Wieger Bakker was trained as a sociologist at Utrecht University. He wrote his MA-thesis on the theory and practice of policy instruments and later a PhD on how government policy influenced the development of the VET-sector. Since 1984 he worked as assistant professor for the departments of Sociology, Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and the Centre for Policy and Management. In 1998 he started working at the Faculty of Law for the bachelor and master programme on Law, Management and Public Administration. Since 2002 he was associate professor at the Utrecht University School of Governance where was appointed as director of studies in 2010. In 2015 he became full professor with a chair in Society Oriented Higher Education.