scholarly journals Employer expectations for graduates from Haiti’s agricultural universities

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-41
Author(s):  
Katrina Alford ◽  
J. C. Bunch ◽  
Absalon Pierre ◽  
Boaz Anglade ◽  
T. Grady Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
Technical Schools ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Employer Perspective ◽  
Agricultural Schools ◽  
The University ◽  
Insight Into

Human capacity building in Haiti’s agricultural sector can be utilized to reduce the country’s food insecurity. Haitian agricultural university and technical schools are responsible for supplying workforce ready graduates and therefore play a role in poverty reduction. Previous research has been conducted to assess these institutions from the perspective of faculty, students, and farmers. However, the employer perspective has not been considered, which could lead to a disconnect between what employers and the university believe are essential skills for graduates to obtain. This study focused on identifying the perceptions of the Haitian agricultural workforce regarding the ability of technical schools to produce graduates. This study used a basic qualitative design involving interviews of Haitian agricultural employers. The interviews revealed employers perceptive of curriculum strengths and weaknesses as well as desired employer skills for graduates. Employers also provided insight into the current job opportunities for graduates as well as what makes an “ideal” employee. We found a disconnect between jobs available and the skills being taught to graduates to fill these jobs. While employers desire employees with strong soft skills, there is a need for more technical skills to be taught at the agricultural schools.

Reconciling the Perceptions and Aspirations of Stakeholders in a Technology Based Profession

2011 ◽  
pp. 3230-3240
Author(s):  
Glenn Lowry ◽  
Rodney Turner
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
The Other ◽  
Working Relationships ◽  
Organizational Goals ◽  
New Graduates ◽  
Information Systems Professionals ◽  
The University ◽  
Technical Professionals

Information systems professionals help to achieve business and organizational goals through the use of information technology.a The information systems (IS) profession is teamoriented and project-based. It involves a blend of business knowledge and understanding, technical skills, and working relationships with business and technical professionals. The skills and knowledge involved range from traditional computing, wide ranging business related studies, to “soft” skills useful in working with individuals and teams to achieve organizational objectives. IS students are first and foremost concerned with future employability. Employers, on the other hand, often indicate that they want new graduates who can be immediately productive in their environment. Are the aspirations of students and employers fundamentally incompatible? How can IS educators help to find a workable and satisfying balance? How can information systems educators achieve a better fit between the workplace and the university “studyplace”?

The Role of Industry-Academia Collaborative Research in Mineral Exploration

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Marlatt
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Research ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Mineral Exploration ◽  
Board Members ◽  
Technological Innovations ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
The University ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Economic Mineral

ABSTRACT Many people may not be aware of the extent of Kurt Kyser's collaboration with mineral exploration companies through applied research and the development of innovative exploration technologies, starting at the University of Saskatchewan and continuing through the Queen's Facility for Isotope Research. Applied collaborative, geoscientific, industry-academia research and development programs can yield technological innovations that can improve the mineral exploration discovery rates of economic mineral deposits. Alliances between exploration geoscientists and geoscientific researchers can benefit both parties, contributing to the pure and applied geoscientific knowledge base and the development of innovations in mineral exploration technology. Through a collaboration that spanned over three decades, we gained insight into the potential for economic uranium deposits around the world in Canada, Australia, USA, Finland, Russia, Gabon, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and Guyana. Kurt, his research team, postdoctoral fellows, and students developed technological innovations related to holistic basin analysis for economic mineral potential, isotopes in mineral exploration, and biogeochemical exploration, among others. In this paper, the business of mineral exploration is briefly described, and some examples of industry-academic collaboration innovations brought forward through Kurt's research are identified. Kurt was a masterful and capable knowledge broker, which is a key criterion for bringing new technologies to application—a grand, curious, credible, patient, and attentive communicator—whether talking about science, business, or life and with first ministers, senior technocrats, peers, board members, first nation peoples, exploration geologists, investors, students, citizens, or friends.

scholarly journals Challenges for Change Agents. Best Practices at the University Library of Freie Universität Berlin

ABI-Technik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-364
Author(s):  
Martin Lee ◽  
Christina Riesenweber
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Large Change ◽  
University Library ◽  
The Future ◽  
The University ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractThe authors of this article have been managing a large change project at the university library of Freie Universität Berlin since January 2019. At the time of writing this in the summer of 2020, the project is about halfway completed. With this text, we would like to give some insight into our work and the challenges we faced, thereby starting conversations with similar undertakings in the future.

Future Perioperative Registered Nurses: An Insight into a Perioperative Programme for Undergraduate Nursing Students

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 432-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Clark-Burg
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Students ◽  
Undergraduate Curriculum ◽  
Undergraduate Nursing Students ◽  
Perioperative Nursing ◽  
Undergraduate Nursing ◽  
Operating Room Nurses ◽  
The University ◽  
University Training ◽  
Nursing Training ◽  
Insight Into

An Australian College of Operating Room Nurses (ACORN) submission (ACORN 2002–2008) recently stated that the specialities that suffered significantly from the transition of hospital-based nursing training to university training were the perioperative specialty, critical care and emergency. The main reason for this was that perioperative nursing was not included in the undergraduate nursing curriculum. Less than a handful of universities in Australia offer the subject as a compulsory unit. The University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) is one of these universities. This paper will provide an insight into the perioperative nursing care unit embedded within the Bachelor of Nursing (BN) undergraduate curriculum.

Distributed Cognition and Temporal Knowledge in League of Legends

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-41
Author(s):  
Jason Ginsberg Reitman
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Distributed Cognition ◽  
Temporal Information ◽  
University Of California ◽  
Competitive Environment ◽  
The University ◽  
League Of Legends ◽  
Insight Into

Elite video game competition provides a setting for studying how digitally connected teams handle massive amounts of information that no individual could manage on their own. This article discusses observations of the University of California, Irvine's scholarship League of Legends teams' practices and competitions from fall 2016 through spring 2017. The observations explore the nature of distributed cognition of time and temporal information in a high-pressure, competitive environment. The capacity and strategies of these teams to maintain high levels of coordination, while sitting at desktops for hours at a time, can provide insight into how other kinds of teams might learn to collaborate skillfully in networked settings.

Athletes Play Through Pain—What Does That Mean for Rehabilitation Specialists?

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 640-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Barrette ◽  
Katherine Harman
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Sport Organization ◽  
The University ◽  
E Mail ◽  
Competitive Nature ◽  
And Training ◽  
Insight Into

Context: Pain in sport has been normalized to the point where athletes are expected to ignore pain and remain in the game despite the possible detrimental consequences associated with playing through pain. While rehabilitation specialists may not have an influence on an athlete’s competitive nature or the culture of risk they operate in, understanding the consequences of those factors on an athlete’s physical well-being is definitely in their area of responsibility. Objective: To explore the factors associated with the experiences of subelite athletes who play through pain in gymnastics, rowing, and speed skating. Design: The authors conducted semistructured interviews with subelite athletes, coaches, and rehabilitation specialists. They recruited coach participants through their provincial sport organization. Athletes of the recruited coaches who were recovering from a musculoskeletal injury and training for a major competition were then recruited. They also recruited rehabilitation specialists who were known to treat subelite athletes independently by e-mail. Setting: An observation session was conducted at the athlete’s training facility. Interviews were then conducted either in a room at the university or at a preferred sound-attenuated location suggested by the participant. Participants: The authors studied 5 coaches, 4 subelite athletes, and 3 rehabilitation specialists. Interventions: The authors photographed athletes during a practice shortly before an important competition, and we interviewed all the participants after that competition. Our photographs were used during the interview to stimulate discussion. Results: The participant interviews revealed 3 main themes related to playing through pain. They are: Listening to your body, Decision making, and Who decides. Conclusion: When subelite athletes, striving to be the best in their sport continue to train with the pain of an injury, performance is affected in the short-term and long-term consequences are also possible. Our study provides some insight into the contrasting forces that athletes balance as they decide to continue or to stop.

scholarly journals Enhancing rural livelihoods in Tanza-nia : A small-holder farmers’ perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abel Kinyondo ◽  
Joseph Magashi
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Rural Livelihoods ◽  
Sustainable Livelihood ◽  
Extension Services ◽  
The Past ◽  
Small Holder Farmers ◽  
The Government ◽  
Small Holder

Poverty reduction has been a difficult milestone for Tanzania to achieve despite recording remarkable economic growth over the past decade. This is because the attained growth is not inclusive, in that sectors contributing to this growth employ fewer people. Given the fact that agriculture continues to employ the majority of people in Tanzania, efforts to improve livelihoods should necessarily be geared towards transforming the sector. It is in this context that using a sample of 3,000 farmers from 13 regions of Tanzania; this Tanzania, this study set out to examine challenges facing farmers and their respective solutions following the sustainable livelihood framework. Findings show that improving farmers’ livelihoods would entail concerted efforts by the government to avail to farmers, quality and affordable seeds, fertilizer, agricultural infrastructures, subsidies, extension services, markets, information alert, affordable loans, and areas for pastures. This implies that the government needs to allocate enough funds to the agricultural sector if farmers’ needs are to be met. We note, however, that government’s allocation to the sector has alarmingly generally been exhibiting a declining trend for the past four years. It is against this background that we strongly recommend that the government rethinks its position and prioritize the agricultural sector in its budget.

scholarly journals DINAMIKA KERAGAAN KEMISKINAN DI DESA PATANAS DAN UPAYA MENGATASINYA

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 118
Author(s):  
Valeriana Darwis
Keyword(s):  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Land Ownership ◽  
Land Rent ◽  
Irrigated Rice ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
The Government ◽  
Negative Growth

Poverty reduction  is a priority  development agenda  and  a lot of  programs or  policies  that  have  been  implemented  by  the  government.  One  of  the  pockets  of poverty  are  diperdesaan  where  people  work  in  the  agricultural  sector.  In  locations irrigated  rice  agro-ecosystem  study  the  performance  of  rice-based  poverty  in  2007 and 2010  experienced a  negative growth,  it is seen from: (i)  reduced  employment  and increased  unemployment,  (ii)  a source  of income  from  agriculture  generally,  but  she became  a source  of income  in  non-agriculture,  (iii)  land  ownership  between  0.25 to 1 ha  and  reverse  the  decline  of arable land  rent  is increasing,  (iv)  expenditure  on food increased  primarily  to  meet  the  needs  of  carbohydrates  and  animal  sources.  The dynamics of  the most  positive  efforts  made  respondents  in addressing  the problem of food  by  way  of  debt,  overcoming  difficulties  by  reducing  the  amount  of  clothing purchases,  overcoming  difficulties  fulfilling  its way into  participants  health  insurance for the poor,  addressing  educational  problems  by borrowing  money  or  do not  attend school.

scholarly journals Information Technology Asymmetry and Gaps Between Higher Education Institutions and Industry

10.28945/4553 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 339-365
Author(s):  
Yasar Guneri Sahin ◽  
Ufuk Celikkan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
It Professionals ◽  
Industry Trends

Aim/Purpose: This paper investigates the gaps between industry and academia perceptions of information technology fields, such as computer science, software engineering, and computer engineering, and it identifies areas of asymmetry between curricula and industry expectations. The study mainly focuses on the skills required of IT professionals (graduated students) and on how higher education institutes equip students for industry. Background: Higher education institutes have several IT-related departments. However, it is not clear whether these departments have sufficient content to equip students with industry-related skills. Rapid advances mean that some curriculum topics are redundant before the end of a standard two- or four-year degree programs. Balancing the technical/non-technical skills and adjusting the curricula to better prepare the students for industry is a constant demand for higher education institutions. Several studies have demonstrated that a generic curriculum is inadequate to address current IT industry needs. Methodology: The study involved a comprehensive survey of IT professionals and companies using a Web-based questionnaire sent directly to individual companies, academics, and employers. 64 universities and 38 companies in 24 countries were represented by the 209 participants, of whom 99 were IT professionals, 72 academics, and 38 employers. Contribution: This paper is intended to guide academics in preparing dynamic curricula that can be easily adapted to current industry trends and technological developments, with content directly relevant to student’s careers. In addition, the results may identify the skills that students need to secure employment and the courses that will provide skills in line with current industry trends. Findings: The results indicate a lack of emphasis on personal and non-technical skills in undergraduate education compared to general computer science, software development, and coding courses. Employers’ and software experts’ responses emphasize that soft skills should not be ignored, and that, of these, analytical thinking and teamwork are the two most requested. Rather than a theoretical emphasis, courses should include hands-on projects. Rapid developments and innovations in information technologies demand that spiral and waterfall models are replaced with emerging software development models, such as Agile and Scrum development. Recommendations for Practitioners: A multidisciplinary approach should be taken to the teaching of soft skills, such as communication, ethics, leadership, and customer relations. Establishing multiple learning tracks in IT education would equip students with specialized knowledge and skills in IT. An effective communication channel should be established between students and industry. It is also important to reduce the distance between academics and students and to provide an interactive environment for technical discussions. Enterprise level computing and Framework use provide job market advantages. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers and department heads, particularly those involved in curriculum design and accreditation, could use the results of this exemplary study to identify key topics for attention. Impact on Society: Changes of various degrees are required in the current curricula in many higher education institutions to better meet student needs. Societies and technology are dynamic in nature, and information technology-related curricula in higher education institutions should be equally dynamic. Future Research: Since technology (especially information technology) transforms and advances itself so rapidly, this study should be replicated t to investigate how these changes affect the gap between revised curricula and current industry expectations.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document