Search results

Increasingly, universities are involved in providing leadership development opportunities that support students’ academic endeavours and their personal and professional development, including employability and citizenship skills. Leadership experiences are beneficial not only for students, but also for universities, the wider community, and future employers. To develop a greater understanding of students’ perceived benefits of their involvement in peer leadership activities, a group of Australasian universities participated in a pilot survey based on the United States National Survey of Peer Leadership. Overall, the results suggest students believe they benefit from peer leadership experiences across a range of key outcomes areas, most prominently creative problem solving, appreciation of diversity, and a sense of belonging and contributing to the university community.

This paper describes an exploratory, international research collaboration that seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the development and experiences of peer leaders in higher education across different international contexts, namely the USA, Canada (CAN), Australasia (Australia and New Zealand) (ANZ), the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa (SA).

Data are summarized and compared across each of the participating countries, providing a more global context and depth of perspective on peer leadership (PL) in higher education than is currently available in the literature.

The findings highlight some apparent differences between countries in relation to student engagement in peer leader roles and the ways in which PL is supported by higher education institutions, as well as some similarities across the different international contexts, particularly in the way peer leaders view the benefits of their involvement in PL.

These insights provide a valuable addition to the literature on PL and practical information to higher education institutions for supporting student leadership development and involvement.

The purpose of this paper is to validate the course experience questionnaire (CEQ) for possible use in Dutch universities.

A 23 item CEQ was administered and the data analysed using confirmatory factor analysis.

Confirmatory factor analysis provided a good fit for the CEQ's five-factor structure, and the scales showed good reliabilities. Validation with external criterion and discriminant validation between faculties with different teaching environments demonstrated the CEQ's potential for use in Dutch universities.

A limitation of this study was the convenience sample and the number of students included (n=956).

The results of this validation exercise suggest that the use of the CEQ in Dutch universities could be useful. This could be of benefit for these universities in being able to initiate discussions with other universities, both in The Netherlands and beyond, about possible enhancement initiatives.

This paper aims to examine the measurement of intangible aspects of research and development (R&D) projects, particularly from the funding organization's point‐of‐view.

A literature review on R&D measurement is carried out in order to identify the intangible factors to be measured as well as potential indicators. The practical applicability of the measures is discussed in light of an exploratory case study.

Lists of intangible inputs and outputs of R&D projects are presented along with some potential measures. The assessment of the intangible aspects of R&D projects is considered important for the funding organization. However, the current measurement practices are inadequate.

The results provide a summary of the current status of the topic and a basis for further research.

The knowledge about the intangible aspects of R&D projects summarized in this paper has been scattered before in a wide set of previous research literature. The evaluation of the existing measures provides valuable information for understanding the development stage of this academic and managerial discipline.

The purpose of this article is to discuss issues raised at The 1st World Conference on Intellectual Capital for Communities in the Knowledge Economy: Nations, Regions and Cities, which took place in Paris, June 20, 2005.

The conference was structured into four sessions: intellectual capital and the knowledge economy; intellectual capital for nations; intellectual capital for regions; and looking at the future.

Finds that there is a gap that must be addressed. There are very few actual case studies that articulate how a knowledge economy is nurtured and operates on a regional and local basis.

This article is based on the first conference, which was a remarkable convocation and springboard event and will be of interest to those in the field of intellectual capital.

This paper aims to advance recent literature on the performativity of accounting by examining how project accounting affects a project organization’s ability to deliver a relevant project outcome, such as a product or a building, for a receiving client organization.

The paper draws on a longitudinal case study of a 41.4-billion-kroner (5.5-billion-euro) Danish project of constructing 16 new public hospitals. Its objective was to reduce the average unit costs and improve the quality of patient care. Each hospital construction was managed by a separate project organization and handed over to a separate receiving hospital organization. The project organizations applied a common approach to project accounting. The paper relies on Michel Callon’s concepts of performativity and sociotechnical agencement – approaching project accounting as an arrangement of devices.

The paper shows that the project-accounting agencement simultaneously supported and undermined the project organizations’ ability to deliver hospitals relevant to the receiving hospital organizations. The agencement performed hospital designs, disciplined project actors and guided decision-making, thus supporting the overall work of the project organizations. It also, however, compelled the project organizations to compromise on hospital designs when unexpected events occurred. These compromises led to the delivery of hospitals, which largely prevented the receiving hospital organizations from achieving the project’s objective.

This paper advances our limited understanding of the dynamic and complex relationship between project accounting and the relevance of project outcomes. It introduces the concept of a “contronymity device” to capture the way project accounting simultaneously produces two opposing consequences, both supporting and undermining the enactment of a particular reality. The paper lastly enriches our understanding of how project-accounting devices impact hospital organizations’ operating cost structures and challenge patient care capabilities.

The groundwork of a good research project always begins with a thorough literature search. When the scientist wants to replicate work, perhaps to compare results of conducting the same experiment on different materials, he or she turns to the library for journal articles on the subject. Librarians excel at producing lengthy subject searches through online search services. They can even produce the desired materials themselves, making good use of networking such as OCLC and RUN, and interlibrary loan, in addition to careful collection development in the library at hand.