Entrepreneurship education for european students: a way to exchange students and teaching staff

Participation in Erasmus Programme in the framework of the Lifelong Learning Programme will improve the excellence of education in Institutions of Higher Education by providing the possibility of bilateral student and teaching staff exchange with leading European academic institutions. In additional, another important aspect of Erasmus is the possibility of organizing Intensive Programmes (IP) where students and teachers from different academic European Institutions will study specific topics in a compact way - short time. Is common knowledge that the experience of studying abroad enriches students' lives in the academic and professional fields. Teaching Staff exchanges have similar beneficial effects. In order to improve the quality and to increase the volume of student and teaching staff mobility in Europe, to develop the quality and to increase the volume of multilateral cooperation between higher education institutions in Europe was born this Intensive Programme entitled Entrepreneurship Education for European Students, already approved by the Portugal National Agency for the Management of the Lifelong Learning Programme and will be operational next academic year. So, this paper describes the Entrepreneurship Education for European Students Intensive Programme as playing an important role in the lives of participants and in the development of Higher Education in Europe

Parque Natural do Douro Internacional - arribes del Duero: orientações estratégicas

Tourism is considered a phenomenon of the extreme importance in society’s structural way of life. From the remote travels of pre-historical humans, until the end of the XVIII century, when the first tourist flows took place, and afterwards during the first half of the XX century, this phenomenon grew steadily gaining ever more socioeconomic importance, especially for the regional development of Portugal’s border areas. The confirmation of the economic and social advancement of certain regions based on tourism activities, hand in hand with their rich heritage, has always left question marks regarding the unequal degree of development verified in areas of similar or even superior resources with the potential to bring about positive evolution for their respective population or even integrated progress. With this work we aim to evaluate and discuss tourism’s contribution towards regional development, based on tourism and heritage potential of the Parque Natural do Douro Internacional/Arribes del Duero. We will bring to the surface what we consider good opportunities and potential for the development of these border regions, highlighting the fact that the results of the dynamism applied to the Parque Natural do Douro Internacional/Arribes del Duero, amount to capital gains for the global betterment that any political policies may try to achieve for this region.O turismo é considerado um fenómeno de singular importância na vivência estrutural da sociedade. Desde as remotas viagens do homem pré-histórico, até finais do século XVIII, quando tiveram início os primeiros fluxos turísticos e depois até aos anos cinquenta do século XX, este fenómeno evoluiu e adquiriu cada vez mais importância socioeconómica e para o desenvolvimento regional em especial as regiões raianas de Portugal. A constatação do avanço económico e social de certas regiões ancorado em práticas de actividades turísticas, lado a lado com a sua riqueza patrimonial, sempre colocou interrogações relativas à inexistência de igual desenvolvimento verificado noutras regiões semelhantes ou até superiores em recursos indutores de evolução positiva da respectiva população e até do seu progresso integrado. Pretende-se com este trabalho analisar e discutir o contributo da actividade turística para o desenvolvimento regional com base nas potencialidades patrimoniais e turísticas que o Parque Natural do Douro Internacional/Arribes del Duero possui. Afloramos aquilo que classificamos de boas oportunidades e potencialidades de desenvolvimento destes territórios raianos, salientando que os resultados da dinamização do Parque Natural do Douro Internacional, constituiriam mais valias na globalidade da riqueza que todas as práticas políticas visarem obter na região

Causes and effects of tax evasion in Ghana

The incidence of tax evasion/avoidance has become one of the major challenges affecting revenue generation in many countries, especially in developing and emerging economies like Ghana. This study aims to examine the causes and effects of tax evasion and tax avoidance in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly of the Western Region of The Republic of Ghana. The main objectives are: (i) analyse the causes of tax evasion/avoidance; (ii) analyse the effects of tax evasion/avoidance, according to the point of view of small business owners. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire. The final sample size is based on 97 taxable persons and businesses. According to our findings, the retail sector is more prone to tax evasion; females behave differently from males. In relation to cause and effects, education and marital status are the main differences, as stated by the respondents’ opinion.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Circular economy, sharing, and sustainability: challenges for the social economy in a territory that wants to become a smart region

This study aims to analyse the predisposition of social economy agents to resource sharing. To achieve this, it was chosen to implement an exploratory qualitative approach directed to managers and an exploratory quantitative approach directed to employees. The results allowed to estimate that they do have a significant economic impact on number, paid work and business volume. It was shown the relationship between the interest demonstration on sharing and the appropriate qualification for the jobs of managers and employees. It was demonstrated the practice of informal and non-regulated sharing of own and third parties’ resources, among close partners, without the existence of a management model of knowledge, assets, time, use/reuse and exploitation. It is anticipated that the study could serve as scientific/methodological basis for a regional investment project, R&D and establishment of partnerships, reconciling interest in a smart region, as well as the application of circular economy principles.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to UNIAG, under Project no. UIDB/04752/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

La innovación como eje estratégico del desarrollo rural: LEADER II en la comarca de Aliste, Tábara y Alba

LEADER es una Iniciativa Comunitaria que ha venido implantándose en la provincia de Zamora desde la década de los noventa. Empezó, al igual que las restantes zonas europeas, como un ‘método’ experimental e innovador; no obstante, tras más de veinte años, se ha ido consolidando como un modelo de desarrollo local. La presente investigación tuvo por objetivo realizar un estudio de la dinámica de desarrollo en las localidades rurales utilizando el análisis de la innovación. El estudio se ha centrado especialmente en la segunda etapa de esta Iniciativa, designada LEADER II. Para ello, como ámbito de estudio se ha elegido la comarca de Aliste, Tábara y Alba y el Grupo de Acción Local ADATA. El interés y originalidad de este trabajo está en el hecho de que los elementos que se han considerado esenciales para el análisis de la innovación permitieren determinar la dinámica de desarrollo de los territorios. Como principales conclusiones puede apuntarse la importancia que LEADER tuvo en el desarrollo local de las poblaciones rurales del oeste de Zamora. A través de esta iniciativa, basada en su carácter innovador, se ha fortalecido la sociedad rural y la competitividad de los territorios en áreas tan diversas como el turismo rural, la valorización de los productos locales, la promoción del medio ambiente y la creación de pequeñas empresas

Diagnosticar el presente para plantear el futuro: un análisis cuantitativo del nivel de desarrollo regional

Las políticas de desarrollo rural en la Europa han constatado asimetrías entre sus Estados y regiones, concediendo fondos específicos para las regiones más desfavorecidas, particularmente las transfronterizas, consideradas regiones menos desarrolladas derivadas de su posición periférica en relación con los centros de decisión y la mayor actividad en sus estados y en Europa. Sin duda, estas políticas han buscado el desarrollo integrado de los territorios considerados desfavorecidos. Desde esta perspectiva, y tomando como referencia la metodología del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD), el presente artículo muestra el intento de medir el nivel de desarrollo de una región que se ha beneficiado, desde hace más de dos décadas, de dichos fondos europeos. Se trata de una región transfronteriza de Portugal y España: Terra Fría (TF), del distrito portugués de Bragança, y las comarcas españolas de Aliste, Tábara y Alba (ATA), de la provincia de Zamora. La medición del desarrollo se ha realizado a partir de la construcción del Índice de Desarrollo Económico y Social (IDES), elaborado a partir de la combinación de 13 variables-indicadores relacionados con el desarrollo: demográficos, económicos, sociales y ambientales. Los resultados obtenidos han permitido concluir que el territorio en estudio (TF y ATA), de acuerdo con los indicadores del PNUD, presenta un nivel de desarrollo bajo, cercano al medio-bajo una vez que el índice ha obtenido un valor medio de 0,4926

A região Norte de Portugal e a preferência da procura turística: Litoral versus Interior

Este artigo procura analisar a evolução da preferência da procura turística nas diferentes sub-regiões que integram a Região Norte de Portugal. Para este efeito calculou-se o Índice de Preferência comparando o destino do Litoral face ao Interior, no período de 1997 a 2001 e tendo como enquadramento teórico a Teoria do Sentimento do Investidor. Desta análise concluiu-se que, o Índice de Preferência indicia que os turistas preferem o destino turístico Litoral ao Interior, no período considerado. Quando se procedeu ao cálculo do Índice de Preferência tendo em conta a nacionalidade dos turistas, verificou-se que tanto os estrangeiros como os nacionais têm revelado uma progressiva preferência pelo Interior em detrimento do Litoral, indiciando que o Interior tem vindo a exercer uma crescente atracção sobre os mesmos, pelo que o Litoral poderá estar a perder competitividade face ao Interior.This article aims to analyse the evolution of preferences regarding tourism demand in the various sub regions that make up the Northern Region of Portugal. To achieve this, the Preferential Index has been calculated using the Investor Sentiment Theory as a theoretical framework. This analysis has done through a comparison of Coastal and Inland destinations, during the period of 1997 to 2001. The conclusion reached after this analysis is that the Preferential Index enables us to state that tourists prefer Coastal to Inland destinations for this period. Nevertheless after calculating the Preferential Index bearing in mind the tourists’ nationality, there has been a progressive preference of both national and foreign tourists towards Inland destinations in detriment of Coastal areas. In other words, it is possible to assume that competitiveness of Coastal regions is diminishing in relation to the Inland

O impacto da variável Páscoa na previsão da procura turística

Com este estudo pretende-se analisar o impacto do feriado móvel da Páscoa na previsão da procura turística, para as regiões Norte e Centro de Portugal. De salientar que a série temporal “Dormidas Mensais registadas nos estabelecimentos hoteleiros”, considerada como significativa da actividade turística, devido às suas características, denota que os fenómenos influenciam de forma distinta a procura turística, nas regiões em estudo. Assim, tendo por base modelos não lineares, sustentados pela metodologia das Redes Neuronais Artificiais (RNA), vai-se verificar se os resultados sofreram alterações significativas antes e após a utilização da variável dummy Páscoa. A inclusão desta nova variável no modelo prende-se com o facto de se ter detectado, em estudos anteriores, alguns valores atípicos na série temporal, dormidas mensais nos estabelecimentos hoteleiros nas regiões em estudo, pelo que se tenciona captar esse efeito

Modelling tourism demand: a comparative study between artificial neural networks and the Box-Jenkins methodology

This study seeks to investigate and highlight the usefulness of the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) methodology as an alternative to the Box-Jenkins methodology in analysing tourism demand. To this end, each of the above-mentioned methodologies is centred on the treatment, analysis and modelling of the tourism time series: “Nights Spent in Hotel Accommodation per Month”, recorded in the period from January 1987 to December 2006, since this is one of the variables that best expresses effective demand. The study was undertaken for the North and Centre regions of Portugal. The results showed that the model produced by using the ANN methodology presented satisfactory statistical and adjustment qualities, suggesting that it is suitable for modelling and forecasting the reference series, when compared with the model produced by using the Box-Jenkins methodology

Forecasting tourism demand with artificial neural networks

Tourism has been viewed as an important player for the economic redevelopment of certain rural regions because of the attraction of landscapes, mountain, and the interest in second-home or investment opportunities at lower prices (Jackson & Murphy, 2002). Even with tourism‟s potential for development at all levels, there have been very few studies regarding models for estimating the local impact of tourism (Jackson & Murphy, 2006). To enhance understanding of the nature of forecasting in tourism destinations it is valuable to study systematically the possible estimative of influence that tourism destination has on an area. The main objective of this study is to present a set of models for tourism destinations competitiveness, using the Artificial Neural Networks methodology. This study focuses on two Portuguese regions - North and Centre - as tourism destinations offering a large range of tourist products, that goes beyond the beach, the mountains, the thermals not forgetting the rural tourism that has growing in the last years. These tourism destinations offer an interesting alternative to the „mass tourism‟ and have become more competitive, since the last one is normally associated with negative environmental impacts