Alumni from the Polytechnic of Leiria: path & challenges

In this communication we will analyse the development of the Alumni Network of Polytechnic of Leiria, a higher public education institution in Portugal. The Alumni Network of Polytechnic of Leiria was constituted in February of 2012 with the aim to recover alumni relations, facilitating interactions, promoting the sharing of experiences and reinforcing the Institution’s recognition/image, empowering the long life learning, the information and knowledge updates and the reinforcement of an oriented community for the scientific and technological production. The Institution has around 12,000 current students and we estimate that 40,000 have finished their courses, short cycle’s, undergraduates and master’s degrees. The network has more than 4,000 registered alumni. In LinkedIn there are 13,500 former students connected and in Facebook there are more than 7,000 alumni following the page. This network develops activities towards former students such as: walk gatherings; anniversary cards; alumni days; the publishing of conferences, seminars, program offers; direct invitation to be a speaker; testimony collection; and alumni passport. The alumni passport is the official document sent to all alumni when they register that grants special conditions like access to canteens/bars and libraries; participation with special discount in events, conferences, courses and discounts in enterprises with an agreement with Polytechnic of Leiria. The testimony collection (flyers, videos) is also a great moment in the network since all the community can see the experiences before and after the alumni attended their school. The former students report their memories as resident students and the importance of the training received, presenting suggestions for the network life. Actually most of the activities are developed with the involvement and collaboration of current students who implement marketing strategies, creativity and new work tools to engage alumni. We regularly publish the initiatives/enterprises of our alumni and the prizes obtained. This is very courageous for them and we let all of the community know what they are doing, enabling them to be proud. This is also a way to inspire the current and future students. This is also a way to give visibility to the Institution which sees its reputation spread. Alumni of this initiative are also promotors of employment and are willing to recruit students from the same Institution. The mentors/ambassadors living in the country or even abroad are well engage to help other students. We are proud with the network development but conscious that a long way is waiting ahead, regarding the bigger involvement needed from the internal academic community if we want to reach volunteering and fundraise, another dimension of alumni relations and to proceed the alumni potential.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Valorizing Research and Evidence for Social Inclusion in Indonesia: A Practical Guide for Information Uptake in the Indonesian Education Policymaking Process

This project, concerning the valorization of evidence in inclusive social development in Southeast Asia, is part of UNESCO’s Inclusive Policy Lab work in the ‘Management of Social Transformations’ (MOST) Programme framework. The objective of the Lab is to support UNESCO Member States as they advance their social policy agendas by making better use of scientific information and knowledge—valorization refers to this process. The Lab aims to improve the South-South sharing of inclusive policy knowledge and practice, increasing availability of policy knowledge and advice in the region, and strengthening social data literacy among policy practitioners and other relevant stakeholders. The UNESCO-Jakarta Office, in collaboration with the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS), is implementing the project in Indonesia. Stage 1 of the cooperation between UNESCO and CIPS provided a situational analysis of inclusive policy design and knowledge valorization in the Indonesian education sector. This practical guide constitutes stage 2 of the project and provides recommendations for Indonesian stakeholders to improve inclusivity in education policymaking processes. We recommend practical actions to improve the valorization of knowledge, that is, the availability, accessibility and usage of evidence in education policymaking processes. Our recommendations are meant to improve inclusivity and to support the national policy objective of providing access to quality education for all. The main stakeholders addressed by this guide are the relevant government agencies in the Indonesian education sector, in particular the Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC), bi- and multilateral donor agencies, and civil society organizations (CSOs). The recommendations focus on enhancing opportunities found by analyzing MOEC Regulation No. 142/2014, which specifies the steps of planning, drafting, discussion, legalization, and enactment of ministerial regulations by MOEC. The recommendations further include actions to improve the use of evidence on the side of bi- and multilateral donors and CSOs with the aim of achieving inclusive and equitable education in Indonesia

Network experiences lead to the adaption of a firm's network competence

Networks become increasingly important as external sources of innovation for firms. Through networks firms get in contact with different actors with whom they can exchange information and collaborate. A firm’s ability to be a successful network actor depends on its network competence. This term can be defined as having the necessary knowledge, skills and qualifications for networking as well as using them effectively. In this paper we investigate the link between a firm’s network competence and the benefits resulting from it in a two-way direction. First, the network competence of the firm facilitates the adoption of information from other network actors which may lead to innovation success. Second the perceived network benefits shall in their turn influence the network competence of the firm. Consequently, firms will adapt their network strategy corresponding their experiences. The objective of this paper is to investigate the dynamics of networking and its influence on the firm’s network competence. For this exploratory research 3 Belgian networks are examined. In-depth interviews are used in combination with semi-structured interview guides to conduct the research. Our results indicate that some firms perceive benefits from their network efforts, for others it is more a burden. Furthermore, in some of our cases we found that positive experiences with clear benefits motivate the firm to enhance its network competence. This is illustrated by the fact that collaborations are more frequently initiated, trust is more easily build, firms are more open to communicate information and the confidentiality threshold is overcome

Knowledge valorization and the European Paradox: a case study

In this paper, data from the 2014 Innovation Union Scoreboard for Portugal is used to illustrate the actuality of the European Paradox and the need for policies to reinforce the downstream activities in the knowledge valorisation chain, if European Union (EU) Member States want to enforce the policy strategy stated in the Lisbon agenda in which the EU “set itself a new strategic goal for the next decade: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion”