Factors influencing the choice of a bank : An international student perspective

Purpose: The purposeof this thesis is to identify what factors influence international students in their choice of a bank.Literature review: A review of previous research about bank selection criteria related to students as well as a few examples of bank choice studies in the general population is presented. The review consists of studies from different years to illustrate criteria that reoccur in order to decrease the chances of overlooking important criteria that may be of importance for today‘s customers. Method: The thesis is based upon empirical data gathering through a non-probability sampling technique by distributing questionnaires through the Internet and in person. The data was analyzedwith the help of exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Conclusion: We found thatfive factors influence the choice of bank for international students. These factors are: cost of the bank services, use of technology, convenience, banks‘ reputation and marketing communication effectiveness. These factors could be helpful for banks who want to gain customers from international students, which are a relatively unexploited customer segment.

Language ideologies and Schooled Education in Rural Tanzania : The Case of Karagwe

In this article I argue that language policies for education have effects on pupils’ educational possibilities. With the case of Karagwe district in Tanzania I have found that the case of “Swahili only” in primary school education favours the small minority of the children that live in a context where Swahili is used. This leads to inequality in pupils’ chances in education and to a low level of achievement of academic content in schools. This also promote the developing and use of safety strategies among teachers and pupils that hide failure and prevent pupils’ learning.

Göra illa för att hjälpa eller hjälpa till att göra illa? : Arbetslösas reservationslöner, jobbchanser och återanställningsinkomster

Hurting to help or helping to hurt? The reservation wages of unemployed, job chances and reemployment incomes in Sweden Economic incentives and their impact on the job search behaviour of the unemployed have been a central focus in the academic and political debate in Sweden. A key concept has been the reservation wages of the unemployed, the lowest income at which an unemployed person would be willing to accept a job offer. Unemployment benefit systems have been argued to raise and maintain reservation wages at high levels that lower job chances. This has been supported by a large number of international studies. From this perspective lower reservation wages would function as protection against long term unemployment and the scarring effects associated with it. High reservation wages might however, based on the same behavioural assumptions, have a human capital preserving effect. The possibility to hold out for the right job should reduce human capital losses compared to accepting the first available job offer. In this article we use Swedish longitudinal micro data combining interview and register data in order to investigate three central aspects reservation wages in a Swedish context: factors influencing the setting of reservation wages, the effect of reservation wage on job chances and the impact of reservation wages on reemployment incomes. Our findings show that benefit level and pre-unemployment position in the wage structure are central factors for setting the reservation wage. The effects of reservation wages were however not the expected. No effects were found on job chances, while a strong positive effect was found on reemployment income. This together indicates that high reservation wages have a human capital preserving effect in Sweden.

Portals for microenterprises in rural area : two cases

Research has shown that microenterprises have ability to survive and grow with the support of portals that include eCcommerce. However, almost no research has demonstrated how it’s done and what support microenterprises want. Results of our study shows that the portals have to be improved to support the use of advanced ICT applications, make it usable to use, and give more time for core business for the participating microenterprises. We have seen that portals have to solve problem with the technical solution and the process of payment. The network building activities in the portals do not happen in such extent that we have expected based on previous research. If portals will get businesses to grow in microenterprises, we propose that in addition to providing access to advanced ICT applications need to climbs one step higher in the DTI ladder and create more of eCommerce to increase sales in a greater market. We also propose that portals which support cooperation between microenterprises in rural areas from different branches have the best chances to succeed in the future.

Medical students are afraid to include abortion in their future practices : in-depth interviews in Maharastra, India

BACKGROUND: Unsafe abortions are estimated to cause eight per-cent of maternal mortality in India. Lack of providers, especially in rural areas, is one reason unsafe abortions take place despite decades of legal abortion. Education and training in reproductive health services has been shown to influence attitudes and increase chances that medical students will provide abortion care services in their future practice. To further explore previous findings about poor attitudes toward abortion among medical students in Maharastra, India, we conducted in-depth interviews with medical students in their final year of education. METHOD: We used a qualitative design conducting in-depth interviews with twenty-three medical students in Maharastra applying a topic guide. Data was organized using thematic analysis with an inductive approach. RESULTS: The participants described a fear to provide abortion in their future practice. They lacked understanding of the law and confused the legal regulation of abortion with the law governing gender biased sex selection, and concluded that abortion is illegal in Maharastra. The interviewed medical students' attitudes were supported by their experiences and perceptions from the clinical setting as well as traditions and norms in society. Medical abortion using mifepristone and misoprostol was believed to be unsafe and prohibited in Maharastra. The students perceived that nurse-midwives were knowledgeable in Sexual and Reproductive Health and many found that they could be trained to perform abortions in the future. CONCLUSIONS: To increase chances that medical students in Maharastra will perform abortion care services in their future practice, it is important to strengthen their confidence and knowledge through improved medical education including value clarification and clinical training.