Virtual Advice Services

The chapter looks at the issues involved with implementing and running a chat enquiry service, from choosing an appropriate product to staff training and publicity. The experiences of a number of UK Higher Education Institutions currently offering chat enquiry services are discussed at various stages. Aspects of more advanced use, such as web ‘co-browsing’ and virtual advice by appointment are also included. The chapter closes by considering what the future holds for virtual advice services and the potential impact of the growth in mobile technologies

Intercultural Communicative Competence and Employability in the Languages Curriculum at the Open University UK

In recent years, higher education in Great Britain has undergone considerable change, most markedly the increase in fees from about £9,000 for a BA degree to £27,000 in 2012 in England. This fee increase has led to more questioning of the benefits of university education and a stronger focus on whether the students' financing of their education achieves a return on investment. The increased earning over a life time are estimated to range from £100,000 to £500,000 (Anderson) and, as repaying their student debt has become a major preoccupation for new graduates, employability has become a key theme in university publicity: "Enhance your employability" is a key message given to prospective students by the most popular degree course at the Open University, an open and distance higher education provider in the UK, ranked 14th overall in a national league table for the employability of its graduates. Research (for example Araújo et al.) has demonstrated that knowledge of a second language increases employability across Europe. The importance of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) for working in multicultural teams is widely acknowledged and recognised by employers (CBI 32,39) and so is intercultural dialogue for social cohesion (CoE, White Paper 5). Degrees in modern languages, especially when they integrate the development of ICC, therefore present strong employability benefits. This paper presents the approach the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at the Open University in the UK has taken to integrate both employability and ICC skills in its curriculum and enhance the skills base of graduates and their chances of finding work in the national or international graduate workforce. We will describe the design principles and development of our detailed framework and supporting resource - designed to span our entire modern languages programme, in five languages, from ab initio to degree level - and demonstrate how our innovative learning design implements the framework and supports the training of highly employable multilingual global citizens able to articulate the range of skills they have developed

Statewide manure management education initiative

After manure management was identified as a high priority issue for programming, ISU Extension launched a statewide initiative that made education and individualized assistance on manure nutrient management available to crop and livestock producers in every Iowa county. The initiative involved educational workshops for producers as well as on-farm demonstrations and increased publicity concerning the economic and environmental value of managing manure nutrients for crop production

‘The Lighthouse Invites the Storm’ – Professional Regulation of Nursing in England and Wales – Under Threat

This paper explores current issues related to the professional regulation of nursing in England and Wales and considers whether self-regulation is currently under threat. In modern times there have been a significant number of serious incidents and scandals in health and social care and these have attracted adverse publicity in the media and exercised the mind of Government in the direction of public protection. Mental health practice has not escaped the critical gaze and recent homicide inquiries continue to cast a long shadow over the provision of mental health services. Recently, the Government has questioned the effectiveness of the nurses' professional body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and has spelt out the pressing need for tighter regulation of nursing practice. Recent policy documents aimed at ‘modernising’ nursing careers may actually circumscribe professional autonomy and subtly control the development of nursing practice and nurse education. On 1st April 2009 a new regulatory body, the Care Quality Commission will come into being and its advent will herald significant changes for health and social care. Lost in the changes will be the Mental Health Act Commission, as a stand alone visiting body

Selecting an IMC Career: Influences, Choices and Destinations

Integrated marketing communication incorporates both customer and non-customer stakeholder groups. While the literature commonly refers to this distinction as marketing communication and corporate communication, respectively, and practitioners accept the need for these roles, this study aims to explore the student perspective. US-based research suggests that students are more interested in marketing communication activities such as promotion that target customer stakeholders, and less interested in corporate communication activities that target non-customer stakeholders including employees, investors, and government (Bowen, 2003). The findings of this study match its US counterpart, and present implications for both the education and practice of marketing communicatio

A comparative study of the public relations programs and policies in schools and businesses

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

A New ERA? Marketing and Delivering a User-Education Event for Academic Staff

Covers project management and innovations introduced in an Information Literacy event for academic staff at Birmingham City University (formerly UCE Birmingham)

The public school in the news.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Debt for nature swaps

Debt for nature swaps involve the exchange of a debtor country's external obligation for that country's agreement to use local currency instruments to support a specific environmental project, such as development of conservation management plans, training of park personnel, or environmental education activities. These agreements are often described as deals where everyone benefits : the debtor country reduces its external debt, the environmental group can leverage its original donation amount, and banks profit from selling their debt on the secondary market or from the publicity value of donating the debt to the environmental group. However, this is a too simplistic analysis of debt for nature agreements. This paper examines whether the debtor country and environmental group benefits from the swap compared to the alternative of a straight donation of funds from the environmental group to the developing country, as well as the incentives that commercial banks have to donate, rather than sell, debt to international environmental groups.Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Strategic Debt Management,Settlement of Investment Disputes