Geographic Mobility in the European Union: Optimising its Economic and Social Benefits

One of the founding principles of the European Union is the freedom of movement of workers (Article 39 of the Treaty establishing the European Community). The free movement of workers is essential for the creation of an area without internal frontiers, and for the strength-ening of economic and social cohesion and active citizenship.Taking an economic perspective, geographic mobility can have major positive effects by bringing about economic growth in countries with labour deficits and prosperity in countries with labour surplus. Hence, the diffusion of skills through occupational and geographic mo-bility is a central factor to enhance the productive capacity of firms and put regions or na-tional economies on a higher growth path. Taking a social perspective, geographical mobility has the potential of fostering social-cultural integration in the European Union, and strength-ening European identity and inter-cultural networks

Report No. 19: Geographic Mobility in the European Union: Optimising its Economic and Social Benefits

Joint expertise with NIRAS Consultants and AMS for the European Commission, Bonn 2008 (159 pages)

Students as human resources in the corporatised school

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis (Routledge) via the DOI in this record.The transfer of Human resource management (HRM) practices from the corporate business context into schools has taken a novel turn. No longer restricted to the management of school teachers, HRM techniques are now being applied to the management of students. HRM views the student as a human resource to serve the school, and seeks to systematically regulate students’ identities in order to align them with school values and goals. The paper introduces the Uncommon Schools model as an exemplar of student centred HRM. The case study demonstrates how student-centred HRM is being operationalised in schools and concludes by exploring the potential of this systematic innovation in student management. The paper is informed by critical management theories and argues that student centred HRM constitutes a radical shift in the relationship between school and student

SPARC 2017 retrospect & prospects : Salford postgraduate annual research conference book of abstracts

Welcome to the Book of Abstracts for the 2017 SPARC conference. This year we not only celebrate the work of our PGRs but also the 50th anniversary of Salford as a University, which makes this year’s conference extra special. Once again we have received a tremendous contribution from our postgraduate research community; with over 130 presenters, the conference truly showcases a vibrant PGR community at Salford. These abstracts provide a taster of the research strengths of their works, and provide delegates with a reference point for networking and initiating critical debate. With such wide-ranging topics being showcased, we encourage you to exploit this great opportunity to engage with researchers working in different subject areas to your own. To meet global challenges, high impact research inevitably requires interdisciplinary collaboration. This is recognised by all major research funders. Therefore engaging with the work of others and forging collaborations across subject areas is an essential skill for the next generation of researchers

The influence of the supernumerary clinical nurse educator role on advancing graduate nurses’ quality of patient care: A mixed-methods study in a private Western Australian health service

Theoretical and anecdotal evidence suggests that the presence of the supernumerary clinical nurse educator (CNE) in the acute care hospital clinical environment will positively affect patient quality outcomes. However, the supernumerary role suffers from scrutiny in response to the financial constraints of healthcare organisations, and is questioned regarding sustainability. The lack of empirical research diminishes the CNE role and its benefit for patient quality of care. This research focuses on newly qualified graduate registered nurses (GRNs) employed in a graduate programme and supported by the CNE in the clinical environment in order to articulate the effect of the supernumerary CNE on the GRNs’ patient outcomes. The mixed-methods research describes the CNE role specifically related to the GRNs’ transition to practice and quality of patient care. The results suggest that the CNE’s value derives from the supernumerary presence—through the resource-rich educator role and the experiential learning opportunities provided. These play a significant role in the GRNs’ successful transition to practice and clinical confidence. The ability of GRNs to safely engage in patient care is linked to CNE role translation into practice, promotion of evidence-based care theory and policy in practice, and progression of reflective practices influencing GRNs’ professionalism and maturity. The CNE role is identified as a congruent clinical leader who is approachable, supportive, connected and passionate about patient care. Undesirable attributes of the CNE role are associated with unsuitable personal characteristics, incompatible relationships with the clinical nurse manager and GRNs, and an inability to meet the expectations and criteria of the role. The organisational demands of role reassignment and role relief produce role strain and conflict that reduce the value of the CNE role. The audience who will profit from this research include present and future CNEs, nurses, clinical and administrative leaders, and healthcare organisations. The implications of this study not only relate to the role of CNEs in supporting GRNs’ transition to practice in the acute care hospital setting, but also to CNEs’ clinical leadership. CNEs are a practical solution to champion the success of the newly qualified registered nurse—our future nursing workforce

Get yourself connected: conceptualising the role of digital technologies in Norwegian career guidance

This report outlines the role of digital technologies in the provision of career guidance. It was commissioned by the c ommittee on career guidance which is advising the Norwegian Government following a review of the countries skills system by the OECD. In this report we argue that career guidance and online career guidance in particular can support the development of Norwa y’s skills system to help meet the economic challenges that it faces.The expert committee advising Norway’s Career Guidance Initiativ

Causality among dual education, reducing unemployment and entrepreneurial initiatives of youth in the countries of the Western Balkans

The aim of this work is to point out the causality among education, employment and entrepreneurial initiatives of youth labour. The significance of this trinity, as well as establishment of their good coordination and harmonization, is reflected in the fact that recently published „EU development strategy until 2020. indicates reform of educational system as the priority goal and insists on the „ new knowledge for new professions“, development of private entrepreneurship and solving of high unemployment, which affects a great number of the European Union countries and beyond. In accordance with this, the author explains that there is a closer connection between educational institutions and business environment in the most developed countries, in which the youth unemployment rate is lower. Traditionally good professional education contributed to this to a great extent, helping in reducing of the youth unemployment rate, as well as all other categories of the unemployed persons also in the conditions of economic crisis and moderate economic growth. Unlike these countries, the countries of the Western Balkans are characterized by high youth unemployment rate, primarily resulting from insufficient connection between educational and scientific institutions and economic requirements. The opinion of the author of this thesis is that entrepreneurial education has to be the important component of economic strategy, which is directed to incitement of job creation and reduction of high unemployment rate. In further analysis of the issue of the youth unemployment, unfavourable environment for development of private sector and self-employment of the youth labour stands out. The author also singles out economic and financial crisis, putting them at the first place by their influence on high youth unemployment rate in the region. She gives them smaller significance due to the fact that the countries of the Western Balkans have found difficult to cope with high youth unemployment rate for several decades, this is, even before the beginning of the crisis at the end of 2008. According to her reviews, the auhtor concludes that the countries of the Western Balkans should focus on the reform of educational policy and improve business environment, which would facilitate the investments in the countries of the region, so that they could have greater success in solving the problem of long-term unemployment and social exclusion of the youth labour

Self-efficacy and the development of undergraduates’ employability: An approach for a Bahraini public higher education institution

The Bahraini higher education sector was directed to contribute to the national economic growth by preparing work-ready graduates for the labour market. In 2008, Bahrain Polytechnic was established as one of the educational reform initiatives with a mission to develop graduates' employability and enterprise skills. This study explores the role of Bahrain Polytechnic in meeting its mission from the perspectives of the undergraduate students and staff members. It focuses on their perceptions of the institutional employability-based measures and if those influenced the students’ sense of self-efficacy. Yorke and Knight (2004a) and Pool and Sewell (2007) employability models as well as Bandura’s sources of self-efficacy (1994) were referred to for the study’s theoretical base. A mixed methods approach was applied to obtain data from 103 final year students regarding the scope of the study through a survey, followed by semi-structured interviews for 8 final-year students and 10 staff members. The initial quantitative result showed most of the students had an average sense of self-efficacy toward their employability skills. It also showed that the curricular measures had high impact on the development of students’ employability, while the co-curricular measures influenced only those who utilised the services and participated in the co-curricular activities. The in-depth qualitative results supported the institutional developmental role in preparing the graduates for the market, the development of students’ employability skills, the implementation of measures that enhances students’ employability and influences their sense of self-efficacy, and that there are elements influencing the development of students’ sense of self-efficacy toward their employability skills. The study contributes to acknowledging the importance of providing an operational approach to embed measures that enhance students' sense of self-efficacy to develop their employability skills. It also acknowledges the emerged self-related concepts other than self-efficacy which are self-awareness and self-confidence in an employability framework. It emphasises the importance of self-efficacy-enhancing elements. Finally, on an institutional level, it contributes to policy and practice by recognizing a mechanism to classify the curricular and co-curricular measures as per Bandura’s four sources of self-efficacy and on a national level for other higher education institutions in Bahrain

Optimising the development impact of mineral resources extraction in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has a rich and diverse minerals resource base that could be an important contributor to sustainable growth and development. The sector has rebounded dramatically from the hyperinflation economic crisis (2006-8) and with “dollarisation” (2009) the value of mineral production has increased six-fold to about $3 billion in 2011. However, if this increased mining activity is to ultimately result in more than just “holes-in-the-ground”, the crucial mineral linkages need to be realised whilst the resources are still extant. In order to optimise the economic linkages the current “colonial” minerals governance regime (“free mining”) needs to be fundamentally overhauled to both encourage the discovery of new mineral deposits and to maximise the developmental impact of known mineral assets through public tender against developmental outcomes. In this regard a Mineral Cadastre Information Management System (MCIMS) needs to be established as soon as possible. The current historically relatively high mineral prices (provoked by Asian demand) are likely to continue for the next couple of decades, so long as the major Asian economies (China and India) continue to display robust growth. Zimbabwe needs to take advantage of this widow of opportunity to use its finite mineral resources endowment to catalyse wider national economic growth and development through the maximisation of the seminal economic linkages. These are: Fiscal linkages- mineral resource rents must be captured, through the introduction of a resource rent tax, and reinvested into building long-term physical and human (knowledge) infrastructure, to underpin future national competitiveness, and into minerals development (exploration and technology development) to prolong the life of the minerals sector. Backward linkages – the minerals inputs sectors (capital goods, consumables, services) need to be grown, to take advantage of the expanding local demand, through measures to optimise the local content of mining purchases. The realisation of the backward linkages opportunities could seed wider industrialisation (capital goods) and economic transformation. Forward linkages – minerals could provide critical feedstocks into other job-creating sectors provided that they are beneficiated into appropriate intermediate products such as iron/steel, polymers and base metals for manufacturing; nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilisers for agriculture; cement, steel and copper for infrastructure and fossil fuels for power. However, mineral beneficiation often requires state facilitation through incentives and disincentives, such as a small export tax if the next value addition step is clearly viable. The use of PGM producer power, together with South Africa, should be explored to stimulate local value addition. Knowledge linkages – the maximisation of the minerals HRD and R&D opportunities is essential for realising the back- and forward linkages. No resource-based state has industrialised without significant investment in human and technology development. Joint strategies with the private sector should be pursued (PPPs), including the reinvestment of resource rents into knowledge development. Spatial linkages – high rent minerals are often able to finance major infrastructure (transport, power and water) which could underpin the development of other sectors such as agriculture, forestry and manufacturing, provided that the mineral leases provide for excess capacity and third party access at non-discriminatory prices. The huge Mwanesi iron ore resource could possibly underpin a low-cost logistics corridor to the coast which could substantially reduce national costs of trade (imports/exports). All of the linkages would be greatly enhanced through access to larger markets and in this regard configurations for equitable regional integration should be investigated and pursued (e.g. SADC and SACU). Zimbabwe’s minerals endowment could catalyse wider economic development if the minerals regime is overhauled and effectively administered to maximise all of the developmental opportunities associated with their extraction. This study formed the basis for the Draft Zimbabwe Minerals Development Policy (Appendix 7: Draft Zimbabwe Minerals Development Policy, page Error! Bookmark not defined.) currently under finalisation (MMMD)