The politicization of the PhD and the employability of doctoral graduates: An Australian case study in a global context

In this chapter, we reflect on current debates on the employability of doctoral graduates and related concerns about PhD graduates' work skills (or their lack) using recent Australia policy debates and developments (2008-2014) as a case study. The chapter proceeds in three sections. We begin with a global overview of the political attention being directed to the PhD and frame this politicization of the PhD as one consequence of the rise of knowledge economy discourses. We then survey the broad contours of the employment of PhD graduates debate and its contradictory elements, which simultaneously present cases for there being too many and too few PhDs. We argue that this is due to the operation of different frameworks for understanding the meaning, function and objectives of PhD education. The chapter then turns to Australia and a brief overview of the politicization of the Australian PhD under successive Federal governments since the 1990s. Political attention on the PhD has been intense in Australia since 2008, with the pursuit of an ambitious government-led research and innovation agenda with implications for the framing of the employability of PhD graduates and curriculum responses to address this issue. We conclude with some critical reflections on way this policy debate has been framed, highlighting some unexamined assumptions, and the failure to incorporate what is known about the diversity and prior work experience of the Australian PhD cohort

Qualitative inequality: experiences of women in Ethiopian higher education

This article examines the lived experiences of women in Ethiopian higher education (HE) as a counterpoint to understandings of gender equity informed only by data on admission, progression and completions rates. Drawing on a critical qualitative inquiry approach, we analyse and interpret data drawn from focus group discussions with female students and academic women in two public universities in Ethiopia. Individual accounts and shared experiences of women in HE revealed that despite affirmative action policies that slightly benefit females at entry point, gender inequality persists in qualitative forms. Prejudice against women and sexual violence are highlighted as key expressions of qualitative gender inequalities in the two universities. It is argued that HE institutions in Ethiopia are male-dominated, hierarchical and hostile to women. Furthermore, taken-for-granted gender assumptions and beliefs at institutional, social relational and individual levels operate to make women conform to structures of disadvantage and in effect sustain the repressive gender relations

In pursuit of the African PhD: A critical survey of emergent policy issues in select sub-Saharan African nations, Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa

After decades of decline, African higher education is now arguably in a new era of revival. With the prevalence of knowledge economy discourse, national governments in Africa and their development partners have increasingly aligned higher education with poverty reduction plans and strategies. Research capacity has become a critical development issue; and widening participation to doctoral education is seen as an instrument for enhancing this capacity. Against this backdrop, this paper presents a review of emerging initiatives and policies that have some bearing on the PhD in select sub-Saharan African nations, namely Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa. The findings show a shared optimism about the economic value of higher education, and explicate divergences and convergences in the framing of problems and policy responses related to doctoral education across the three nations. In the conclusion we reflect on challenges and policy omissions in the pursuit of the African PhD

Life expectancy, free of chronic condition-induced activity limitations among White and Black Americans, 2000-2006

by Michael T. Molla, Ph.D. and Jennifer H. Madans, Ph.D."December 2010."Also available via the World Wide Web.Includes bibliographical references

PhD crisis discourse: a critical approach to the framing of the problem and some Australian 'solutions'

A feature of HE reform discourse is the tendency to construct the rationale for reform in terms of averting calamity and risk. We refer to this risk talk as 'crisis discourse'. This study examines the formulation of PhD crisis discourse internationally and in Australia. We find that a key feature of PhD crisis discourse is that universities are producing too many graduates for too few academic jobs; and graduates lack skills that enable them to be productive in jobs outside academia. In Australia, the discourse has shifted from one dominated by efficiency concerns from the late 1990s to the present focus on graduate skills and employability. The policy solution to the efficiency crisis in the Australian PhD resulted in system-wide changes in research training funding focused on increased efficiency. The current unemployability discourse has as yet prompted isolated institutional responses, the introduction of new PhD programs or re-badging existing offerings as pro-skills development offerings. Following an examination of three Australian institutional responses, we conclude that the crisis discourse signals tensions surrounding the PhD: should achievement in doctoral education be measured by outcomes in intellectual excellence or the responsiveness of qualification to the current needs and priorities of society

Weathering of the Ethiopian volcanic province: a new weathering index to characterize and compare soils

© Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston 2015.Soil formation occurs through numerous physical and chemical weathering processes acting to alter the parent rock on the Earths surface. Samples of surface soils were collected over a range of elevations (2000-3600 m) from profiles directly overlying basaltic to more felsic parent rocks, over a region in NW Ethiopia. The soils were investigated to determine their chemical composition and X-ray diffraction was used to identify and quantify individual mineral phases. The data set was analyzed using non-parametric statistics (Spearmans Rank and Mann-Whitney U tests) to compare the soils forming over the two parent rocks. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify the mineral alteration assemblage and formation during pedogenesis. The extent of alteration was quantified using several chemical weathering indices (Chemical Index of Alteration = CIA; Chemical Index of Weathering = CIW), including an index calculated by multivariate analyses of the soil chemical composition data (weathering W index). Further to this we devised and tested a new weathering index (Wmin) using multivariate analysis of the soil mineralogy, to estimate the extent of weathering and physico-chemical proprieties of the parent rock from which the soil formed. The soils present a fair to advanced stage of alteration, with abundant iron (Fe) oxides (up to 40 wt%) and phyllosilicates (up to 57 wt%), including kaolinite-smectite (K-S) mixed-layer phases. The K-S was composed of either 30-50% kaolinite or 94-98% kaolinite layers. Discrete kaolinite was also present. The bimodal K-S mineralogical composition is likely due to two precursor phases: feldspar for the kaolinite-rich K-S and volcanic glass for the smectite-rich K-S. K-S with intermediate composition (50-94% kaolinite) was rare, due to its instability. Statistical analysis showed significant differences between the chemical compositions of the soils developed on the two different parent volcanic compositions. The soils overlying the more felsic parent rocks were less altered than those overlying the flood basalt. When comparing the weathering indices calculated in this study, we conclude that while the CIA and CIW may be more readily determined, the W and Wmin indices can elucidate information on the composition of the original rock from which they formed. The W index is more sensitive to certain variables when compared with the newly derived mineralogical Wmin index; however the Wmin index takes into account mineral phases within the sample, which provides a more detailed interpretation of weathering rates than chemistry alone. In addition the Wmin index correlated with meteorological variables, such as elevation (and consequently temperature and precipitation), known to influence the degree of pedogenesis. The Wmin index can be used to enhance our understanding of the processes that occur during weathering processes to supplement information gained from traditional chemical weathering indices

Patterns of Land Use/Cover Dynamics in the Mountain Landscape of Tara Gedam and Adjacent Agro-Ecosystem, Northwest Ethiopia

This study analyzed land use/cover dynamics in the mountain landscape of Tara Gedam and adjacent agro-ecosystem of northwest Ethiopia over a period of 46 years (1957–2003). The changes were measured through interpretation of aerial photographs taken in 1957 and 1980, and Land-sat satellite image of 2003 using Arc gis 9.2 software, supported by focal group discussions and field visits. Three separate maps (for years 1957, 1980 and 2003) of the study area were produced and six major land use/cover classes were identified: dense forest, woodland, shrub land, grassland, riverine vegetation and cultivated and settlement land. The results indicated that the main land trajectory was from natural vegetation cover to settlement and cultivated land. The cultivated and settlement land coverage increased by 90.60% between 1957 and 2003. However, woodland, dense forest, riverine vegetation, shrub and grasslands coverage declined by 97.87, 71.04, 37.00, 9.02 and 3.03%, respectively. These could be mainly attributed to anthropogenic factors. Increasing demands of more land for cultivation and settlement, overgrazing, deforestation for fuel wood and construction have resulted in a dramatic shrinkage of the area under natural vegetation. The 1975 national land reform proclamation of the country had also contributed to the expansion of cultivated and settlement land. The implications of these changes are increased land degradation and loss of biodiversity affecting the livelihood of the community. It is suggested that the study area needs an immediate intervention for developing sustainable land use practices and to manage the remaining natural vegetation and to rehabilitate the degraded lands

Tax-benefit microsimulation: Feasibility study in Ethiopia

The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility of building a microsiumlation model of the Ethiopian tax and benefits system. We first provide a detailed describtion of the tax and benefits system of the country. This includes qualifying criteria, tax brakcets, and exemptions. We then describe household survey datasets available in the country and examine the nature of these datasets in terms of representativeness, completeness, and panel data structure. Finally, we provide assessments for whether each tax and benefits system can be microsimulatd given the rules and the nature of the data available

Information Systems Solutions for Environmental Sustainability: How Can We Do More?

We contend that too few information systems (IS) academics engage in impactful research that offers solutions to global warming despite the fact that climate change is one of the most critical challenges facing this generation. Climate change is a major threat to global sustainability in the 21st century. Unfortunately, from submissions of our call for papers presenting IS solutions for environmental sustainability, we found only one paper worthy of publication. Given that IS have been the major force for productivity increases in the last half-century, we suggest that IS scholars should immerse themselves in creating solutions for environmental problems. Moreover, information is a perquisite for assessing the state of the environment and making appropriate decisions to ameliorate identified problems. Indeed, the IS scholarly community needs to help create a sustainable society. While there is an emerging body of IS scholarship under the banner of green IS, we strongly believe that we need to step up these efforts. Our experience indicates that the emergence of green IS as an academic discipline is still by far too slow relative to the needs of society. Too few people are working on green IS given its importance, and fewer still are publishing papers about IS solutions that could contribute to dealing with climate change. In this editorial, we speculate on some reasons for why and explore how the IS discipline can grasp the opportunity to contribute to one of the most important societal challenges of our time. We identify the major barriers that we assert curtail the involvement of IS scholars in green IS research; namely, incentives misalignment, the low status of practice science, data analysis poverty, identification of research scope, and research methods. We discuss each barrier and propose solutions for them