There are numerous of ideas and theories around the present development in our global society, describing an ever changing era based and propelled by information and communication technology (ICT). How influential has this development been on political visions and intentions and on the business worlds views on important competencies? The purpose of this thesis is to describe the national and international visions of important competencies in the “information society”. Through a case study, focused on how the training and consultancy industry apprehends and answer to this change and development, as they often act as agents for new trends in the business world both as accommodators and originators. The growth and speed of the universally available information demands knowhow in seeking, analyzing and managing information, and this competence is crucial today. To place my study in an adequate theoretical context it is placed in the realms of Information Literacy (IL). I will describe and discuss connections between IL and workplace processes. All political visions in my research are unanimous and have an extremely positive, almost naïve approach to the future effects that the ICT development will have on our society. The case study shows that, even if the predecessors don’t speak or use the term information literacy they are well aware of the challenges and problems related to Information Literacy. / Omvärldsbevakning och Omvärldsanalys

<p>There are numerous of ideas and theories around the present development in our global society, describing an ever changing era based and propelled by information and communication technology (ICT). How influential has this development been on political visions and intentions and on the business worlds views on important competencies? The purpose of this thesis is to describe the national and international visions of important competencies in the “information society”. Through a case study, focused on how the training and consultancy industry apprehends and answer to this change and development, as they often act as agents for new trends in the business world both as accommodators and originators. The growth and speed of the universally available information demands knowhow in seeking, analyzing and managing information, and this competence is crucial today. To place my study in an adequate theoretical context it is placed in the realms of Information Literacy (IL). I will describe and discuss connections between IL and workplace processes. All political visions in my research are unanimous and have an extremely positive, almost naïve approach to the future effects that the ICT development will have on our society. The case study shows that, even if the predecessors don’t speak or use the term information literacy they are well aware of the challenges and problems related to Information Literacy.</p> / Omvärldsbevakning och Omvärldsanalys

During the year 2007, when this thesis was completed, the European Union could look backat fifty years of collaboration, which began with the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957and which has developed from being mainly economic in character to incorporating a politicalas well as a social dimension at the European level. In 2007 the European Union alsocommemorated the twentieth anniversary of Erasmus, its higher education mobilityprogramme. It is this relatively new political dimension which I have been interested ininvestigating in this thesis. More precisely it is the political construction of a commonEuropean identity which is analysed using a critical discourse analysis approach.The majoraim of this thesis has been two-fold. The first aim has been to investigate how the European isconstructed in the discourse contained within the official European Union policy documents. Ihave been interested in analysing the various structures, in the form of ideas and norms whichare used in order to construct ‘the European’. The second aim has been to explore whether therole of higher education, as constructed in the official European Union discourse, is given asimilar identity-making role as education is argued to have in the nation-state according to thetheory on national identity. I argue that there are three version of European identityconstruction, i.e. cultural, civic, and neo-liberal, with their own relationship to highereducation, present in the empirical material analysed, consisting of official European Uniondocuments. Further, this thesis is also a study of the power of modern government. I arguethat there is an increase in normative soft power where ‘The Good European’ is notsomething ‘you’ are but something ‘you’ become by being a responsible active citizen.Through the use of critical discourse analysis I illuminate the power which resides in thelanguage in the discourse analysed. Thus, I have been interested in investigating how theofficial European Union discourse on European identity and higher education works to bothinclude and exclude individuals.

The South African public service, like many organisation, is embracing information and communication technology (ICTs) and the main aim is to improve and better their services. Frenzel (1999:18) indicates that this is because ICT has the potential to reduce costs, improve internal efficiency, capture economies of scale and bring organisations even closer to their customers and suppliers. Significant initiatives have been taken in the last couple of years. These include the need to address the coordination of ICT initiatives in the public service, through the establishment of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officers (OGCIO) within the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA). The South African public service also established State Information Technology Agency (SITA) responsible for the provision of information technology, system and related services. However, although ICT has the potential to infuse every area of the public service and improve service delivery, ICT is a management task that should be addressed in the overall context of an organisation and its environment. It is therefore in the best interest of this study to investigate the role of ICT in the South African public service. A number of aspects of ICT were investigated, including the challenges facing government in the implementation of ICT, critical success factors of ICT and the role of ICT in the public service. Among the challenges indentified include leadership instability, lack of common shared vision and strategy, lack of skills, training and development and poor communication and decision making processes are significant organizational factors constraining the successful implementation of ICT in government. Lack of ICT infrastructure, integration and interoperability issues are cited as technical challenges to successful implementation. Key findings from the study were that ICTs should integrate service delivery across government. It should also facilitate business efficiency and effectiveness and contribute towards socio-economic development. It is therefore necessary that ICT must be driven by government‘s developmental agenda, rather than technology. It is recommended that this could be achieved through a sustained shared, common vision across government, adequate resources and strategic partnerships with the business community. / Master of Public Administration, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The South African public service, like many organisation, is embracing information and communication technology (ICTs) and the main aim is to improve and better their services. Frenzel (1999:18) indicates that this is because ICT has the potential to reduce costs, improve internal efficiency, capture economies of scale and bring organisations even closer to their customers and suppliers. Significant initiatives have been taken in the last couple of years. These include the need to address the coordination of ICT initiatives in the public service, through the establishment of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officers (OGCIO) within the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA). The South African public service also established State Information Technology Agency (SITA) responsible for the provision of information technology, system and related services. However, although ICT has the potential to infuse every area of the public service and improve service delivery, ICT is a management task that should be addressed in the overall context of an organisation and its environment. It is therefore in the best interest of this study to investigate the role of ICT in the South African public service. A number of aspects of ICT were investigated, including the challenges facing government in the implementation of ICT, critical success factors of ICT and the role of ICT in the public service. Among the challenges indentified include leadership instability, lack of common shared vision and strategy, lack of skills, training and development and poor communication and decision making processes are significant organizational factors constraining the successful implementation of ICT in government. Lack of ICT infrastructure, integration and interoperability issues are cited as technical challenges to successful implementation. Key findings from the study were that ICTs should integrate service delivery across government. It should also facilitate business efficiency and effectiveness and contribute towards socio-economic development. It is therefore necessary that ICT must be driven by government‘s developmental agenda, rather than technology. It is recommended that this could be achieved through a sustained shared, common vision across government, adequate resources and strategic partnerships with the business community. / Master of Public Administration, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The main purpose of this master graduation work is to estimate managers-leaders role in public administration under conditions of knowledge economy as well as to provide suggestions for development of future leaders. In order to achieve main goal common theories of leadership were discussed, current management environment analyzed, abilities to use leadership concept in public sector under context of public management reform studied, problem of efficient public administration in Lithuania analyzed.

This study examines the perceptions and operational assumptions of university representatives with regard to the new higher education policy-making in Kurdistan. It attempts to explore the development and implementation of the policy’s first priority, the aim to bridge the gap between quality and quantity in higher education. A mixed-methods case study research is employed by applying qualitative methods in a series of interviews carried out with nine faculty members from a University in the Kurdistan Region. The interviews were followed by a survey of a representative sample of 305 faculty members from all faculties of the university, with responses from 148. Both research methods explored the implementation of quality assurance initiatives under the quality teaching reforms. The aim is to identify what type of quality culture in higher education is being encouraged and if it will enable higher education to serve as a bridge for Kurdistan to the global knowledge economy.

This study examines the perceptions and operational assumptions of university representatives with regard to the new higher education policy-making in Kurdistan. It attempts to explore the development and implementation of the policy’s first priority, the aim to bridge the gap between quality and quantity in higher education. A mixed-methods case study research is employed by applying qualitative methods in a series of interviews carried out with nine faculty members from a University in the Kurdistan Region. The interviews were followed by a survey of a representative sample of 305 faculty members from all faculties of the university, with responses from 148. Both research methods explored the implementation of quality assurance initiatives under the quality teaching reforms. The aim is to identify what type of quality culture in higher education is being encouraged and if it will enable higher education to serve as a bridge for Kurdistan to the global knowledge economy.

This thesis examines policy documents relating to the knowledge society of six Asia-Pacific countries (India, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji and New Zealand). I employ Norman Fairclough’s version of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to explore the discursive construction of knowledge-related policies within a comparative case study methodology. Leximancer – a computer software for text analysis is used to assist in operationalising parts of the CDA. The general conclusions drawn from the study indicate that the evolving knowledge policy discourse in the Asia-Pacific is not based on any robust theoretical framework but on international and country-specific paradigms of the knowledge society. In the policy discourses, the knowledge society is posited as a desired outcome in light of external (global) imperatives - economic globalisation, technological knowledge and innovation flows, and ICT revolution – which are married to context-specific developmental imperatives arising from geography, culture, history and polity. This hybridisation process gives shape to unique knowledge society paradigms of each country. My CDA analysis shows that the ideology of neoliberalism is a key discursive influence on the knowledge society paradigms and is mutated by differences in contexts across different countries. In the discourses, neoliberalism operates via an emphasis on policy restructuring (privatisation, deregulation and liberalisation), and streamlining of governance mechanisms relating to key knowledge and information policy sectors. The resulting knowledge society constructions are context and time-dependent frameworks and exhibit two core arguments of convergence in all the case studies: (1) ICT and Science & Technology as vehicles for knowledge-based development need to grow in an enabling policy environment and; (2) the twin imperatives of globalisation and technological revolution mean that knowledge policy should have a competitive and innovation orientation, and should be continuously readjusted in tune with global economic changes. In addition to convergence, there are two major issues of divergence, namely: (1) emphasis on affirmative action in knowledge-related policies of India, Malaysia, and Fiji; (2) the promotion of cultural production and creative industries in Singapore, New Zealand, and more recently in Korea. The original contribution of this thesis is that it provides a reassessment of the role of neoliberalism in knowledge society. The study is novel both in the selection of the problem and the methodology. Comparative case studies using CDA have not been attempted at the regional scale and not with this level of documentary data. The use of Leximancer improves the management of textual data and increases the validity of the interpretations. A study of this magnitude has not been attempted for the Asia-Pacific region previously. Finally, the conclusions drawn from applying the CDA are both persuasive and creative in terms of analysing policy discourses of the knowledge society.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die tesis handel oor die volgende: Hoofstuk 1 dek die agtergrond, probleemstelling en ‘n kort oorsig oor die vaardigheidsgapings wat opgemerk kan word binne die konteks van die kennis-ekonomie. Hoofstuk 2 handel oor kernkonsepte, naamlik “kritiese denkvaardighede”, die kenniskonomie en wersvaardighede. Hoofstuk 3 sit ‘n gevallestudie uiteen. Dit beskryf die metode wat gekies is, die monster asook die uitvoering van die projek. Hoofstuk 4 bied ‘n ontleding aan van die data. Die laaste hoofstuk bespreek die resultate en hulle implikasies. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The thesis covers the following chapters Chapter 1: Background and Research Objectives This chapter focuses on the background, the problem and its setting and also includes the overview of the knowledge economy and the existing gap in skills. Chapter 2: Critical thinking and Employability Skills The focus is on an introduction and definitions of key concepts, namely critical thinking skills, the knowledge economy, and employability skills. Chapter 3: The Case Study This chapter offers the chosen research method and design, as well as the reasons for selecting this design, and will describe the methods. The discussion will include the research approach, sampling and data management. Chapter 4: Presentation and Discussion of the Findings The discussion includes data interpretation, specific techniques employed and reasons for such strategies. Chapter 5: Aspects of the Skills Gap This is the final chapter and it discusses the findings, makes recommendations, and concludes the study.