What factors of satisfaction and motivation are affecting the development of the academic career in Portuguese higher education institutions?

An important constituent group and a key resource of higher education institutions (HEIs) is the faculty or academic staff. The centrality of the faculty role makes it a primary sculptor of institutional culture and has implications for the quality of the institution and therefore has a major role in achieving the objectives of the institution. Demand for academic staff in higher education has been increasing and may be expected to continue to increase. Moreover the performance of academic staff as teachers and researchers determines much of the student satisfaction and has an impact on student learning. There are many factors that serve to undermine the commitment of academics to their institutions and careers. Job satisfaction is important in revitalizing staff motivation and in keeping their enthusiasm alive. Well motivated academic staff can, with appropriate support, build a national and international reputation for themselves and the institution in the professional areas, in research and in publishing. This paper aims to identify the issues and their impacts on academic staff job satisfaction and motivation within Portuguese higher education institutions reporting an ongoing study financed by the European Union through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.

"I came from there (but no one warned me!)": reflections on people management policies that target intranational interculturality

The purpose of this article is to analyze how professionals who decided to risk intramobility in their careers and who were hired by organizations from the industrial complex of Camaçari (Bahia) perceive the development of people management strategies that target intranational interculturality within these organizations. To achieve this, besides a review and theoretical analysis of the concepts of mobility, intercultural management and people management in organizations, 13 professionals were interviewed who had moved from different Brazilian states to work in companies in this particular complex. The results indicate that generally organizations ignore intercultural aspects, which is reflected in a gap in people management strategies. One indication of this refers to the lack of initial support, which generates problems for the individuals who arrive with great expectations in their new workplace. Furthermore, there is evidence that the financial help provided is insufficient and it becomes necessary to pay attention also to subjective aspects that involve relocation and the consequent international interculturality. Finally, it is believed that expansion of the focus of studies on intercultural management, with a look at intranational aspects, makes it possible to learn theoretical and practical lessons because of the experiences of the players who underwent the process, since intercultural management and people management can generate comparative advantages for organizations.

The dual career process in the Brazilian perspective: Unraveling typologies

ABSTRACT A phenomenon closely linked to changes in social, economic, and cultural context is growing and growing as the years go by and attracting the attention of researchers for the development of studies involving both the individual and the organizational field. Named as "dual career family", this phenomenon emphasizes a joint move from a husband and wife (a couple) in the family sphere and in the development of both careers. Thus, in order to know how these relationships are being established, this study set out to investigate what are the determining factors that compose the dual career phenomenon in the Brazilian context. The research involved 340 participants, all former students of a public university, married or living in a marital status. The results allowed to feature, through descriptive statistics, the profile of dual career couples in the Brazilian scene and check what are the types of dual career in the country. We obtained five types of dual career: coordinated familistic, conventional familistic, coordinated careerist, conventional careerist and acrobat.

Entre a batuta e o tubo de ensaio: a carreira admirável de Alexandre Borodin

Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) is a singularity in the history of science. Whereas other scientists may have kept lifelong interests in some artistic field, he was unique in pursuing with great success two parallel careers in both chemistry and music, managing to excell in both to the end of his life. Although he considered himself primarily a chemist, present-day appreciation of his powerful music has greatly surpassed interest for his chemistry. This article treats the life and the unusual double career of the Russian chemist-musician.

Graduação em química: avaliação, perspectivas e desafios

Poor standards in schools and the increase in the number of institutions of higher education - frequently without the due control - have adversely affected the quality of university level education in Brazil. On the other hand, evaluation of undergraduate courses, which has been carried out regularly since the min 1990's allow, within certain limits, a description of the quality Brazilian higher education courses in general, and Chemistry courses in specific. This paper evaluates the results of the national examinations (2000 and 2003's ENC, and 2005's ENADE), attrition rates for the 1990's and for the 2000-2005 period, as well as the perceptions of students and instructors that took part in those exams. Furthermore, the paper also analyzes the opinions of academics and of private sector professionals about the educational system's capacity to meet the job market's demand for skilled labor force. The actual profile of Chemistry graduates is then compared to what is demanded from them by the market, revealing deficiencies in the educational system. The expected essential curricula changes that would introduce an innovative and advanced approach in the undergraduate courses have become great challenges. In this sense, the paper seeks to reflect on questions such as: How to give informative courses a formative emphasis? Which programs should be included in the curricula to involve students in activities that require initiative and decision-making, thus fostering both learning and interest in Chemistry? How to prepare instructors for schools and for higher education? How to increase instruction in related areas without expanding the curricula excessively? How to introduce entrepreneurship in the curricula and further awareness of the professional non-academic careers in the area?

Long-term professional performance of minimally invasive surgery post-graduates

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the contribution of a post-graduation program in surgeons professional careers. METHODS: participants were asked to answer a questionnaire with questions related to possible changes in their professional performance after the end of the course. RESULTS: forty-three (76.7%) of the 56 participants eligible for the study responded to the questionnaires. Most participants, 32 (74.4%), had previous contact with laparoscopic surgery; however, only 14 (32.5%) reported the experience as primary surgeon. The expectations on the course were reached or exceeded for 36 (83.7%) participants. Thirty-seven (86%) incorporated minimally invasive procedures in their daily surgical practice, 37 (86%) reported improvements in their income above 10% and 12% reported income increase of over 100%, directly related to their increase of laparoscopic activity. CONCLUSION: the program in minimally invasive surgery provides a high level of satisfaction to its participants, enables them to perform more complex technical procedures, such as sutures, and improves their professional economic performance.

An MD-PhD program in Brazil: students’ concepts of science and of common sense

In 1995, a pioneering MD-PhD program was initiated in Brazil for the training of medical scientists in experimental sciences at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The program’s aim was achieved with respect to publication of theses in the form of papers with international visibility and also in terms of fostering the scientific careers of the graduates. The expansion of this type of program is one of the strategies for improving the preparation of biomedical researchers in Brazil. A noteworthy absence of interest in carrying out clinical research limits the ability of young Brazilian physicians to solve biomedical problems. To understand the students’ views of science, we used qualitative and quantitative triangulation methods, as well as participant observation to evaluate the students’ concepts of science and common sense. Subjective aspects were clearly less evident in their concepts of science. There was a strong concern about "methodology", "truth" and "usefulness". "Intuition", "creativity" and "curiosity" were the least mentioned thematic categories. Students recognized the value of intuition when it appeared as an explicit option but they did not refer to it spontaneously. Common sense was associated with "consensus", "opinion" and ideas that "require scientific validation". Such observations indicate that MD-PhD students share with their senior academic colleagues the same reluctance to consider common sense as a valid adjunct for the solution of scientific problems. Overcoming this difficulty may be an important step toward stimulating the interest of physicians in pursuing experimental research.