East Asia Today

East Asia attracts growing interest in the West. Th e region is the world’s hotbed of economic growth, led by burgeoning China aided by more advanced Asian economies investing heavily in manufacturing and trading networks involving China. Western entrepreneurs clamor to join the China wave

Supra-national accreditation, trust and institutional autonomy: Contrasting developments of accreditation in the United States and Europe

There have been calls to increase the autonomy of higher education institutions in Europe for a number of years. They have been counterbalanced by demands for increasing accountability and a European quality assurance system. In London in 2007, the European ministers of education decided to implement a European register of accredited quality agencies, and defined standards for registration. Being part of the register requires “substantial compliance with all standards” instead of “full-compliance”. This might take into consideration the context of the national higher education system, the role of the agency in the quality assurance system, and even the national culture and traditions, allowing for different interpretations, some imprecision, and diverse degrees of flexibility and compliance. Indications from the United States suggest an emerging desire at the federal level to play a more visible role in regulating higher education through intervention in the accreditation system to ensure increased institutional accountability. This may have a parallel in the European situation. While in the United States the attempts at increased federal control have so far apparently failed, in Europe quality systems linked to higher education institutions were replaced with “independent” accrediting agencies. We analyse these changes and offer a possible interpretation for the differences on the two sides of the Atlantic. Accréditation supranationale, confiance et autonomie des établissements : Contrastes du développement de l’accréditation entre l’Europe et les États-Unis À l’échelon européen, certains soulignent depuis plusieurs années la nécessité de conférer une autonomie accrue aux établissements d’enseignement supérieur, alors même que d’autres exigent que ces derniers rendent davantage de comptes concernant leurs activités et leurs performances. À Londres en 2007, les ministres européens de l’éducation ont décidé la mise en place d’un registre européen où figureront les agences accréditées et où seront définies les normes auxquelles ces agences devront se plier pour être autorisées à y figurer. Les conditions à respecter pour pouvoir être inscrit au registre européen sont ainsi passées d’une « conformité totale à l’ensemble des normes » à une « large conformité ». L’interprétation de ces normes pourrait s’effectuer en tenant compte des spécificités propres à chaque système d’enseignement supérieur national, au rôle de chaque agence au sein du système d’assurance qualité, voire de la culture et des traditions nationales, laissant la voie ouverte à des divergences d’interprétation, à une certaine marge d’imprécision et à divers degrés de flexibilité et de conformité. Des indications provenant des États-Unis suggèrent l’émergence d’un souhait, au niveau fédéral, de jouer un rôle plus visible dans la régulation de l’enseignement supérieur, via l’intervention du système d’accréditation pour assurer un développement de la responsabilité institutionnelle. Cette tendance incite naturellement à établir un parallèle avec la situation observée en Europe. Tandis qu’aux États-Unis, les tentatives visant à renforcer le contrôle par les autorités fédérales semblent avoir échoué, en Europe, les systèmes de qualité liés aux établissements d’enseignement supérieur ont été remplacés par des agences d’accréditation « indépendantes ». Dans ce rapport, les auteurs proposent une analyse de ces changements et suggèrent une interprétation possible des différences existant des deux côtés de l’Atlantique.

Higher education (related) choices in Portugal: joint decisions on institution type and leaving home

The aim of this paper is twofold. We want to further investigate the type of higher education institution choice using individual level data on first year students, on the one hand, and to establish the link between subsystem choice and leaving home decision, on the other hand. The analysis was performed for Portuguese higher education by means of a bivariate probit model. Results indicated gender differences in the type of higher education institution choice. Socio-economic background appeared to constrain student choices and accessibility did play a role in their decisions. When it comes to the leaving home decision, the higher the income group and the higher the parents’ literacy, the more likely students stayed at home. Students with strong preferences over leisure activities tended to leave home to attend higher education.university, polytechnic institute, leaving home, accessibility

Higher education (related) choices in Portugal : joint decisions on institution type and leaving home

The aim of this paper is twofold. We want to further investigate the type of higher education institution choice using individual level data on first year students, on the one hand, and to establish the link between subsystem choice and leaving home decision, on the other hand. The analysis was performed for Portuguese higher education by means of a bivariate probit model. Results indicated gender differences in the type of higher education institution choice. Socio-economic background appeared to constrain student choices and accessibility did play a role in their decisions. When it comes to the leaving home decision, the higher the income group and the higher the parents’ literacy, the more likely students stayed at home. Students with strong preferences over leisure activities tended to leave home to attend higher education.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Evaluation of a quality improvement intervention to reduce anastomotic leak following right colectomy (EAGLE): pragmatic, batched stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized trial in 64 countries

Background Anastomotic leak affects 8 per cent of patients after right colectomy with a 10-fold increased risk of postoperative death. The EAGLE study aimed to develop and test whether an international, standardized quality improvement intervention could reduce anastomotic leaks. Methods The internationally intended protocol, iteratively co-developed by a multistage Delphi process, comprised an online educational module introducing risk stratification, an intraoperative checklist, and harmonized surgical techniques. Clusters (hospital teams) were randomized to one of three arms with varied sequences of intervention/data collection by a derived stepped-wedge batch design (at least 18 hospital teams per batch). Patients were blinded to the study allocation. Low- and middle-income country enrolment was encouraged. The primary outcome (assessed by intention to treat) was anastomotic leak rate, and subgroup analyses by module completion (at least 80 per cent of surgeons, high engagement; less than 50 per cent, low engagement) were preplanned. Results A total 355 hospital teams registered, with 332 from 64 countries (39.2 per cent low and middle income) included in the final analysis. The online modules were completed by half of the surgeons (2143 of 4411). The primary analysis included 3039 of the 3268 patients recruited (206 patients had no anastomosis and 23 were lost to follow-up), with anastomotic leaks arising before and after the intervention in 10.1 and 9.6 per cent respectively (adjusted OR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.59 to 1.30; P = 0.498). The proportion of surgeons completing the educational modules was an influence: the leak rate decreased from 12.2 per cent (61 of 500) before intervention to 5.1 per cent (24 of 473) after intervention in high-engagement centres (adjusted OR 0.36, 0.20 to 0.64; P < 0.001), but this was not observed in low-engagement hospitals (8.3 per cent (59 of 714) and 13.8 per cent (61 of 443) respectively; adjusted OR 2.09, 1.31 to 3.31). Conclusion Completion of globally available digital training by engaged teams can alter anastomotic leak rates. Registration number: NCT04270721 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)