7 research outputs found

    International Students’ Perceptions and Experiences of British Drinking Cultures.

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    While the increased scale and importance of international students to the UK Higher Education sector is now well established, little is known about the ways in which students from non-UK countries experience and interact with the heavy drinking culture that predominates on and near many British universities. Drawing on qualitative interviews, this article analyses the perceptions, attitudes and experiences of British drinking cultures held by international students studying on postgraduate courses at a UK university. Students report prior awareness of alcohol consumption being important to British culture and recount both positive and negative experiences of witnessing and, for many, participating in drinking alcohol. Students make ready comparisons with the drinking habits and attitudes of their own culture. Further still, many made a distinction between the public house, or ‘pub’, as a welcoming and friendly social space and bars and nightclubs where a far greater risk of exposure to violence and harassment was perceived. The article provides theoretical insights to support future and more wide-ranging research into mobile drinking cultures and also suggests practical implications to inform stakeholders with interests in the welfare of international students in the UK in relation to the provision of effective and proactive policies which address the impact of British drinking cultures on international student integration and wellbeing

    Comparing and learning from English and American higher education access and completion policies

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    England and the United States provide a very interesting pairing as countries with many similarities, but also instructive dissimilarities, with respect to their policies for higher education access and success. We focus on five key policy strands: student information provision; outreach from higher education institutions; student financial aid; affirmative action or contextualisation in higher education admissions; and programmes to improve higher education retention and completion. At the end, we draw conclusions on what England and the US can learn from each other. The US would benefit from following England in using Access and Participation Plans to govern university outreach efforts, making more use of income-contingent loans, and expanding the range of information provided to prospective higher education students. Meanwhile, England would benefit from following the US in making greater use of grant aid to students, devoting more policy attention to educational decisions students are making in early secondary school, and expanding its use of contextualised admissions. While we focus on England and the US, we think that the policy recommendations we make carry wider applicability. Many other countries with somewhat similar educational structures, experiences, and challenges could learn useful lessons from the policy experiences of these two countries

    Design för Additiv Tillverkning – En metodik.

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    Additive manufacturing (AM), sometimes called 3D-printing is a group of manufacturing technologies that build up a product using a layer by layer technique and provides new ways of manufacturing parts and products. The Company in this thesis wants to make AM a tool in their manufacturing toolbox. When introducing this manufacturing method, new processes and methods have to be developed. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a methodology that will help the designers when identifying parts that should be manufactured using AM. The development of this methodology has followed the principles of service design which is a holistic interdisciplinary approach where methods from different disciplines are combined to create benefits to the end user experience. Before the development process, a large background study was performed to gather detailed information within the area of AM. The methodology concept was then developed through five iterative cycles where methods such as interviews, trigger material, questionnaire, case study and stakeholder mapping were used. The thesis resulted in an AM handbook with information regarding the technology and a five step methodology for choosing when and why to use AM as a manufacturing method. Step one is to identify the AM potential in a product which is based on complexity, customization and production volume. Step two is to specify requirements of the products, this can be surface finish, tolerances etc. The third step in the design methodology is part screening, which is the making of the final decision about if the product should be printed and if it can be printed. The fourth step is to choose an AM technology based on the requirements specified in step two by providing information about the technologies’ restrictions and possibilities. Step five in this methodology is the design of AM products and provides simple design guidelines. It has been shown that a dynamic task is best solved through working with dynamic methods, therefore service design approach is a flexible and good fit for this thesis. This design methodology is only a part of the AM-area and needs to be supplemented with other knowledge within the area. The first step after implementing this handbook is to investigate how the organization and business is affected when implementing AM.Additiv tillverkning (AM), Ă€ven kallat 3D-printing, Ă€r benĂ€mningen pĂ„ en grupp tillverkningstekniker dĂ€r en produkt byggs lager för lager. Denna masteruppsats har utförts i samarbete med ett svenskt industriföretag som levererar lösningar inom tillverkningsindustrin, i rapporten kallat Företaget. Genom att utveckla nya designprocesser och metoder vill Företaget inkludera AM i sin tillverkningsstrategi. Syftet med detta masterexamensarbete var att utveckla en metodik för hur urval och utveckling av produkter anpassade för AM ska ske. Utvecklingen av metodiken följer principerna för tjĂ€nstedesign, vilket innebĂ€r ett holistiskt tvĂ€rvetenskapligt arbetssĂ€tt dĂ€r metoder frĂ„n olika discipliner kombineras för att skapa en positiv upplevelse för slutanvĂ€ndaren. Innan utvecklingsprocessens start gjordes en stor bakgrundsstudie för att införskaffa kunskaper kring AM. DĂ€refter utvecklades en metod genom fem iterativa cykler dĂ€r metoder som intervjuer, triggermaterial, frĂ„geformulĂ€r, fallstudier och stakeholdermapping anvĂ€ndes. Masteruppsatsen resulterade i en handbok med information kring teknikerna och en metodik i fem steg för att vĂ€lja nĂ€r och varför AM bör anvĂ€ndas som tillverkningsmetod. Första steget Ă€r att identifiera AM potentialen hos en produkt, vilket baseras pĂ„ komplexitet, kundanpassning och produktionsvolym. I steg tvĂ„ ska produktkrav specificeras, exempel pĂ„ sĂ„dana krav Ă€r ytfinhet och toleranser. Tredje steget i metoden handlar om en produkt-undersökning under vilken ett slutgiltigt beslut fattas angĂ„ende om produkten kan och bör tillverkas. I fjĂ€rde steget sker valet av teknik baserat pĂ„ de produktkrav som specificerats i steg tvĂ„, genom att information ges angĂ„ende teknikens möjligheter och begrĂ€nsningar. Femte steget i metoden handlar om designen av AM produkter och förser konstruktören med enklare riktlinjer för designen. Utveckling av en metodik krĂ€ver ett dynamiskt arbetssĂ€tt och principerna inom service design visade sig passa bra för detta projekt. Det visade sig ocksĂ„ att den resulterade metodik behöver kompletteras med information i framtiden. Det behövs Ă€ven faststĂ€llas tydliga mĂ„l för AM i företaget och vilket syfte implementeringen av denna nya process innebĂ€
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