The academic value of internships: benefits across disciplines and student backgrounds

While student benefits from internship experience have been frequently documented in research, the emphasis has been on internship effects on employment and career indicators. This work is concerned with effects on academic outcomes and focuses on the robustness of such effects across academic disciplines as well as for different achievement levels of students, student gender, and ethnicity. We present findings from a longitudinal sample (n > 15,000) that covers an extensive range of subjects and disciplines for large Undergraduate cohorts. Main effects and interactions for student background characteristics were investigated showing stable academic benefits for advantaged and disadvantaged students. Further, using ordinal logistic multi-level modelling, we explored the impact on the probability of attaining a higher degree classification for different student scenarios, thus illustrating the practical significance of these internship effects. Effects are less likely to stem from maturation or self-selection. Findings are therefore discussed against a background of motivational approaches suitable to integrate both direct and indirect paths from internship experience to academic outcomes to career indicators

State courts and the regulation of land disputes in Ghana : the litigants' perspective

The majority of land in Ghana is still held under a diversity of customary tenures, embedded in family, community and chiefly institutions; but land disputes may be adjudicated in a variety of institutions: informal arbitrations and family tribunals, chiefs’ courts, quasi-legal state agencies and the formal state courts. Current debates on how to protect the land rights of the majority of customary land holders revolve around the respective merits of customary and non-state regulation (said to be accessible, flexible and socially embedded) versus state systems, which are said to offer more certainty, impartiality and nondiscriminatory codes and procedures. In Ghana, however, customary and state legal codes have been integrated for some time, and the state courts, which are frequently used as first instance adjudicators, apply customary rules. Does this mean that in Ghana the merits of customary law can be combined with the certainty and enforceability of state court dispute settlement? Based primarily on survey and interview data, the research analyses how litigants in three selected state courts perceived the experience of taking their land cases to court. It was found that, in spite of the problems and delays associated with the state courts, there was a very strong demand for authoritative and enforceable settlements which only the state could provide. It was also found that the justice offered by the state courts was not as alien or inappropriate as commonly supposed. Particularly in the Magistrates Court, judges were well respected and their procedures seen as sufficiently flexible and user-friendly. Moreover, the extreme reluctance to entertain out-of-court settlements casts doubt on the notion that proposals to move to more use of ADRs (Alternative Dispute Resolutions) will be successful if they fail to offer equivalent authority, fairness and enforceability. Keywords: Ghana, Land, Litigation, Courts, Disputes, Land Law, Access to Justice, Legal Pluralis

Democratic Decentralisation, Clientelism and Local Taxation in Ghana

It is generally assumed by advocates of democratic decentralisation that maximising locally-raised revenue sources will help to enhance accountability through a closer and more legitimate relationship betweenthe local government authority and citizens. Research on Ghana and other African countries shows, however, that the dominance of clientelist forms of politics undermines the legitimacy of local taxation; where voters expect their representatives to provide specific pay-backs to themselves or their communities in return for support and payment of tax, it is extremely difficult to establish a ‘collective interest’ for the local government area. Citizens tend to interpret allocation decisions over expenditure of revenues as products of patronage relations rather than as a collective public good. This problem is especially acute where resources are very scarce and the revenue base limited. Central government transfers are, therefore, likely to remain the fairest and most effective way of financing local government in such contexts

Overcoming loneliness: first-generation Slavic immigrants\u27 experience with loneliness in the Inland Northwest

The plight of loneliness has caused devastation to many social and cultural groups’ well-being. Scholars have analyzed and documented its adverse health such as suicide (Stravynski and Boyer 2001), Alzheimer’s disease (Wilson et al. 2007), depression (Erzen and Çikrikci 2018), immune system complications (Hawkley and Cacioppo 2003), and cardiovascular complications (Hawley and Cacioppo 2003). Some compare its health impacts to smoking 15 cigarettes a day (Health Resources and Services Administration 2019), while others emphasize how loneliness compels people to internet addiction (Ayas and Horzum 2013) and alcohol abuse (Åkerlind and Hörnquist 1992). Among the most susceptible populations to loneliness are first-generation immigrants (Djundeva and Ellwardt 2010; Koelet and de Valk 2016), who often experience cultural alienation (Baolian 2006; Safipour et al. 2011). This thesis examined first-generation Slavic immigrants who have had a long history Inland Northwest. Social network theory and a phenomenological approach guided my question formation and qualitative data collection methods. I used participant observation, informal interviews, semi-structured interviews, and case studies to explore how loneliness was experienced. I specifically looked at sociometric variables like the context of reception, socioeconomic status, perceived discrimination, duration of stay, age, marital status, and gender in relation to social networks and loneliness. A unique identity was formed and became a central focus for this project. The significant findings showed how the context of departure, time of arrival, and ethnicity formed a Slavic-Christian identity and allowed its communities to flourish. Ultimately, Spokane’s first-generation Slavic immigrants were not significantly lonely and overcame loneliness using their strong social networks and shared identity. Future quantitative research and Russian language proficiency are needed to better understand first-generation Slavic immigrant loneliness among first-generation Slavic Christians and non-Christian populations

Validity and Enforceability of Liability Waivers on Ski Lift Tickets

This article attempts to highlight some of the important differences in the legal enforceability of waivers. Currently, there is no uniform national standard for what are the inherent risks of skiing. Because the variance in liability rules can affect injured skiers so acutely, attorneys representing both ski resorts and injured skiers need to be aware of real differences in the enforceability of waivers in a sport not unfamiliar with serious injuries

Popular Concepts of Justice and Hybrid Judicial Institutions in Ghana

The provision of effective, legitimate and accessible justice is one of the most fundamental public goods expected from a well?governed state. In this article, we compare the legitimacy of three state or state?supported Ghanaian dispute settlement institutions: the magistrate's courts, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the land dispute committees of the neo?traditional Customary Land Secretariats (CLSs). It was found that popular beliefs and expectations are predominantly focused on the notion that justice requires a ‘balanced process for establishing the truth’, and that the procedures, codes and remedies used by the magistrate's courts and the CHRAJ were more congruent with these beliefs than those of the CLSs. The findings challenge stereotypes of popular and traditional justice as being primarily about reconciliation or restoration of communal harmony, and suggest that state institutions should be supported in their current development of hybrid and informal kinds of dispute settlement