Entry characteristics and academic performance of students in a master of pharmacy degree program in the United Kingdom

Objective. Evaluate the characteristics of a cohort of Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) students upon entry and examine any associations between entry qualifications, type of school attended, socioeconomic deprivation, age and academic performance in the MPharm programme. Methods. A retrospective cohort analysis of data recorded on Aston University’s central database for each individual exiting the MPharm programme during the five year period 2005-6 – 2009-10 (n=644). Results. Entrants were disproportionately drawn from socioeconomically deprived areas and independent (private) schools. Achievement prior to admission was related to the type of school attended but not to deprivation. Performance on the programme was not related to type of school or deprivation but was strongly correlated with prior achievements. Conclusions. Prior achievement is the most important predictor of performance on the MPharm programme but the superior prior achievement of independent school pupils is not seen at the point of graduation. This may have implications for admissions policies.

Developing mathematics support for first-year engineering students with non-traditional mathematics backgrounds

A maths support system for first-year engineering students with non-traditional entry qualifications has involved students working through practice questions structured to correspond with the maths module which runs in parallel. The setting was informal and there was significant one-to-one assistance. The non-traditional students (who are known to be less well prepared mathematically) were explicitly contacted in the first week of their university studies regarding the maths support and they generally seemed keen to participate. However, attendance at support classes was relatively low, on average, but varied greatly between students. Students appreciated the personal help and having time to ask questions. It seemed that having a small group of friends within the class promoted attendance – perhaps the mutual support or comfort that they all had similar mathematical difficulties was a factor. The classes helped develop confidence. Attendance was hindered by the class being timetabled too soon after the relevant lecture and students were reluctant to come with no work done beforehand. Although students at risk due to their mathematical unpreparedness can easily be identified at an early stage of their university career, encouraging them to partake of the maths support is an ongoing, major problem.

Conditions for the career entry of Swiss sports science graduates.

The differentiation and commercialisation of the sports domain means that graduates with sports science degrees have more and more occupational fields to choose from. On the other hand, formal admissions criteria are becoming less important in sports-related occupations. This means that graduates need to pursue specific strategies to successfully embark on a ca-reer. This article examines which factors determine the career entry of sports science graduates in Switzerland. Aside from the starting salary, non-monetary aspects such as appropriateness of the job for the level of education and job stability were also considered. The empirical study draws on data from a sample of n = 1,054 graduates from all Swiss universities, analys-ing the career entry of sports science graduates. The results show that education-related as-pects (e.g., university degree) lead to higher incomes and jobs that are appropriate to one’s academic education; however, differences exist between the diverse occupational domains of sport. Furthermore, additional qualifications obtained by sports science graduates and volun-tary activities in the field of sport are both associated with higher incomes, particularly in oc-cupations outside sport. However, other factors (e.g., social networks, internships) produce no relevant effects.

Reviewing psychologists’ qualifications for career development practice in Australia

Vocational psychology and the practice of career development are important dimensions of the psychology discipline. This paper contains an overview of the Australian career development industry in light of recent trends, particularly the formalisation of professional career development practice. Given the advent of the Professional Standards for Career Development Practitioners, an audit of postgraduate degrees in organisational, developmental and educational, and counselling psychology was conducted to determine their alliance with the competencies of the Standards. The audit revealed significant areas of consistency on generic competencies, however there was a serious lack of training specific to career development. The implications of the audit results are discussed in light of the evolution of the career development industry and the threat to psychologists’ standing in this field.

Factors affecting entry-level Internet technology adoption by small business in Australia : evidence from three cases

The adoption of Internet technologies by the small business sector (SMEs)The adoption of Internet technologies by the small business sector is important to their on-going survival. Yet, given the opportunities and benefits that Internet technologies can provide it has been shown that Australian small businesses are relatively slow in adopting them. This paper develops a model from recent literature on the facilitators and inhibitors to the adoption of Internet technologies by small business. Cross-case analysis of findings from three case studies are presented. Findings indicate that perceived lack of business benefit, mistrust of the IT industry and lack of understanding of Internet technologies are major inhibitors to Internet adoption by small business.

A national evaluation of the Australian Occupational Therapy Competency Standards (1994): a multistakeholder perspective

This paper summarises results from an evaluation of the adequacy and utility of the Australian Competency Standards for Entry-Level Occupational Therapists © (OT AUSTRALIA, 1994a). It comprised a two-part study, incorporating an online survey of key national stakeholders (n = 26), and 13 focus groups (n = 152) conducted throughout Australia with occupational therapy clinicians, academics, OT AUSTRALIA association and Occupational Therapy Registration Board representatives, as well as university program accreditors. The key recommendations were that: (i) urgent revision to reflect contemporary practice, paradigms, approaches and frameworks is required; (ii) the standards should exemplify basic competence at graduation (not within two years following); (iii) a revision cycle of five years is required; (iv) the Australian Qualifications Framework should be retained, preceded by an introduction describing the scope and nature of occupational therapy practice in the national context; (v) access to the standards should be free and unrestricted to occupational therapists, students and the public via the OT AUSTRALIA (national) website; (vi) the standards should incorporate a succinct executive summary and additional tools or templates formatted to enable occupational therapists to develop professional portfolios and create working documents specific to their workplace; and (vii) language must accommodate contextual variation while striking an appropriate balance between providing instruction and encouraging innovation in practice.