Sylvester has been Professor Emeritus of Financial Economics at Tilburg and President Emeritus of the Tilburg University Society since his retirement. He is also Jean Monnet Professor of European Financial and Monetary Integration at Tilburg University and Visiting Professor at Harvard University. He was also Professor of Monetary Economics (part-time) in the Department of European Economic Studies at the College of Europe (1994-2004), Professor of Economic Policy at Humboldt University (part-time) of Berlin (1996-2000) and Professor of European Financial Integration (part-time) at the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) of Erasmus University Rotterdam (2005-2008).
Sylvester was a member of the Panel of Monetary Experts of the European Parliament for the purpose of monetary dialogue with the European Central Bank. He was also a member of the Advisory Committee on the Future of Banks (Maas Committee), whose recommendations were converted into a Banking Code, and the Committee on the Structure of Dutch Banks (Wijffels Committee). He is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the BKR Foundation and a member of the Advisory Board of the Adelaer Group. Since January 2021, Sylvester has been a member of the Advisory Board of Banning Advocaten.
Sylvester has published widely in prestigious economics journals, including Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Public Economics, Exford Economic Papers, Open Economies Review, European Journal of Political Economy and the Journal of International Economies. He is editor of several journals and newsletters and program director of the European Summer Institute at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, London.