Examining the Role of Transformational Leadership in Technology Adoption: Evidence from Bruneian Technical & Vocational Establishments (TVE)

This pioneering study discusses the thirty-five Bruneian technical & vocational institutions of top management (principals, deputy principals, senior masters, ICT coordinators and technical administrators) leadership style with the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The study uses a survey approach further to indicate that the majority of the Technical and Vocational schools leaders have transformational leaders style which is related with the various uses of ICT. The correlation analysis has also shown the significant relationship between transformational leadership styles and the technology development and operational phase. Therefore, based upon the analysis some recommendations are made for the relevant authorities. Keywords: Information and Communication Technology (ICT), technology leadership, technical and vocational institutions, leadership style, Brunei Darussala

The Remapping and Analysis of Human Rights and Peace Education in ASEAN / Southeast Asia (Philippine Report)

Human rights and peace education (HRPE) has never been more relevant for the Philippines. As of this writing, there have been opposing views and experiences on key national issues concerning human rights and peace in the country. There have also been apparent disagreements and malpractice with regards to human rights protection, as well as the proliferation of discourses, paradigms, and policies, that seem to trivialize and abuse human life and the rule of law. Therefore, it is imperative to strengthen HRPE and ensure that it is grounded on truth and what is happening at the grassroots level. Despite these challenges, this study shows that HRPE continues to evolve in the Philippine educational system. This study focuses on the current changes adopted by the Philippines with respect to human rights legal education, particularly the developments made by the Legal Education Board (LEB) from 2013 until late 2018. This is the area in which most of the developments are found. Peace and conflict-related programmes offered by colleges and universities are also explored in the study. Desk research on available curricula and programmes of higher education institutions (HEIs) was performed. If the data gathered through desk research were insufficient, necessary information was gathered through validation interviews. Key informant interviews were also conducted with Atty. Marian Chavez, the incumbent Executive Officer of the LEB; Atty. Tanya Karina Lat, one of the consultants of the LEB; and some students from various law schools around the country. The study also reviewed pertinent documents submitted to the LEB by the law schools, and the 2006 research study entitled, “Baseline Study of Law Schools: Human Rights Offerings and Programs Curriculum Review and Development Towards Alternative Lawyering” by Atty. Ma. Ngina Teresa V. Chan-Gonzaga.1 Qualitative analysis is used in analysing the recent developments in HRPE. To supplement the findings, the study also compares the current findings with those of the mapping report published in 2013.

Services diagnostic and needs assessment study

Liberalisation of trade in services and associated domestic reforms is fundamental to the realisation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). However, this requires real (‘on the ground’) liberalisation, not simply “on paper” liberalisation in the form of commitments under the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS), a sideshow in services liberalisation. The decision by leaders to form an AEC covering also the free flow of services has put the emphasis very much on ensuring each ASEAN Member State (AMS) removes restrictions affecting trade in services (including related foreign investment) and implement related reforms. However, the diagnostic analysis presented in this Services Diagnostic and Needs Assessment Study (SDNAS), including in the in-country reports, suggests this is not happening, or at least is going very slowly, especially when set against the adopted start date for the AEC of 2015. Hence, key and effective technical assistance and capacity building is needed to advance ‘on the ground’ liberalisation of services and related reforms. The in-country fieldwork and other analysis undertaken in the SDNAS helped identify constraints and provided a list of potential technical assistance and capacity building projects to help address them, both from a primarily cross-cutting but also a sectoral perspective. The SDNAS has also adopted an economic framework based on the fundamental benefits of unilateral liberalisation and a strategic structured approach, to identify key areas (‘umbrellas’) needing technical assistance and capacity building activities, such as strengthening the evidence base, promoting transparency, developing strategies and planning, and raising understanding and awareness. Key activity clusters were also identified within these three ‘umbrellas’, such as policy analysis, services policy visions, and organisations for dialogues, respectively. Individual priority technical assistance and capacity building project proposals within these clusters were determined using a cost-benefit analytical approach. The SNDAS importantly recommends the need to re-balance much of the technical assistance and capacity building activities away from being directed at servicing the AFAS trade negotiations and focusing on ‘on-paper’ liberalisation towards efforts to build transparency and fundamental support for services trade liberalisation and related reforms in AMS. This is what is required to achieve the necessary ‘on-the-ground’ changes to achieve the AEC. This is consistent with international experience that significant ‘on-the-ground’ services liberalisation and related reforms requires unilateral efforts, and that trade negotiations have generally failed to deliver such changes. With this in mind, the SNDAS has developed and recommended a number of detailed proposed technical assistance and capacity building project templates

The impact of ex-auditors' employment with audit clients of perceptions of auditor independence

This study examined whether the practice of ex-auditors’ employment with audit clients affects perceptions of auditor independence from the perspective of financial statement users in Malaysia. It has been argued that the main problem with employment with an audit client is the ability of current auditors to remain independent when dealing with top managers who were previously their fellow auditors. The collapse of Enron in 2001 in the United States, along with other infamous financial scandals like Global Crossing and Waste Management revealed that in each of these companies, the senior accounting and finance officers were hired directly from their external auditors. The results of the study showed that financial statement users are concerned about the practice of ex-auditors seeking employment with audit clients. However, the cooling-off period of 2 years that audit firms must observe before an audit partner joins a client company (otherwise, the firms have to resign from the audit engagement) was perceived as sufficient to safeguard auditor independence. As the majority of respondents seemed to support the current policy, a reduction or an extension of the existing cooling-off period is deemed not necessary

Analysis of low carbon transport in Brunei Darussalam : case study of a sustainability transition in an oil-rich economy

Moving towards sustainable transportation is a challenging task for Brunei, a small oil-rich country situated in South East Asia, whose population currently enjoys subsidised petrol feeding a culture heavily reliant on the automobile for personal mobility. This study aims to investigate the potential for the development of low-carbon transportation in Brunei Darussalam by using the Multi-Level Perspective of socio-technical transition.This study uses mixed methods (survey questionnaires, interviews, and secondary data) to gain insights into the problems, issues, solutions and expectations of sustainable transportation in Brunei. In summary, Bruneians are over dependent on cars and the majority have negative attitudes and behaviour regarding bus services. The findings on resistance to alternative vehicles in this study are complex, compared to the current literature. The key factors are the car-oriented culture (the product of parenting, employment and security), current transport policies and other government initiatives (such as heavily subsidised petrol); all of which tend to promote the use of cars over buses.The data were then incorporated into the three levels of the Multi-level Perspective. Results indicated that the transition in Brunei towards sustainable transportation (particularly towards low carbon transportation) is on-going but few disruptions in the regime, (especially attitudes and perceptions) are occurring. The complexity of transition and the technical, institutional, policy and car-related cultures have proved to be the barriers. The niches are finding it hard to compete with the current regime. Furthermore, fragmentations in the transportation institutions contribute to the failure to make progress towards sustainability. Therefore, the potential for transition to low-carbon transportation is essentially challenging and a difficult task to achieve. Thus, this thesis contributes to the transition literature in which the study of human attitudes, behaviour and perceptions (non-technological niche) towards sustainable transport are often under-researched and the study of single, or top-down governance, seems to be limited

Towards an integrated information system for a public sector organisation in Brunei Darussalam

Information systems, by nature, are open to interpretation from a number of viewpoints. This thesis emphasizes that information systems are not 'technical' systems that have behavioural and social consequences, they are 'social systems' that rely to an increasing extent on information technology for their functions. Hence any systems development methodologies used cannot deal simply with the problem of how one designs technically reliable and cost-effective information systems. Instead it regards systems development as an example of multidimensional social change, the application of technology may not be a desirable solution to the situation. The choice of a development methodology should therefore take into account its sensitivity to the cultural, social, and political aspects of systems design. The aims of the thesis are three-fold. The first aim is to transform an idea or perception of needs into actionable drivers for change in a public sector organisation in Brunei Darussalam. The second aim is to identify and diagnose the problems associated with the management of information. Finally, the study aims to identify a suitable methodology that can be used to investigate a number of organisational issues. [Continues.

Concept Mapping Strategy For Academic Writing Tutorial In Open And Distant Learning Higher Institution

Universitas Terbuka (UT) an open and distant higher education institution of Indonesia conducts the in-service teacher education program. In order to complete the program, the students – mostly teachers - have to submit the final academic paper. In fact, most of the UT students have difficulty to write this academic paper. UT offers an academic writing course to solve this writing program. Most of the student view academic writing still as a difficult assignment. Most of the students view academic writing as a difficult assignment to complete. UT has to find an appropriate instructional strategy that can facilitate student to write the academic writing assignment. One of the instructional strategy that can be selected to solve the academic writing problems is concept mapping. The aim of this study is to elaborate the implementation of concept map as an instructional strategy to facilitate the open and distance learning students io complete academic writing assignments. A design based research was applied to measure the effectiveness of using concept mapping strategy in helping students to gain academic writing skills. The steps of research and development model from Borg, Gall and Gall which consist of instructional design and development phases were implemented in this study. The result of this study indicated that students were facilitated and enjoyed the process of academic writing used the concept map strategy