The experiences of South Asian university students in the British education system and in their search for work

This research aimed to provide a comparative analysis of South Asian and White British students in their academic attainment at school and university and in their search for employment. Data were gathered by using a variety of methodological techniques. Completed postal questionnaires were received from 301 South Asian and White British undergraduates from 12 British universities, who were in their final year of study in 1985. In depth interviews were also conducted with 49 graduates who were a self selected group from the original sample. Additional information was also collected by using diary report forms and by administering a second postal questionnaire to selected South Asian and White British participants. It was found that while the pre-university qualifications of the White British and South Asian undergraduates did not differ considerably, many members in the latter group had travelled a more arduous path to academic success. For some South Asians, school experiences included the confrontation of racist attitudes and behaviour, both from teachers and peers. The South Asian respondents in this study were more likely than their White British counterparts, to have attempted some C.S.E. examinations, obtained some of their `O' levels in the Sixth Form and retaken their `A' levels. As a result the South Asians were on average older than their White British peers when entering university. A small sample of South Asians also found that the effects of racism were perpetuated in higher education where they faced difficulty both academically and socially. Overall, however, since going to university most South Asians felt further drawn towards their `cultural background', this often being their own unique view of `Asianess'. Regarding their plans after graduation, it was found that South Asians were more likely to opt for further study, believing that they needed to be better qualified than their White British counterparts. For those South Asians who were searching for work, it was noted that they were better qualified, willing to accept a lower minimum salary, had made more job applications and had started searching for work earlier than the comparable White British participants. Also, although generally they were not having difficulty in obtaining interviews, South Asian applicants were less likely to receive an offer of employment. In the final analysis examining their future plans, it was found that a large proportion of South Asian graduates were aspiring towards self employment.

An evaluation of motivations for studying pharmacy, career commitment and future career plans

It has been predicted that there will be a full time pharmacist workforce shortage of over 15,000 by 2013. It is therefore necessary to recruit more students of a suitable calibre to undergraduate pharmacy degree courses. This study was designed to investigate the motivations of pre-university and MPharm students for studying pharmacy. A series of focus groups was conducted with Year 12 students and a national survey of Year 13, 1st year MPharm and 4th year MPharm students was undertaken. The study found that amongst Year 12 students, pharmacy is perceived as a background profession and was also perceived as being of a lower status than medicine and dentistry. It was concluded that there was a need for greater promotion of pharmacy as a career amongst pre-university students, including the provision of structured work experience placements. Analysis of UCAS applicant data for pharmacy shows that the applicant pool is buoyant and that the majority of applicants are female. Female respondents to the surveys were significantly more likely than males to wish to work part time if they had a family. This could lead to further shortages in the full time workforce. The largest ethnic group of applicants to pharmacy degree courses were Asian. Business ownership and self-employment were motivations for entering the procession of pharmacy and career aims for significantly more Asian than White respondents. Ownership of independent pharmacies is declining and this could be a barrier to future recruitment to pharmacy degree courses. A high degree of interest in locum working may present a problem for continuity in commissioned services within community pharmacy practice. Further work is needed to examine the motivations for working as a locum pharmacist.

Today's pupils tomorrow's engineers! Pedagogy and policy:a UK perspective

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a critical analysis of UK Government policy in respect of recent moves to attract young people into engineering. Drawing together UK and EU policy literature, the paper considers why young people fail to look at engineering positively. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing together UK policy, practitioner and academic-related literature the paper critically considers the various factors influencing young people's decision-making processes in respect of entering the engineering profession. A conceptual framework providing a diagrammatic representation of the “push” and “pull” factors impacting young people at pre-university level is given. Findings – The discussion argues that higher education in general has a responsibility to assist young people overcome negative stereotypical views in respect of engineering education. Universities are in the business of building human capability ethically and sustainably. As such they hold a duty of care towards the next generation. From an engineering education perspective, the major challenge is to present a relevant and sustainable learning experience that will equip students with the necessary skills and competencies for a lifelong career in engineering. This may be achieved by promoting transferable skills and competencies or by the introduction of a capabilities-driven curriculum which brings together generic and engineering skills and abilities. Social implications – In identifying the push/pull factors impacting young people's decisions to study engineering, this paper considers why, at a time of global recession, young people should select to study the required subjects of mathematics, science and technology necessary to study for a degree in engineering. The paper identifies the long-term social benefits of increasing the number of young people studying engineering. Originality/value – In bringing together pedagogy and policy within an engineering framework, the paper adds to current debates in engineering education providing a distinctive look at what seems to be a recurring problem – the failure to attract young people into engineering.

Getting round pegs into round holes:getting students onto the right engineering programme

Aston University offers a Foundation year in Engineering and Applied Science. The purpose of this programme is to prepare people with the necessary skills and knowledge required to enrol on an undergraduate programme in Engineering and Applied Science. It is acknowledged there are many misconceptions as to what engineering is. This is further compounded by the lack of knowledge of the different engineering disciplines both by pre-university students and careers teachers [1]. In order to ameliorate this lack of knowledge, Aston University offers a unique programme where students are given the opportunity to have a ?taste? of four Engineering Disciplines: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Computer Science. Alongside these ?taster? sessions, the students study a Professional Skills module where they are expected to keep a portfolio of skills. In their portfolios they comment on their strengths and weakness in relation to six skill areas: independent enquirer, self-manager, effective participator, creative thinker, reflective learner and team worker. The portfolio gives them the opportunity to perform a self-skills audit and identify areas where they have strengths and areas which require work to improve to become a competent professional engineer. They also have talks from engineers who discuss with them their careers and the different aspects of engineering. The purpose of the ?taster? sessions, portfolio and the talks are to encourage the students to critically examine their career aspirations and choose an engineering undergraduate programme which best suits their ambitions and potential skills. The feedback from students has been very positive. The ?taster? sessions have enabled them to make an informed choice as to the undergraduate programme they would like to study. The programme has given them the technical skills and knowledge to enrol on an undergraduate programme and also the skills and knowledge to be a successful learner.

Comparison of the effect of pre-treatment and catalysts on liquid quality from fast pyrolysis of biomass

The overall objective of this work was to compare the effect of pre-treatment and catalysts on the quality of liquid products from fast pyrolysis of biomass. This study investigated the upgrading of bio-oil in terms of its quality as a bio-fuel and/or source of chemicals. Bio-oil used directly as a biofuel for heat or power needs to be improved particularly in terms of temperature sensitivity, oxygen content, chemical instability, solid content, and heating values. Chemicals produced from bio-oil need to be able to meet product specifications for market acceptability. There were two main objectives in this research. The first was to examine the influence of pre-treatment of biomass on the fast pyrolysis process and liquid quality. The relationship between the method of pre-treatment of biomass feedstock to fast pyrolysis oil quality was studied. The thermal decomposition behaviour of untreated and pretreated feedstocks was studied by using a TGA (thermogravimetric analysis) and a Py-GC/MS (pyroprobe-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry). Laboratory scale reactors (100g/h, 300g/h, 1kg/h) were used to process untreated and pretreated feedstocks by fast pyrolysis. The second objective was to study the influence of numerous catalysts on fast pyrolysis liquids from wheat straw. The first step applied analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS) to determine which catalysts had an effect on fast pyrolysis liquid, in order to select catalysts for further laboratory fast pyrolysis. The effect of activation, temperature, and biomass pre-treatment on catalysts were also investigated. Laboratory experiments were also conducted using the existing 300g/h fluidised bed reactor system with a secondary catalytic fixed bed reactor. The screening of catalysts showed that CoMo was a highly active catalyst, which particularly reduced the higher molecular weight products of fast pyrolysis. From these screening tests, CoMo catalyst was selected for larger scale laboratory experiments. With reference to the effect of pre-treatment work on fast pyrolysis process, a significant effect occurred on the thermal decomposition of biomass, as well as the pyrolysis products composition, and the proportion of key components in bio-oil. Torrefaction proved to have a mild influence on pyrolysis products, when compared to aquathermolysis and steam pre-treatment.

The pre-treatment and pyrolysis of biomass for the production of liquids for fuels and speciality chemicals

Fast pyrolysis of biomass is a significant technology for producing pyrolysis liquids [also known as bio-oil], which contain a number of chemicals. The pyrolysis liquid can be used as a fuel, can be produced solely as a source of chemicals or can have some of the chemicals extracted and the residue used as a fuel. There were two primary objectives of this work. The first was to determine the fast pyrolysis conditions required to maximise the pyrolysis liquid yield from a number of biomass feedstocks. The second objective was to selectively increase the yield of certain chemicals in the pyrolysis liquid by pre-treatment of the feedstock prior to pyrolysis. For a particular biomass feedstock the pyrolysis liquid yield is affected by the reactor process parameters. It has been found that, providing the other process parameters are restricted to the values shown below, reactor temperature is the controlling parameter. The maximum pyrolysis liquid yield and the temperature at which it occurs has been found by a series of pyrolysis experiments over the temperature range 400-600°C. high heating rates > 1000°C/s; pyrolysis vapour residence times <2 seconds; pyrolysis vapour temperatures >400 but <500°C; rapid quenching of the product vapours. Pre-treatment techniques have been devised to modify the chemical composition and/or structure of the biomass in such a way as to influence the chemical composition of the pyrolysis liquid product. The pre-treatments were divided into two groups, those that remove material from the biomass and those which add material to the biomass. Component removal techniques have selectively increased the yield of levoglucosan from 2.45 to 18.58 mf wt.% [dry feedstock basis]. Additive techniques have selectively increased the yield of hydroxyacetaldehyde from 7.26 to 11.63 mf w.% [dry feedstock basis]. Techno-economic assessment has been carried out on an integrated levoglucosan production process [incorporating pre-treatment, pyrolysis and chemical extraction stages] to assess which method of chemical production is the more cost effective. It has been found that it is better to pre-treat the biomass in order to increase the yield of specific chemicals in the pyrolysis liquid and hence improve subsequent chemicals extraction.

Ametropia and ocular biometry in a UK university student population

Purpose. The prevalence of myopia is known to vary with age, ethnicity, level of education, and socioeconomic status, with a high prevalence reported in university students and in people from East Asian countries. This study determines the prevalence of ametropia in a mixed ethnicity U.K. university student population and compares associated ocular biometric measures. Methods. Refractive error and related ocular component data were collected on 373 first-year U.K. undergraduate students (mean age = 19.55 years ± 2.99, range = 17-30 years) at the start of the academic year at Aston University, Birmingham, and the University of Bradford, West Yorkshire. The ethnic variation of the students was as follows: white 38.9%, British Asian 58.2%, Chinese 2.1%, and black 0.8%. Noncycloplegic refractive error was measured with an infrared open-field autorefractor, the Shin-Nippon NVision-K 5001 (Shin Nippon, Ryusyo Industrial Co. Ltd, Osaka, Japan). Myopia was defined as a mean spherical equivalent (MSE) less than or equal to -0.50 D. Hyperopia was defined as an MSE greater than or equal to +0.50 D. Axial length, corneal curvature, and anterior chamber depth were measured using the Zeiss IOLMaster (Carl Zeiss, Jena, GmBH). Results. The analysis was carried out only for white and British Asian groups. The overall distribution of refractive error exhibited leptokurtosis, and prevalence levels were similar for white and British Asian (the predominant ethnic group) students across each ametropic group: myopia (50% vs. 53.4%), hyperopia (18.8% vs. 17.3%), and emmetropia (31.2% vs. 29.3%). There were no significant differences in the distribution of ametropia and biometric components between white and British Asian samples. Conclusion. The absence of a significant difference in refractive error and ocular components between white and British Asian students exposed to the same educational system is of interest. However, it is clear that a further study incorporating formal epidemiologic methods of analysis is required to address adequately the recent proposal that juvenile myopia develops principally from myopiagenic environments and is relatively independent of ethnicity.

An evaluation of pharmacy education and pre-registration training

This thesis covers two major aspects of pharmacy education; undergraduate education and pre-registration training. A cohort of pharmacy graduates were surveyed over a period of four years, on issues related to undergraduate education, pre-registration training and continuing education. These graduates were the first-ever to sit the pre-registration examination. In addition, the opinions of pre-registration tutors were obtained on pre-registration training, during the year that competence-based assessment was introduced. It was concluded that although the undergraduate course provided a broad base of knowledge suitable for graduates in all branches of pharmacy, several issues were identified which would require attention in future developments of the course. These were: 1. the strong support for the expansion of clinical, social and practice-based teaching. 2. the strong support to retain the scientific content to the same extent as in the three-year course. 3. a greater use of problem-based learning methods. The graduates supported the provision of a pre-registration continuing education course to help prepare for the examination and in areas inadequately covered in the undergraduate course. There was also support for the introduction of some form of split branch training. There was no strong evidence to suggest that the training had been an application of undergraduate education. In general, competence-based training was well regarded by tutors as an appropriate and effective method of skill assessment. However, community tutors felt it was difficult to carry out effectively due to day-to-day time constraints. The assistant tutors in hospital pharmacy were found to have a very important role in provision of training, and should be adequately trained and supported. The study recommends the introduction of uniform training and a quality assurance mechanism for all tutors and assistants undertaking this role.

Education and racism:a study of the teachers' and the pupils' relations in the schooling of black boys

This thesis examines the teachers' and the pupils' relations in the schooling of black boys. The study using the methodology of participant observation focusses on one school (Kilby) in an area of black population in an English city. The thesis’s intentions are two fold: firstly, in order to examine these relations, two major aspects of their interaction are addressed, that of the absence of teachers from conventional 'race-relations' research, and, the identification and examination of the anti-school pupils' sub-cultures. Two substantive questions are asked: what is the response of the teachers to the schooling of black pupils? and, what is the meaning of the pupils' resistance to schooling? Secondly, in attempting to answer these questions and offer a critique of the dominant 'race-relations' culturalist explanation of black youth's response to schooling, a theoretical framework has been developed which takes account of both the 'economic' and the 'sociological' perspectives. Methodology allowed and pointed to the importance of examining the teachers' ideologies and practices as well as those of the black boys. It is argued that a class analysis of the racially structured British society is more adequate than the conventional ethnic approach in explaining the black boys' location within Kilby School. Hence, it is posited that the major problem in the schooling of black youth is not that of their culture but of racism, which pervasively structures the social reality at Kilby school. Racism is mediated both through the existing institutional framework that discriminates against working-class youth and through the operation of race specific mechanisms, such as the process of racist stereotyping. It is thus further argued that the Kilby school teachers are of central causal significance to the - problems that the boys encounter. Furthermore, it is in response to these racist ideologies and practices that both West Indian and Asian pupils develop specific forms of collective resistance, which are seen to be linked to the wider black community, as legitimate strategies of survival.

The black middle class: middle class Afro-Caribbeans: a racial fraction of the British middle class or a class fraction of a racial group

This research examines the relationship between 'race' and class in Britain. This is achieved by considering how these two concepts articulate in the overall structuring of class relationships in a society which is typified by the incorporatation of black labour into a majority white society, This relationship is examined through an investigation of those black workers who occupy a position in the objectively defined middle class. The basic theme underlying this research is that 'race, in the form of structural racism, plays a significant role at two levels. Firstly, it serves to structure the class position of black labour in Britain. Secondly, it serves to determine the type of race, class and political consciousness generated by black labour. The study was carried out in the London area. Occupation was used as an indicator of 'objective' class position when selecting respondents to be included in the two survey populations required for the research. A 'network' approach was used to actually locate the respondents. In-depth interviews were carried out with all the respondents. The study concludes that the concepts of 'race' and class are not independent of each other in the overall structuring of class relationships between black and white labour. It is argued that the inter-relationship identified between these two concepts serves to highlight the fact that the structural position of black labour, the type of consciousness generated and the type of decisions taken by those who took part in the research are to a large extent a result of the structural constraints deriving from the effects of structural racism in Britain.

The development of the visual system in pre-term infants as assessed by electrophysiological techniques

In an endeavour to provide further insight into the maturation of the human visual system, the contiguous development of the pattern reversal VEP, flash VEP and flash ERG was studied in a group of neurologically normal pre-term infants, born between 28 and 35 weeks gestation. Maturational changes were observed in all the evoked electrophysiological responses recorded, these were mainly characterised by an increase in the complexity of the waveform and a shortening in the latency of the response. Initially the ERG was seen to consist of a broad b-wave only, with the a-wave emerging at an average age of 40 weeks PMA. The a-wave showed only a slight reduction in latency and a modest increase in amplitude as the infant grows older, whereas the changes seen in the ERG b-wave were much more dramatic. Pattern reversal VEPs were successfully recorded for the first time during the pre-term period. Flash VEPs were also recorded for comparison. The neonatal pattern reversal VEP consistently showed a major positive component (P1) of long latency. As the infant grew older, the latency of the P1 component decreased and was found to be negatively correlated with PMA at recording. The appearance of the N1 and N2 components became more frequent as the infant matured. The majority of infants were found to be myopic at birth and refractive error was correlated with PMA, with emmetropisation occurring at about 45 weeks PMA. The pattern reversal VEP in response to 2o checks was apparently unaffected by refractive error.

Multiculturalism- the ideological response to the education of black pupils in British Schools

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