The Role of Universities in a Knowledge Economy

The knowledge economy incorporates intellectual capital and human knowledge into new technology, information processing and decision support systems, machines, automation and digitalization to generate economic value. Human capital and talents are the drivers of innovations, new superior products and sustainable competitive edge. The roles of educational institutions can be summarized in investing in research and development and training the workforce. It is the partnership between government, businesses and educational leaders for a comprehensive approach to local and a regional economic and job growth model that has resulted in the growth of cities such as Albany, Pittsburgh, Akron, Columbus, Buffalo, Phoenix, Allentown, and many more. Knowledge, innovation, and technology are now recognized as the drivers of productivity and economic growth. The tight clusters of knowledge and diverse talented people in dense places drive economic progress, for instance Silicon Valley that brings billions of dollars in venture capital to San Francisco every year. In a knowledge economy, production is based on knowledge-intensive activities and highly skilled workers with a college degree, high productivity, and consequently high wages. Statistics on the economic characteristics of the cities with the significant role of universities in their recent success in transforming their economy to growth and prosperity will be analyzed. Implications of the study will be to enhance the environment for university-public-private partnerships to bring research, innovation, entrepreneurship, jobs and economic growth to big and small cities

Public–Private Partnership in Tunisia: Enfidha Airport Assessment of an Infrastructure Achievement

One of the largest recent private-sector investments and the first airport private-sector concession in the Maghreb is Enfidha Airport, a key factor in the success of the Tunisian Government’s public– private partnership (PPP) strategy. However, since Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, political and social turmoil is sweeping the country and worsening the economic indicators. This article aims to assess this PPP infrastructure, allowing us to determine if it is profitable in the long term and contributes therefore to the economic growth. The case study reveals the key role of the economic, social, and political environment in Tunisia, the dawn of the Arab Spring

A Cross-Sectional Study on Attitudes to and Understanding of Risk of Acquisition of HIV: Design, Methods and Participant Characteristics

Background: The annual number of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in the United Kingdom among men who have sex with men (MSM) has risen, and remains high among heterosexuals. Increasing HIV transmission among MSM is consistent with evidence of ongoing sexual risk behavior in this group, and targeted prevention strategies are needed for those at risk of acquiring HIV. Objective: The Attitudes to and Understanding of Risk of Acquisition of HIV (AURAH) study was designed to collect information on HIV negative adults at risk of HIV infection in the United Kingdom, based on the following parameters: physical and mental health, lifestyle, patterns of sexual behaviour, and attitudes to sexual risk. Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire study of HIV negative or undiagnosed sexual health clinic attendees in the United Kingdom from 2013-2014. Results: Of 2630 participants in the AURAH study, 2064 (78%) were in the key subgroups of interest; 580 were black Africans (325 females and 255 males) and 1484 were MSM, with 27 participants belonging to both categories. Conclusions: The results from AURAH will be a significant resource to understand the attitudes and sexual behaviour of those at risk of acquiring HIV within the United Kingdom. AURAH will inform future prevention efforts and targeted health promotion initiatives in the HIV negative population

Editors’ Introduction: An Overview of the Educational Administration and Leadership Curriculum: Traditions of Islamic Educational Administration and Leadership in Higher Education

This chapter provides an overview of several topics relevant to constructing an approach to teaching educational administration and leadership in Muslim countries. First, it places the topic in the context of the changing nature and critiques of the field that argue for a greater internationalisation to both resist some of the negative aspects of globalisation and to represent countries’ traditions in the professional curriculum. Then, it identifies literature that presents the underlying principles and values of Islamic education that guide curriculum and pedagogy and shape its administration and leadership including the Qur’an and Sunnah and the classical educational literature which focuses on aims, values and goals of education as well as character development upon which a ‘good’ society is built. This is followed by a section on the Islamic administration and leadership traditions that are relevant to education, including the values of educational organisations and how they should be administered, identifying literature on the distinctive Islamic traditions of leadership and administrator education and training as it applies to education from the establishment of Islam and early classical scholars and senior administrators in the medieval period who laid a strong foundation for a highly sophisticated preparation and practice of administration in philosophical writings and the Mirrors of Princes writings, and subsequent authors who have built upon it up to the contemporary period. The final section provides an overview of the chapters in this collection

Improving the evidence for indicator condition guided HIV testing in Europe: Results from the HIDES II Study - 2012 - 2015

BACKGROUND: It is cost-effective to perform an HIV test in people with specific indicator conditions (IC) with an undiagnosed HIV prevalence of at least 0.1%. Our aim was to determine the HIV prevalence for 14 different conditions across 20 European countries. METHODS: Individuals aged 18-65 years presenting for care with one of 14 ICs between January 2012 and June 2014 were included and routinely offered an HIV test. Logistic regression assessed factors associated with testing HIV positive. Patients presenting with infectious mononucleosis-like syndrome (IMS) were recruited up until September 2015. RESULTS: Of 10,877 patients presenting with an IC and included in the analysis, 303 tested positive (2.8%; 95% CI 2.5-3.1%). People presenting with an IC in Southern and Eastern Europe were more likely to test HIV positive as were people presenting with IMS, lymphadenopathy and leukocytopenia/ thrombocytopenia. One third of people diagnosed with HIV after presenting with IMS reported a negative HIV test in the preceding 12 months. Of patients newly diagnosed with HIV where data was available, 92.6% were promptly linked to care; of these 10.4% were reported lost to follow up or dead 12 months after diagnosis. CONCLUSION: The study showed that 10 conditions had HIV prevalences > 0.1%. These 10 ICs should be adopted into HIV testing and IC specialty guidelines. As IMS presentation can mimic acute HIV sero-conversion and has the highest positivity rate, this IC in particular affords opportunities for earlier diagnosis and public health benefit