QUALITY ASSURANCE IN EDUCATION, RESEARCH AND ACCOUNTABILITY

“There is a broad consensus globally of the value of education to social and economic development. Higher education in particular plays a crucial role in creating culturally vibrant and democratic societies. Higher education and research, and the outcomes they produce in terms of well-educated graduates, a capacity for innovation and new knowledge, play crucial roles in the economic development of all our societies. So we can agree that well performing higher education institutions, accessible to all who can benefit from higher education and graduating high quality graduates is a worthwhile objective for all of us.”-

QUALITY ASSURANCE IN EDUCATION, RESEARCH AND ACCOUNTABILITY

“There is a broad consensus globally of the value of education to social and economic development. Higher education in particular plays a crucial role in creating culturally vibrant and democratic societies. Higher education and research, and the outcomes they produce in terms of well-educated graduates, a capacity for innovation and new knowledge, play crucial roles in the economic development of all our societies. So we can agree that well performing higher education institutions, accessible to all who can benefit from higher education and graduating high quality graduates is a worthwhile objective for all of us.”-

Avowing Unemployment: Confessional Jobseeker Interviews and Professional CVs

While contemporary welfare processes have widely been analysed through the concepts of governmentality and pastoral power, this article diagnoses the dimension of confession or avowal within unemployment, job seeking and CV writing. This argument draws together the threads of Foucault’s work on confession within disciplinary institutions, around sexuality and genealogies of monasticism, adding the insights of writers in ‘economic theology’. Empirically the focus is on UK JobCentrePlus, whose governmentality is traced from laws and regulations, street-level forms, websites and CV advice. From the requirement of avowals of unemployment as a personal fault in interviews to professions of faith in oneself and the labour market, a distinctly confessional practice emerges – with the welfare officer as ‘pastor’ but with the market as the ultimate ‘test’ of worth. Furthermore, the pressure to transform the self through ‘telling the truth’ about oneself is taken as a normalising pressure which extends from the institutions of welfare across the labour market as a whole. In conclusion, the demand for self-transformation and the insistence on tests within modernity is problematised

Rebels, Critiques, Cynics

Comparing Albert Camus' diagnosis of the 'rebel' with the long standing Greek and Western tradition of cynicism, in terms of critique

Critique as a Modern Social phenomenon

What are the origins and purposes of social critique? Rather than use critique as a mode of investigating social phenomenon, this book analyses critique as a social phenomenon. Critique is both constitutive of modernity and exceedingly diverse, and not only that but widely taken for granted in scholarly communities. Herein, the resources of historical sociology and anthropology are used in order to gain perspective on critique as something culturally specific to modernity. Based on this, I analyze critique as moving force in history, part of the dynamic of capitalism and consumerism, a recurring trope in the media from all any political positions, and finally as a common-place even of popular culture. Finally, I turn to some key literary writers who have explored critique as a social phenomenon within their work, thus providing a reflexive perspective on critique as a lived experience

Design and user applications of a low-cost satellite constellation for global daily imaging revisit

There are many varied sources of satellite Earth Observation and Remote Sensing data currently in-orbit. However, in general there is a distinct lack of rapid-response data for timely application. This is particularly of value in disaster situations where the value of information rapidly falls as time progresses after the event. Micro-satellite constellations, with their low-cost and low launch costs provide a potential affordable solution to the issue of data timeliness. This researchp roject, supportedb y Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, addressesth e problem of data timeliness through the development of a solution for a micro-satellite constellation to give global daily imaging revisit opportunities at a Ground Sample Distance of 30-40m in Red, Green and Near Infra-Red bands. This thesis reviews existing Earth Observation capabilities to highlight the niche that exists for this mission. It then describes the development of the mission and spacecraft system solution as well as ground segment characteristics. The spacecraft and mission design is taken from a conceptual phase to launch and validation via in-orbit operations. This is the first micro-satellite constellation for Earth Observation, and the first microsatellite solution to addresst he rapid-responsep roblem. Research into potential applications for the image data is also presented, focussing in particular on disaster management applications. Wildfire management applications and flood monitoring are considered in most detail, whilst other potential application areas are addressed in brief. This research clearly indicates that there is much potential for the DMC imagery to add value, over and above the current available Earth Observation data sources, to a number of applications. It is noted that further work should be performed to validate the use of DMC data in any given application.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo