Five-country Study on Service and Volunteering in Southern Africa: South Africa Country Report

The aim of the study was to document and analyse civic service and volunteering in South Africa

Conflict, Resistance and Alliances in a Multi-Governance Setting: Reshaping Realities in the Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Reforms \ud

In this article, we will explore how local politics of policy, in the interaction with governance mechanisms, have produced specific polity outcomes in the irrigation sector of Andhra Pradesh. The water sector of Andhra Pradesh, which has been struggling within inefficiency, poor performance, deterioration, and lack of participation as elsewhere in India, has undergone substantial reforms aiming at Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM). Previous research has indicated how reform policy choices were contested and mediated by relevant actors and how this affected the outcome in key areas of irrigation management. This is referred to as the politics of policy. We will look at multi-level governance in a situation where different tiers represent different institutional basis, and argue that the politics of policy at multiple levels of governance can be perceived as a form of support and/or resilience by actors to new governance mechanisms/arrangement

Quality Education in Second Cycle Institutions: The Role of the Private Sector

The study was an assessment of quality education; the role of the private sector. Questionnaire and interview schedules were used to collect data from 175 respondents in second cycle institutions. SPSS and Microsoft Excel were used to analyze the data. The study discovered varied determinants of quality education for private second cycle institutions; critical of which are well-motivated teachers, availability of instructional materials, effective monitoring and supervision and recognition of individual differences. Private institutions could contribute enormously to quality education through strong partnership between the public and private educational sector. The private second cycle schools are constraint with inadequate infrastructure, inadequate professional teachers, untimely payment of school fees, excessive expectation of parents towards students’ performance and minor interference by parents administratively. Quality education should be tackled comprehensively and incrementally. The study recommends an urgent need for public-private sector partnership for quality education. Private schools should be granted access to the GET fund; and there should be a strong monitoring and evaluation team for quality education from the Ghana Education Service. The study also recommends that, Ministry of Education should chatter a principle, comprehensive and incremental approach to deal with quality education issues in the second cycle education. Finally, the study recommends collaboration between Ghana Education Service and Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency (YEA) for regular supply of non-professional graduate teachers to the second cycle institutions. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-9-17 Publication date:March 31st 201

Small Islands, New Technologies and Globalization: A Case of ICT adoption by SMEs in Mauritius

This paper sets out to locate Mauritian SMEs in the present context of global competition and more particularly to identify the extent to which they have adopted ICTs as a tool to meet the challenges which they now face. The essence of the argument that comes to the fore is that despite having an impressive number of SMEs which contribute enormously to employment creation in the country, the latter are in many ways ill-equipped to confront the challenges of global competition. The findings clearly show that the adoption of ICTs in SMEs is far from being an integral feature of Mauritian SMEs despite recent claims to be a cyber-island. Cost of communication and the lack of learning opportunities have been found as the major impediments in the adoption of ICTs. In turn this raises serious implications and challenges for the SMEs themselves and the Government in order to adapt to the requirements of globalisation.Small Island Economies, ICT, SME, Probit Analysis

Bringing Global Sourcing into the Classroom: Experiential Learning via Software Development Project

Global sourcing of software development has imposed new skill requirements on Information Technology (IT) personnel. In the U.S., this has resulted in a paradigm shift from technical to softer skills such as communications and virtual team management. Higher education institutions must, consequently, initiate innovative curriculum transformations to better prepare students for these emerging workforce needs. This paper describes one such venture between Marquette University (MU), U.S.A. and Management Development Institute (MDI), India, wherein IT students at MU collaborated with Management Information Systems (MIS) students at MDI on an offshore software development project. The class environment replicated an offshore client/vendor relationship in a fully virtual setting while integrating communications and virtual team management with traditional IT project management principles. Course measures indicated that students benefited from this project, gained first-hand experience in the process of software offshoring, and learned skills critical for conduct of global business. For faculty considering such initiatives, we describe the design and administration of this class over two semesters, lessons learned from our engagement, and factors critical to success of such initiatives and those detrimental to their sustenance

ERAWATCH country reports 2011 : Malta

Acknowledgement: The University of Malta would like to acknowledge its gratitude to the European Commission, Joint Research Centre for their permission to upload this work on OAR@UoM. Further reuse of this document can be made, provided the source is acknowledged. This work was made available with the help of the Publications Office of the European Union, Copyright and Legal Issues Section.The main objective of the ERAWATCH Annual Country Reports is to characterise and assess the performance of national research systems and related policies in a structured manner that is comparable across countries. EW Country Reports 2011 identify the structural challenges faced by national innovation systems. They further analyse and assess the ability of the policy mix in place to consistently and efficiently tackle these challenges. The annex of the reports gives an overview of the latest national policy efforts towards the enhancement of European Research Area and further assess their efficiency to achieve the targets. These reports were originally produced in November - December 2011, focusing on policy developments over the previous twelve months. The reports were produced by the ERAWATCH Network under contract to JRC-IPTS. The analytical framework and the structure of the reports have been developed by the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies of the Joint Research Centre (JRC-IPTS) and Directorate General for Research and Innovation with contributions from ERAWATCH Network Asblpeer-reviewe

Creating learning solutions for executive education programs

Executive education is both a growing and increasingly competitive industry. The traditional business school, once a dominant player in this space, now faces competition from sophisticated and focused consultants and for-profit training specialists offering a variety of face-to-face and on-line instructional vehicles. An abiding question has become ever more prevalent for business schools – are executive education clients getting meaningful, long-term value for their significant investments? Demonstrating value and building capabilities is different for a generic, open enrolment course than for a custom program. This paper proposes a solutions-based approach to the development and implementation of customized executive programs, arguing that the tailored customer focus and the operational rigor of a solutions perspective leads to sustainable and measurable client value both at the individual and corporate level. A case study involving a global high technology company is used to demonstrate the steps required to apply a solutions roadmap. The results show that a solutions approach – carefully and collaboratively undertaken in selected settings – can provide considerable benefits to both client and provider. Further research is proposed to validate and develop the learning points

Developing a national dental education research strategy:priorities, barriers and enablers

Objectives: This study aimed to identify national dental education research (DER) priorities for the next 3-5 years and to identify barriers and enablers to DER. Setting: Scotland Participants: In this two-stage online questionnaire study we collected data with multiple dental professions (e.g. dentistry, dental nursing, dental hygiene) and stakeholder groups (e.g. learners, clinicians, educators, managers, researchers, academics). Eighty-five participants completed the Stage 1 qualitative questionnaire and 649 participants the Stage 2 quantitative questionnaire. Results: Eight themes were identified at Stage 1. Of the 24 DER priorities identified, the top three were: role of assessments in identifying competence; undergraduate curriculum prepares for practice; and promoting teamwork. Following exploratory factor analysis, the 24 items loaded onto four factors: teamwork and professionalism, measuring and enhancing performance, dental workforce issues, and curriculum integration and innovation. Barriers and enablers existed at multiple levels: individual, interpersonal, institutional structures and cultures, and technology. Conclusion: This priority setting exercise provides a necessary first step to developing a national DER strategy capturing multiple perspectives. Promoting DER requires improved resourcing alongside efforts to overcome peer stigma and lack of valuing and motivation

Entrepreneurship and Job Creation for Sustainable Development in Ghana: The Role of Government as an Arbiter in Shaping the Institutional Environment

Studies indicate that 80% of jobs in Ghana are in the informal sector, while entrepreneurs create the majority of these informal jobs. Studies further affirm that Small Medium Enterprise entrepreneurs make up about 94% of Ghana’s industrial sector. Past and current governments view the entrepreneur as the solution to weak economic performance and job creation. What remains a challenge though is a better understanding of the factors that determine entrepreneurship and the environment that motivates and supports the growth of entrepreneurs. This paper argues that knowledge of the primary catalyst for entrepreneurship is essential for understanding the microeconomic foundations that will lead to growth in the Ghanaian economy. The paper concludes that fostering the private sector and entrepreneurship depends on a supportive business environment, which makes it not only important, but also urgent for regular revision of incentives and policies that are likely to attract genuine entrepreneurs and businessmen and women. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurs, Job creation, Institutional environment, Private sector