Rwandan family medicine residents expanding their training into South Africa : the use of South-South medical electives in enhancing learning experiences

Background: International medical electives are well-accepted in medical education, with the flow of students generally being North-South. In this article we explore the learning outcomes of Rwandan family medicine residents who completed their final year elective in South Africa. We compare the learning outcomes of this South-South elective to those of North-South electives from the literature. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with Rwandan postgraduate family medicine residents who completed a 4-week elective in South Africa during their final year of training. The interviews were thematically analysed in an inductive way. Results: The residents reported important learning outcomes in four overarching domains namely: medical, organisational, educational, and personal. Conclusions: The learning outcomes of the residents in this South-South elective had substantial similarities to findings in literature on learning outcomes of students from the North undertaking electives in the Southern hemisphere. Electives are a useful learning tool, both for Northern students, and students from universities in the South. A reciprocity-framework is needed to increase mutual benefits for Southern universities when students from the North come for electives. We suggest further research on the possibility of supporting South-South electives by Northern colleagues

1st INCF Workshop on Needs for Training in Neuroinformatics

The INCF workshop on Needs for Training in Neuroinformatics was organized by the INCF National Node of the UK. The scope of the workshop was to provide as overview of the current state of neuroinformatics training and recommendations for future provision of training. The report presents a summary of the workshop discussions and recommendations to the INCF

The graduate entry generation: a qualitative study exploring the factors influencing the career expectations and aspirations of a graduating cohort of graduate entry dental students in one London institution

Background: Dentistry in the UK has a number of new graduate-entry programmes. The aim of the study was to explore the motivation, career expectations and experiences of final year students who chose to pursue a dental career through the graduate entry programme route in one institution; and to explore if, and how, their intended career expectations and aspirations were informed by this choice. Method: In-depth interviews of 14 graduate entry students in their final year of study. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using framework analysis. Results: There were three categories of factors influencing students' choice to study dentistry through graduate entry: 'push', 'pull' and 'mediating'. Mediating factors related to students' personal concerns and circumstances, whereas push and pull factors related to features of their previous and future careers and wider social factors. Routes to Graduate Entry study comprised: 'early career changers', 'established career changers' and those pursuing 'routes to specialisation'. These routes also influenced the students' practice of dentistry, as students integrated skills in their dental studies, and encountered new challenges. Factors which students believed would influence their future careers included: vocational training; opportunities for specialisation or developing special interests and policy-related issues, together with wider professional and social concerns. The graduate entry programme was considered 'hard work' but a quick route to a professional career which had much to offer. Students' felt more could have been made of their pre-dental studies and/or experience during the programme. Factors perceived as influencing students' future contribution to dentistry included personal and social influences. Overall there was strong support for the values of the NHS and 'giving back' to the system in their future career. Conclusion: Graduate entry students appear to be motivated to enter dentistry by a range of factors which suit their preferences and circumstances. They generally embrace the programme enthusiastically and seek to serve within healthcare, largely in the public sector. These students, who carry wider responsibilities, bring knowledge, skills and experience to dentistry which could be harnessed further during the programme. The findings suggest that graduate entry students, facilitated by varied career options, will contribute to an engaged workforce

Managing the student experience in English higher education: differing responses to market pressures

This paper reports on recent research aimed at assessing how the management of the undergraduate student experience in English higher education is changing in the light of the new tuition fee regime introduced in 2012, as well as other government policies aimed at creating market-type pressures within the higher education sector. A distinction was observed between the research-intensive universities studied – defined here as institutions where research income comprised 20 per cent or more of total turnover, with correspondingly strong positions in published research-based rankings – and universities largely dependent on income from teaching, with weaker market positions. Broadly speaking, the latter group were responding to market pressures by centralizing services, standardizing procedures, and strengthening management controls over teaching processes. The research-intensive universities tended to work within existing institutional cultures to respond to students' needs. Organizational change here usually took the form of creating more coherent functional groupings of student services, rather than comprehensive reorganizations. It appears to us that these different responses to a changed environment point to the creation of two distinct English university types, one strongly managerial with 'student as customer' orientations, and a smaller group with less centralized, more collegial cultures

Keeping Data Science Broad: Negotiating the Digital and Data Divide Among Higher Education Institutions

The goal of the “Keeping Data Science Broad” series of webinars and workshops was to garner community input into pathways for keeping data science education broadly inclusive across sectors, institutions, and populations. Input was collected from data science programs across the nation, either traditional or alternative, and from a range of institution types including community colleges, minority-led and minority-serving institutions, liberal arts colleges, tribal colleges, universities, and industry partners. The series consisted of two webinars (August 2017 and September 2017) leading up to a workshop (November 2017) exploring the future of data science education and workforce at institutions of higher learning that are primarily teaching-focused. A third follow-up webinar was held after the workshop (January 2018) to report on outcomes and next steps. Program committee members were chosen to represent a broad spectrum of communities with a diversity of geography (West, Northeast, Midwest, and South), discipline (Computer Science, Math, Statistics, and Domains), as well as institution type (Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI’s), other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI\u27s), Community College\u27s (CC’s), 4-year colleges, Tribal Colleges, R1 Universities, Government and Industry Partners)

Keeping Data Science Broad: Negotiating the Digital and Data Divide Among Higher Education Institutions

The goal of the “Keeping Data Science Broad” series of webinars and workshops was to garner community input into pathways for keeping data science education broadly inclusive across sectors, institutions, and populations. Input was collected from data science programs across the nation, either traditional or alternative, and from a range of institution types including community colleges, minority-led and minority-serving institutions, liberal arts colleges, tribal colleges, universities, and industry partners. The series consisted of two webinars (August 2017 and September 2017) leading up to a workshop (November 2017) exploring the future of data science education and workforce at institutions of higher learning that are primarily teaching-focused. A third follow-up webinar was held after the workshop (January 2018) to report on outcomes and next steps. Program committee members were chosen to represent a broad spectrum of communities with a diversity of geography (West, Northeast, Midwest, and South), discipline (Computer Science, Math, Statistics, and Domains), as well as institution type (Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI’s), other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI\u27s), Community College\u27s (CC’s), 4-year colleges, Tribal Colleges, R1 Universities, Government and Industry Partners)

CONSTRUCTING A CONNECTED PROGRAM IN IT/IS: A NON-R1 UNIVERSITY CASE

A connected program model is developed in a non-R1 university to address the skill gap in the current Information Technology (IT)/Information Systems (IS) workforce. The program aims to enhance undergraduate IT/IS education and research to equip graduates with employability and soft skills to enable them to meet emerging challenges in an ever-changing global environment. The model integrates six dimensions of connectivity including 1) academia to industry, 2) curriculum over time, 3) students to research projects and researchers, 4) across disciplines and the world, 5) students with students and alumni, and 6) students with faculty. The paper starts with examining what skill gaps are in the current IT/IS workforce, followed by an outline of the primary framework –the connected curriculum. The third section presents a case study illustrating how the authors developed and implemented the program in their university. The discussions and future research directions are included in the last section