Post-national citizenship without post-national identity? A case study of UK immigration policy and intra-EU migration

A key dividing line in the literature on post-national citizenship concerns the role of collective identity. While some hold that a post-national form of identity is desirable in developing citizenship in contexts such as the European Union (EU), others question the defensibility of a collective identity at this supra-national level. The aim of this article is to intervene in this debate, drawing on qualitative research to consider the extent to which post-national citizenship should be accompanied by a form of post-national identity. The article takes the UK as a case study, and explores tensions between the immigration policies and rhetoric of the Coalition Government since 2010 and the post-national citizenship rights of EU citizens migrating into British local communities. It draws on independently collected qualitative data from the county of Herefordshire, UK, to argue that the persistent reinforcement of national identity reproduces national lines of difference which further problematise the full realisation of European citizenship. At a theoretical level, this highlights the need for the development of post-national citizenship rights to be accompanied by a paradigmatic shift in the way that collective identity is constituted in post-national contexts.

How do engineering students develop practical competencies during a period of industrial placement? - Students' perceptions

This paper explores engineering students' perceptions of developing practical competencies as experienced in their industrial placements. In addition, it discusses the criticisms in the literature on Problem Based Learning, Project Based Learning and Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate in relation to the evaluation of effective learning and teaching during placements. The paper goes on to discuss a study which examines how undergraduate engineering students develop practical competencies during their industrial placements. A phenomenological research approach is adopted using in-depth interviews and document analysis. The research findings from this PhD study will contribute to the knowledge, theory and practice for the students, the industries and the institutions of higher education as students' practical competencies are developed and graduate employability rises. In conclusion, this study explores students' experiences of developing practical competencies during industrial placements. Hence, the study should be able to contribute to a set of evidence-based guidelines for higher education institutions and industry.

Making the organization fly:organizational identification and citizenship in full-service and low-cost airlines

Recently, the service industry has seen a low-cost sector emerge alongside the traditional full-service sector. We explored whether these business models have different implications for employee cooperation, one factor that plays an important role in organizational functioning. Drawing on the social identity perspective, we argue that employees will identify less strongly with the lower-status, low-cost organizations, reducing their intrinsic motivation for such cooperation. We tested these relationships among employees in Thailand's airline industry. In line with expectations, flight attendants working for low-cost airlines (N = 77) perceived their organizations to have lower status than those working for the full-service airlines (N = 77), and this was associated with reduced organizational identification. This in turn predicted lower levels of organizational citizenship behaviour and a stronger desire for organizational exit. © 2010 Hogrefe Publishing.

Does the subject content of the pharmacy degree course influence the community pharmacist’s views on competencies for practice?

Do community pharmacists coming from different educational backgrounds rank the importance of competences for practice differently-or is the way in which they see their profession more influenced by practice than university education? A survey was carried out on 68 competences for pharmacy practice in seven countries with different pharmacy education systems in terms of the relative importance of the subject areas chemical and medicinal sciences. Community pharmacists were asked to rank the competences in terms of relative importance for practice; competences were divided into personal and patient-care competences. The ranking was very similar in the seven countries suggesting that evaluation of competences for practice is based more on professional experience than on prior university education. There were some differences for instance in research-related competences and these may be influenced, by education.