"[1][2] Rijsman received his degrees and his PhD from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
After his graduation he obtained an appointed at the University of Illinois for a short period.
In 1972 he returned to The Netherlands, where he was appointed Professor at the Tilburg University.
For some years he has been Dean of the educational program on psychology of the University.
[3] In the 1990s he crossed path with Kenneth Gergen, and joined the Taos Institute.