Maaike Hajer, PhD, gained her degree in Dutch Language and Literature and Applied Linguistics, after which she worked for the National Institute for Curriculum Development.

Hajer specialises in the role teachers play in language and content integrated education at multi-cultural schools. She gained her PhD in 1996 at the Tilburg University. She is the leading expert in the development of content-based language instruction in various educational programmes.

Hajer has been associated with the HU since 1993, and since 2002 as a professor. In 2008 she was appointed as a guest professor at the Swedish as a Second Language Institute of the University of Gothenburg (Sweden).