In modern knowledge-based societies, education is a key prerequisite for economic growth and well-being as well as for coping with new demands in a rapidly changing, globalised world. The National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) is conducted for the Federal Republic of Germany to find out more about the acquisition of education and its consequences for individual lives, to describe and analyse central educational processes and pathways across the entire lifespan. The National Educational Panel Study is located at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories e.V. (LIfBi) at Otto-Friedrich University Bamberg. NEPS represents an interdisciplinary, German-wide network of excellence, its coordination and administration is chaired by Prof. Dr. Hans-Günther Roßbach.