Majority Of Academics Research Articles

Paramedic Transition into an Academic Role in Universities: A Demographic and Qualification Survey of Paramedic Academics in Australia and New Zealand

<p align="center"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Abstract</span></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Objectives</span></p><p> To identify the demographic and qualification characteristics of paramedic academics holding teaching and research positions at universities in Australia and New Zealand offering entry-level undergraduate or postgraduate degree programs in paramedicine.</p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Methods</span></p><p> A 17 item online normative internet survey was used to obtain demographic and qualification characteristics about the target group. The survey was divided into five categories: demographic data, professional qualifications, educational qualifications, learning and teaching experience, and level of academic skills. Data were collected over a two-month period in 2013 and then collated and reported utilising the capabilities of the Survey Monkey program.</p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Results</span></p><p> Of the estimated 66 eligible participants, 30 responded to the survey, 70% were male, the average age when entering academia was 43 years, and the average age when initially entering paramedicine was 23 years. Two-thirds completed their paramedic training in Australia and New Zealand, with the other third training in the UK, US, or Canada. There was a wide-range of levels of training and qualification reported with three having a PhD on entering academia, while most had little to no experience in research, academic writing, and publication.</p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Conclusions</span></p><p> Issues of the transference of cultural and professional capital from one community of practice (CoP) into another, the variance in the levels of academic qualifications amongst paramedics when entering academia, and the resources needed to mentor and educate a large majority of these new academics pose significant challenges to new academics and the universities employing them.</p><p>Key words: paramedicine, university, degree, transition, role</p>

Academic Mobility and Immigration Trends in South African Higher Education Institutions

This paper seeks to offer an insighton the subject of academic mobility into South African Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s). This is done by examining the current academic landscape in South Africavia a comparisonbetween the profile of South African (SA) academics andexpatriate academics. Currently, SA is facing major skills and staffing shortages locally in terms of Science, Engineering and Agriculture. The Departmentof Higher Education and Training as well as SA universities have advocated to run programmes in scarce skills disciplines through the recruitment of expatriate academics. The research reported in this paper adopted a non-experimental research design of ex post facto type, using a correlational approach. The data used are the statistical records of all academics in South African higher education for the 2005/2010/2014 academic years as provided by the Higher Education Management Information Systems (HEMIS) of SA. Descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics were also used to analyze the data. The results revealed that there were no significant differences in age between SA and expatriate academics nationally over the three years. A comparison of the academic qualifications of SA and expatriate academics over the three years indicates that expatriate academics are more highly qualified than their SA colleagues, as the majority of the former hold a doctoral degree. The majority of expatriate academics are recruited from SADC countries as well as other African countries. Interestingly enough, the next most frequent major supply region of expatriate academics to South Africa is Europe. WITS and UCT were consistently ranked first and second in terms of the number of expatriate academics employed over the three years. Both are among the leading five higher education institutions in South Africa in terms of their research outputs as well as the number of PhDs per member of staff.

Using case studies to transfer soft skills (also known as pervasive skills)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which South African accounting academics use case studies in their teaching and to establish their views on whether this method can be used to transfer soft skills (also known as pervasive skills) to students. Design/methodology/approach An electronically administered questionnaire was sent to South African accounting academics. Findings Prior research provides evidence of the value of case studies in the transfer of soft/pervasive skills to students. The findings reveal that case studies are used less frequently by South African accounting academics than their international counterparts, because of a lack of awareness by South African accounting academics of the competencies that can be transferred using case studies, and the application of alternative teaching methods. Originality/value This paper provides insight into the use of case studies by academics in a developing country whose traditional strengths were in technical teaching, and the reluctance of the majority of South African accounting academics to embrace case studies into their academic programmes.

A Dramatisation of Research Outcomes: A Verbatim Drama Based on the Lived Experience of Women Casual Academics

Within this article I offer a brief rationale for de-disciplining and re-disciplining research communication, present a drama script using the narrative experience of six women casual academics from across three Australian universities, and offer a succinct rationale for employing artistic forms of communication more generally, and drama more particularly, for re-presenting lived experience. The article predominantly focuses on the stories of women causal academics in Australian universities. It is their voices that are privileged and centralised. Women casual academics make up the majority of academics in Australia, yet they are currently ‘un-voiced’. This article therefore creates some space for the voices of women causal academics to be heard and known in a form that is congruent to their lived experience

‘Crisis’ as Art: Young Artists Envisage Mutating Greece

This article examines Greek visual arts production during the ‘crisis’—a period when the country's contemporary art scene gained international attention. Our research focuses on emerging young artists studying at the Athens School of Fine Arts (2010–2013). We present various works exploring issues of national identity and the politics of ‘crisis’ that we consider as exceptional in the sense that the majority of students and academics consciously distance their art from current and “trendy” sociopolitical matters. Several artworks incorporate contingency in their own way and may entrap the viewers into a perplexing web of meanings that critically subvert stereotypes.

Academic career making and the double-edged role of academic housework

ABSTRACTInternationalisation, competition and performance orientation are nowadays essential in the managing and financing of universities. This pattern has intensified with the austerity measures and fiscal consolidation that followed the financial crisis in 2008. This article examines the academic labour process and career making of academics from a gender perspective. Based on findings deriving from an Icelandic University, we argue that the austerity measures and increased focus on becoming one of the top universities in the world has changed the official responsibilities of academics. We show how ‘academic housework’ affects academic capital and how the amount of academic housework is unequally distributed between senior academics and newcomers. While the majority of academics conform to this contemporary academic system, marginalised groups put up some resistance but with limited success.

Comparative assessment of information and knowledge sharing among academics in selected universities in Nigeria and South Africa

This study investigated information and knowledge sharing among academics in selected universities in Nigeria and South Africa. The study employed quantitative and qualitative research methods. The combined techniques of purposive and probability random sampling were used to select universities and respondents respectively. The questionnaire was administered to a total of 382 respondents comprising only academic staff in both countries. A response rate of 81.41% (311 academics) was achieved. The respondents were drawn from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Federal University of Technology Minna (FUT) and Umaru Musa Yar’adua University (UMYU) in Nigeria, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban University of Technology (DUT) and the University of Zululand (UZ) in South Africa. The sample of universities comprised a mixture of established, comprehensive and technology-based universities. The majority of the surveyed academics from the selected universities in both countries were male, from the Humanities, and with master’s degrees as their highest qualifications. The majority of academics also had eleven to twenty years of experience in academia. All of the surveyed academics were familiar with information and knowledge sharing and participated in knowledge sharing in different ways. The majority of the respondents in the sample from both countries used computers, information and data storage devices, mobile phones and internet facilities for information and knowledge sharing but the use of old and new technologies varied across the countries with South African academics using more new technologies for information and knowledge sharing. The study notes that the Nigerian respondents revealed significant challenges to information and knowledge sharing in their universities, such as a lack of electricity; inadequate print and electronic information resources; poor research management and support; poor conference, seminar and workshop attendance and communication; and poor attitudes towards sharing among the academics. Not all the sampled universities from across countries shared the same challenges. The study recommends the provision of adequate ICT resources and improved research management, research support, and awareness.

The Internationalization of Japan’s Academy Across Research and Non-Research Universities

The purpose of this article is to look at the internationalization of both Japanese faculty members’ teaching and research activities and their affiliated institutions, as well as their views on international connections between research universities and non-research universities based on major findings from the latest national survey which was implemented in 2011. The study begins with a brief introduction to the research framework and methodology. Then by dividing all Japanese universities into two types—research universities and non-research universities—it examines important observations about the teaching and research activities which were undertaken by individual academics and occurred in their institutions, as well as individual academics’ attitudes toward international issues. The study concludes by providing two major findings: First, the overall internationalization of Japan’s universities is primarily concerned with the attraction of foreign students to Japanese campus and sending out Japanese students to other countries at an institutional level, while at an individual level, a majority of academics are still receptive to new ideas from foreign books and journals in comparison with their views on other international connections; second, there appears to be a much higher level of international activities in which respondents from research universities are involved and which are carried out in research universities. Furthermore, the study presents some implications for research, policy, and institutions.

¿La investigación española en Contabilidad de Gestión está alejada de la práctica profesional? La opinión académica

The controversy over the contribution of accounting research to professional practice has returned again in the international literature, and it is observed that there is a gap between them. Spain is not oblivious to this discussion, but little evidence has been found on the opinion of these groups. For this reason, the aim of this work is to find out the views of Management Accounting academics on whether there is a gap between the research in this subject and the economic management activity of the organizations. To achieve this, a survey was conducted on a sample of 298 academics. The results highlight that a majority of academics think that there is a gap between the academic community and practitioners. Moreover, they suggest that this gap should be bridged. Furthermore, the main reasons given by the academics for preventing the academic community linking with daily practice are: the academic performance assessment system, the lack of interest of practitioners in reading accounting journals, practitioner needs to achieve short-term answers and the limited transfer of research findings to organizations. The interest of this work lies in being a pioneer empirical study for analyzing the gap in this branch of Accounting.

Identifying teaching groups as a basis for academic development

Academic development recognizes the strengths of communities, such as communities of practice or learning communities, in providing academics with supportive environments for the development of teaching. The problem academic development faces is that not enough academics are involved in these communities. Instead of trying to interest academics in joining communities, this research looks at the existing contexts around academics, which it refers to as ‘teaching groups’. It is proposed that every academic involved in teaching belongs to at least one teaching group, formed by colleagues teaching in the same course, degree or subject and that teaching groups form relevant contexts for engagement with teaching. The research investigates how teaching groups compare to communities and finds that less than half of teaching groups named by participants have strong community characteristics, indicating large space for improvement in the remaining majority of groups. The suggestion is made that identifying teaching groups across an institution might provide a promising starting point for engaging a majority of academics and working with these academics towards increased interaction on teaching in open and trusting collegial atmospheres.

Status of Usage of Information Communications Technology by Academic Staff at a Selected Nursing Training Institution in South Africa

Advances in information communications technology (ICT) has impacted every sphere of human life including the training of health care professionals and the delivery of health care. Training institutions have incorporated ICT into all spheres of student life and delivery in varying degrees. This study determined the status of usage of ICT by academic staff in a selected nurse training college in South Africa. Questionnaires were administered to 95 academic staff at the selected institution. The majority of academics at rural (86%) and urban (96%) campuses had access to a desktop computer and printer. Personal cellphones were used to communicate with students and colleagues using Facebook (15-20%) and SMS (43-58%). Staff had limited access to internet service or to electronic systems for student administration or research (<10%). Despite advances in ICT usage in nursing education globally, challenges exist in adopting it in the selected training institution.

The Digital Age: Changing Roles of Lecturers at a University of Technology in South Africa

The purpose of this exploratory mixed methods study was to investigate the level of digital technologies acceptance at a University of Technology in South Africa and how lecturers perceive as their new roles in the digital age. A total of 86 lecturers from four programmes in the School of Teacher Education participated in the study. The data for the study was collected using questionnaires and an interview schedule. The study found that the majority of academics surveyed used mobile telephones and computer-based technology more frequently compared to other digital technologies. These findings indicate the high level of technology acceptance among lecturers in the School of Teacher Education. The second part of the study found that the perceived changing roles were influenced by the frequent use of computer-based technologies within and outside the classroom. The study highlight two implications that need to be addressed, namely, technology acceptance and management of roles associated with digital technology use.

If We Build It, Will They Come?: A Survey of Attitudes Toward Institutional Repositories Among Faculty at the Petroleum Institute

The publishing paradigms are shifting. Researchers and research funding institutions are increasingly challenging the traditional publishing models by making their research findings available for free on the Internet through digital repositories. This new publishing model enhances research exposure, increases the institution's prestige and, in the long term, may alleviate the financial burden incurred through costly subscriptions. However, attitudes towards open access and digital repositories still vary widely. This study reports the findings of a survey of attitudes towards open access and institutional repositories among academics at the Petroleum Institute. It revolves around the following main research question: Would faculty support the establishment of an institutional repository at the Petroleum Institute? Specific research questions dealt with academics’ familiarity with the underlying principles of open access and institutional repositories, their attitudes towards open access and institutional repositories, and effect of self-archiving mandates on academics’ publishing decisions.The study adopted a quantitative survey methodology approach with a web-based questionnaire as its main data collection instrument. Descriptive statistics were mainly used to derive outcomes.The study reveals that the majority of academics have no or little knowledge of, or experience with, institutional repositories and are unfamiliar with self-archiving opportunities. However most of them endorse the principle of open access and are willing to contribute content to an institutional repository if an opportunity arises or if mandated by their funding institutions.In light of these results, ensuring free electronic access to public-funded research lays with the funding institutions, especially universities, which should set up appropriate repository infrastructures, advocate the public good and ethical implications of open access and even mandate self-archiving of research they fund.

Peter James Bentley, Hamish Coates, Ian R. Dobson, Leo Goedegebuure, and V. Lynn Meek (eds): Job satisfaction around the academic world

This book, on academic job satisfaction across 11 higher education systems, makes a valuable addition to Springer’s Changing Academy book series, which itself is proving to be highly informative in explaining the changing nature of the academic profession. The contributors to the book use data from the Changing Academic Profession (CAP) survey of 2007 (Teichler et al. 2013) to examine the impact on academic job satisfaction of a wide range of variables. The higher education systems addressed include those of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Portugal, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Each system has a chapter written on it by appropriate national experts. In addition, there are two general chapters, one an introduction and the other a conclusion, written by the editors. Though discussed explicitly in only a few of the chapters, Hagedorn’s (2000) perspective on academic job satisfaction provides the conceptual framework for the book. Hagedorn proposed that both mediators and triggers affect academic job satisfaction. Mediators include motivators and hygienes (intrinsic and extrinsic rewards associated with one’s work), together with demographic characteristics and environmental conditions; and triggers are significant events, such as receiving a promotion, moving institution or starting a family, that affect an individual’s reference point. This perspective contributes valuably to the book by allowing for the identification of a range of potentially salient variables. The book reports some interesting findings. It records, for example, that a majority (62 %) of academics across the systems investigated were satisfied with their jobs. Indeed, only 15 % of them agreed that ‘if I had it to do over again, I would not become an academic’. This finding is interesting because it occurs against a background of rapid and sometimes turbulent change in many of the higher education systems addressed. The CAP survey itself was motivated by a concern about the impact of change on the academic profession. In the concluding chapter, the editors comment that academics are known to

Optical coatings for automotive applications: a case study in translating fundamental materials science into commercial reality

Translating fundamental scientific research into commercial reality is not a natural fait accompli progression for the majority of academics. An established scientific entrepreneurial cultural mindset needs to exist within the research group for this translation to occur in a meaningful and productive manner. This investigation outlines a scientific case study; the world's first original equipment manufacturer plastic automotive reflector. This is now a mature product in the market place, and the case study incorporates the organizational mindset, contractual overview, scientific progression and engineering evaluation needed to bring the project to fruition. The study demonstrates that rather than being an impediment to achieving a successful academic/industry partnership, concurrently running a fundamental research program and an applied science program actually produces tangible benefits. Importantly, however, both partners (academic and industrial) need to understand the benefits that can be realized in running parallel programs from the outset and importantly that both parties actively contribute to the project from the outset. The questions that are raised in each program, and importantly the technical answers/understanding which are developed, help drive the overall progress of the project.

Impact of Financial Derivatives on the Real Economy

Financial derivatives, particularly over-the-counter (OTC) have been long time critized for insufficient transparency, often too complicated structure and non-adequate risk management. Majority of academics, but also many financial markets professionals find the rapid development of these instruments as one of the main reasons for the fast spread of the financial crisis in 2007-09, as real risk for financial stability and thus for real economy also at present. Relationship between the development of financial derivatives and economic growth is a frequent subject of economic research. There are many sources with different views. We present just a few of the recent period.

European Takeover Reform of 2012/2013 — Time to Re-examine the Mandatory Bid

The Thirteenth Directive on Takeover Bids of 2006 has to be revised on the basis of experience gained in the five years of its application. This revision includes an examination of the control structures and barriers to takeover bids for those bids that do not fall within the scope of application of this Directive. On the basis of an examination carried out by Marccus Partners and the Centre for European Policy Studies, the Commission published an Application Report on 26 June 2012, to which the European Parliament responded favourably in its Resolution of 21 May 2013. This has provoked highly controversial discussions in various Member States and beyond. This article carries out a comparative, theoretical and policy analysis of European takeover law, incorporating not only the Thirteenth Directive but also commonalities and differences in takeover law in the Member States as regards the European market for corporate control, with an emphasis on the mandatory bid. While many economic opinions regard the mandatory bid as a mistake (it makes takeovers more expensive), the vast majority of academics and practitioners believe that the mandatory bid as an early exit option plays an irreplaceable role in the protection of minorities, and recent economic theory holds that mandatory bids are beneficial. The objection that the economic costs of the mandatory bid could be saved through improved protection of minorities after the takeover or in groups of companies is unrealistic. There is a whole range of special reform issues regarding the mandatory bid which fall partly within the remit of the European Commission and partly within that of the national legislatures. These issues include: the control threshold; opting up and opting out; low balling and creeping in; exercising control on the basis of a voting agreement; exemptions from the mandatory bid; and share price calculation.

Changing knowledge and the academic profession in Portugal

The paper analyses the Portuguese academics' perceptions about changes in their research activities and modes of knowledge production. Quantitative data gathered from an on-line national survey have been used to develop this analysis. Results reveal that the majority of academics declared that they were not involved in knowledge and technology transfer and that their research activities were not influenced by external sponsors or clients. However, they did recognise that were strong external pressures to reconfigure the epistemologies, ontologies and the institutional conditions under which knowledge is produced. The data analysis also reveals that academics recognise forms of hybridism between autonomy and endogenous dynamics and heteronomy and exogenous dynamics in the development of their research activities and knowledge production.

Over-Competitiveness in Academia: A Literature Review

Abstract This study focuses on the negative effects of the highly competitive academic environment. We summarized the literature on what consequences an over-competitive system has on the people involved and on the productivity of the system as a whole. We conclude that negative effects outweigh the potential gains which competitive systems bring about. The literature suggests that not only do constant rejections demotivate the majority of academics, but also the funding allocation process in itself seems inefficient. The pressure on academics is so high that we tend to systematically over-estimate our success chances of our funding proposals, manuscripts and promotion requests.

Adjustment, Motivation for Retention and Environmental Similarity toward Satisfaction among Expatriate Academics

The purposes of this paper are to access the level of motivation, adjustment and environmental similarities among expatriate academics in a Malaysian university; and to analyze the influence of demography on satisfaction among expatriate academics in a Malaysian university. Limitation of this study is just focusing on one university of Malaysia. Survey questionnaire have been used to collect the data from randomly selected expatriate academics who currently working in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Only the Nationality is significant differences with satisfaction of expatriate academics in UTM. Expatriate academics are mostly motivated to remain by teaching context which has three items: rapport with departmental leadership, teaching opportunities, and nation building (ability to affect change). Fourteen items as motivation to remain which selected by 50% of the respondents are research opportunities, cost of living, reputation of the university, research funding, reputation of department, research/ lab facilities, international experience, professional development opportunities, geographic location of Malaysia, rapport with departmental leadership, teaching opportunities, nation building (ability to affect change), scholarly environment, and students. Research opportunities and cost of living identify as the most important factors of motivation. Majority of expatriate academics are able to adjust in host country. Expatriate academics are better in specific job responsibilities and supervisory responsibilities. “Everyday customs that must be followed” and “general living conditions (housing, etc.)” are similar from their home country.