Kool serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education within the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Utrecht University. She works as both an Educational Consultant/Trainer and a university lecturer at the Graduate School of Teaching, where she coordinates the Professional in Practice (PiP) courses. Her academic work is centered at the Chair van Tartwijk Education and Learning: Development in Interaction.

Dr. Kool's primary research focuses on higher education selection processes, with particular expertise in evaluating bachelor's program admissions procedures across various disciplines including Public Administration, Biomedical Sciences, and Global Sustainability Science. Her research examines how personal qualities affect academic performance, the impact of honors program participation, and the translation of educational research into practice, especially within excellence education contexts. She has conducted extensive research on student selection criteria, motivation factors in medical education, and the effectiveness of honors programs in higher education.

Her publication record demonstrates a clear evolution from early ecological research (2009-2011) to a dedicated focus on educational research since 2013. The most recent publications (2021-2023) show her active engagement in developing practical resources for higher education institutions, including the comprehensive 'Handbook Selection: Higher Education' published in 2023. Her work consistently bridges theoretical educational research with practical applications, particularly in translating university-level educational practices to vocational settings.

Dr. Kool has established productive research collaborations with colleagues including Steenman, Oomen, van Beukelen, and ten Berge, resulting in numerous evaluation reports of selection procedures and studies on honors education. Her research methodology often employs quantitative approaches including propensity score matching and multilevel analysis to assess educational outcomes.