Vocation in the insertion of the university student and the graduate

The work plan aims at deepening the analysis of the theoretic assumptions which support the practice in Vocational Guidance: analyzing the incidence of endogenous and exogenous factors both in the election and studying of a particular course of study and in the occupational resolution of the graduate. This analysis enables the revision and the new theoretic conceptualization which is afterwards transferred to the course, and to different groups and provincial institutions where the practice of Vocational Guidance occurs, as well as to other schools in the Northwest provinces of Argentina. Semiotic analysis, statistical elaboration and the research-action approach which, while surveying data renders a service to the milieu, provide the base for the project. Said project focuses on the following individuals: 1) freshmen, who offer us the following aspects to be considered: a) factors which either favor or hinder the insertion of the students attending the first years of the course; b) the conditions making up the learning situation in each subject, from the teaching point of view; c) the influence of institutional dimension in the insertion process; 2) graduands: the characteristics of the situation following graduation from University, those of the labor field and the different ways of gaining access to it are investigated. This analysis is carried out in the courses of study of Psychology and English (education of Professionals in English and English for Professionals).

Fostering English-taught higher education programs in a Spanish university: the "TechEnglish" innovative project

In recent years, coinciding with adjustments to the Bologna process, many European universities have attempted to improve their international profile by increasing course offerings in English. According to the Institute of International Education (IIE), Spain has notably increased its English-taught higher education programs, ranking fifth in the list of European countries by number of English-taught Master's programs in 2013. This article presents the goals and preliminary results of an on-going innovative education project (TechEnglish) that aims to promote course offerings in English at the Technical University of Madrid (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM). The UPM is the oldest and largest of all Technical Universities in Spain. It offers graduate and postgraduate programs that cover all the engineering disciplines as well as architecture. Currently, the UPM has no specific bilingual/multilingual program to promote teaching in English, although there is an Educational Model Whitepaper (with a focus on undergraduate degrees) that promotes the development of activities like an International Semester or a unique shared curriculum. The TechEnglish project is an attempt to foster courses taught in English at 7 UPM Technical Schools, including students and 80 faculty members. Four tasks were identified: (1) to design a university wide framework to increase course offerings, (2) to identify administrative difficulties, (3) to increase visibility of courses offered, and (4) to disseminate the results of the project. First, to design a program we analyzed existing programs at other Spanish universities, and other projects and efforts already under way at the UPM. A total of 13 plans were analyzed and classified according to their relation with students (learning), professors (teaching), administration, course offerings, other actors/institutions within the university (e.g., language departments), funds and projects, dissemination activities, mobility plans and quality control. Second, to begin to identify administrative and organizational difficulties in the implementation of teaching in English, we first estimated the current and potential course offerings at the undergraduate level at the UPM using a survey (student, teacher and administrative demand, level of English and willingness to work in English). Third, to make the course offerings more attractive for both Spanish and international students we examined the way the most prestigious universities in Spain and in Europe try to improve the visibility of their academic offerings in English. Finally, to disseminate the results of the project we created a web page and a workspace on the Moodle education platform and prepared conferences and workshops within the UPM. Preliminary results show that increasing course offerings in English is an important step to promote the internationalization of the University. The main difficulties identified at the UPM were related to how to acknowledge/certify the departments, teachers or students involved in English courses, how students should register for the courses, how departments should split and schedule the courses (Spanish and English), and the lack of qualified personnel. A concerted effort could be made to increase the visibility of English-taught programs offered on-line.

Vehicle component characterization. Volume I: project results. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Research and Development, Washington, D.C.

Pollution prevention internship program ... project abstracts /

Mode of access: Internet.

The impact of learning outcomes in business education: assessing value, relevance and graduate ability in a multi-country study of employers and business graduates

This paper discusses critical findings from a two-year EU-funded research project involving four European countries: Austria, England, Slovenia and Romania. The project had two primary aims. The first of these was to develop a systematic procedure for assessing the balance between learning outcomes acquired in education and the specific needs of the labour market. The second aim was to develop and test a set of meta-level quality indicators aimed at evaluating the linkages between education and employment. The project was distinctive in that it combined different partners from Higher Education, Vocational Training, Industry and Quality Assurance. One of the key emergent themes identified in exploratory interviews was that employers and recent business graduates in all four countries want a well-rounded education which delivers a broad foundation of key business knowledge across the various disciplines. Both groups also identified the need for personal development in critical skills and competencies. Following the exploratory study, a questionnaire was designed to address five functional business areas, as well as a cluster of 8 business competencies. Within the survey, questions relating to the meta-level quality indicators assessed the impact of these learning outcomes on the workplace, in terms of the following: 1) value, 2) relevance and 3) graduate ability. This paper provides an overview of the study findings from a sample of 900 business graduates and employers. Two theoretical models are proposed as tools for predicting satisfaction with work performance and satisfaction with business education. The implications of the study findings for education, employment and European public policy are discussed.

The employability skills provision within a construction project management degree programme

This study was geared at assessing the employability skills provision within a construction project management degree programme through a questionnaire survey. Students were required to assess their level of ability in relation to the most common skills and competencies most sought after by construction project management graduate employers. The study identified team-working ability as the most sought after skill by the employers investigated followed by verbal communication, written communication and leadership ability. It was found that students were very confident of their ability in 12 of the 14 identified skills and competencies. But ironically, leadership, an important skill sought by employers is one that majority of the students felt most insecure in their ability. The study concludes that the BSc programme equips students with these employability skills and competencies, but more effort is needed to make the leadership development opportunities in the programme more conspicuous. With recommendations on how to achieve this proffered.

A New Approach Model in Post Graduate Training of Local Government Officers

In 2013-15 there was a new type of post graduate training elaborated and piloted in Hungary at the Institute of Executive Training and Continuing Education (VTKI) within the National University of Public Service (NKE). Although the pilot financed by the State Administration Reform Operative Program (ÁROP) had not lacked the previously established attempts to include interactivity in the training, it was the first to observe and apply the actual principles of the European Union 2020 expressed in the threefold criteria of economic growth: smartness, sustainability and inclusiveness. All of them are represented by a pillar of the program like e-learning, class training and field training with the inclusion of local society. According to the objectives of the program there were at least 10 thousand attendees from the civil service sphere set as project indicators, so it has been a large scale training program that took place in 2014 in Hungary. The following article shows the innovations included in this new approach model of post graduate training civil servants.

The Next Generation of Scientists: Examining the Experiences of Graduate Students in Network-Level Social-Ecological Science

By integrating the research and resources of hundreds of scientists from dozens of institutions, network-level science is fast becoming one scientific model of choice to address complex problems. In the pursuit to confront pressing environmental issues such as climate change, many scientists, practitioners, policy makers, and institutions are promoting network-level research that integrates the social and ecological sciences. To understand how this scientific trend is unfolding among rising scientists, we examined how graduate students experienced one such emergent social-ecological research initiative, Integrated Science for Society and Environment, within the large-scale, geographically distributed Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. Through workshops, surveys, and interviews, we found that graduate students faced challenges in how they conceptualized and practiced social-ecological research within the LTER Network. We have presented these conceptual challenges at three scales: the individual/project, the LTER site, and the LTER Network. The level of student engagement with and knowledge of the LTER Network was varied, and students faced different institutional, cultural, and logistic barriers to practicing social-ecological research. These types of challenges are unlikely to be unique to LTER graduate students; thus, our findings are relevant to other scientific networks implementing new social-ecological research initiatives.

Managing the multiplicities of graduate level education! Are Master’s students’ expectations matched by their experiences?

With rapid increases in student fees reflecting moves towards a QUASI Market model of Higher Education in the UK and across much of the Western World[1], many universities find themselves having to meet progressively higher levels of student expectations[2]. This is particularly the case at undergraduate level, where increases in fees over the past decade have far exceeded inflation. Yet with so much attention on ‘consumer savvy’ undergraduates, the question of whether Master’s level students’ expectations are matched by their experiences is one which remains largely unanswered. Grounded in an empirically grounded approach to learning and teaching developed by the paper authors[3], this paper sets out to being to answer this question. In doing so it makes a distinctive contribution to debates about graduate level engineering education and concludes with a number of recommendations. Discussion: The ‘MSc: Managing Expectations’ Project analyses the expectations and experiences of Graduate level Engineering Management Students over a two year period. Focusingon the ‘student experience’, three main concepts are identified as being particular relevant to enhancing learning [3]: Relationships: Variety: Synergy. Relationships: Based on empirical research, the significance of Relationships within the academic environment is discussed with particular attention being paid to the value of students’ social and academic support networks, including academic tutoring. Variety: Grounded in a statistical analysis of ‘engagement data’ together with survey and interview findings, the concept of variety critically examines students’ perspectives and experiencesof different approaches to learning and teaching. Synergy: Possibly the most important concept discussed within this paper, the need for constructively aligned curriculum is extended to reflect the students’ apriori knowledge and experienceas well as employer and societal demands and expectations. The conclusion brings the different concepts within the discussion together, providing a set of practical recommendations for colleagues working both at graduate and undergraduate level. References 1.Gibbs, P. (2001) "Higher education as a market: a problem or solution?." Studies in Higher Education 26. 1. pp. 85-94. 2.Tricker, T., (2005) Student Expectations-How do we measure up. University of Sheffield. Available from: http://www.persons.org.uk/tricker%20paper.pdf Accessed 9/10/14 3.Clark, R. & Andrews, J. (2014). Relationships, Variety & Synergy [RVS]: The Vital Ingredients for Scholarship in Engineering Education? A Case-Study. European Journal of Engineering Education. 39.6. pp. 585-600.

UPDATE NEEDS OF PROFESSIONAL LIBRARY: Diagnosis of teachers and graduate degree from the School of Library, Documentation and Information (EBDI), National University of Costa Rica

This project is a diagnosis of update needs and training for professionals in bibliotecology and its results will be used for the design of a Program of Permanent training in bibliotecology, which will be implemented in Bibliotecology School, Documentation and Information of the National University.The studied population is composed by all the teachers of Bibliotecology School, Documentation and Information of the National University, in October, 2007, and all the graduated students of licentiate of the EBDI from 2000 to 2007.The results of this investigation were obtained by means of a questionnaire that was filled by each one of the members of these two populations, who corresponded to 25 teachers of the EBDI and 18 graduates of licentiate. This one also presents the information that was obtained in interviews realized to the managers of the principal institutions who are professionals contracted in bibliotecology.The results obtained of this diagnosis will allow the elaboration of the Program of Permanent training in bibliotecology, considering the formative needs of the professionals in bibliotecology of the EBDI. This project includes the following products:a) Description of the social and demographic characteristics of teachers and of graduated of licentiate of the EBDI.b) Diagnosis of needs to update and training of bibliotecology professional teachers and of graduated of licentiate of the EBDI.c) Determination of the knowledge and skills that the needs to satisfy what big employers ask for.d) Recommendations for the program. Implementation.

A text analytics evaluation of a first-year engineering project-based unit

In the undergraduate engineering program at Griffith University in Australia, the unit 1006ENG Design and Professional Skills aims to provide an introduction to engineering design and professional practice through a project-based learning (PBL) approach to problem solving. It provides students with an experience of PBL in the first-year of their programme. The unit comprises an underpinning lecture series, design work including group project activities, an individual computer-aided drawing exercise/s and an oral presentation. Griffith University employs a ‘Student Experience of Course’ (SEC) online survey as part of its student evaluation of teaching, quality improvement and staff performance management processes. As well as numerical response scale items, it includes the following two questions inviting open-ended text responses from students: i) What did you find particularly good about this course? and ii) How could this course be improved? The collection of textual data in in student surveys is commonplace, due to the rich descriptions of respondent experiences they can provide at relatively low cost. However, historically these data have been underutilised because they are time consuming to analyse manually, and there has been a lack of automated tools to exploit such data efficiently. Text analytics approaches offer analysis methods that result in visual representations of comment data that highlight key individual themes in these data and the relationships between those themes. We present a text analytics-based evaluation of the SEC open-ended comments received in the first two years of offer of the PBL unit 1006ENG. We discuss the results obtained in detail. The method developed and documented here is a practical and useful approach to analysing/visualising open-ended comment data that could be applied by others with similar comment data sets.

Characterising the Australian engineering workforce and engineering graduate occupational outcomes using national census data

The purpose of undergraduate engineering education is to develop graduates who are capable of commencing professional engineering practice. Professional education should equip graduates with the skills, knowledge and attitudes required for their initial professional practice. It should also enable the capacity to continue the professional development required to refresh knowledge and skills as the graduates mature and the nature of professional engineering work develops. However, it is true that many graduates from professional engineering programs, either immediately or at some later time, pursue a career outside of professional engineering. The reasons for this are widely speculated upon, and are no doubt complex. In this regard, the professional engineering workforce, the undergraduate engineering education system, the links between them, and the occupational outcomes for engineering graduates in Australia are similar to many other developed nations. Using the latest Australian national census data we present a detailed analysis of the makeup of the professional engineering workforce and the occupational outcomes for graduates of undergraduate engineering programs in Australia. The data show that the Australian professional engineering workforce is comprised of people with a wide range of educational qualifications, and, even immediately post-graduation, many Australian engineering graduates pursue non-engineering occupations. This analysis presents important findings for those designing undergraduate engineering curricula that seek to equip students for the best employment outcomes, given the nature of the professional engineering work environment, and the short- and long-term occupations that engineering graduates actually pursue in Australia.