The intertwining of political, economic, societal and global changes has resulted in accentuating even more so the 'Muslim question', both domestically and globally. Research has shown that the negative focus Muslims and Islam receive in the West is becoming increasingly mainstreamed, not only through the media, but principally through mainstream political discourse. This mainstreaming is within a global and local narrative of a 'war on terror'. The former followed 9/11 at the outset of this millennium and the latter is represented in the myriad of 'anti-terrorism' initiatives recently augmented in the UK by the Prevent duty. This intensely hostile backdrop has nurtured 'normative truths' about Muslims/Islam. Although Islamophobia did exist long before 9/11, it has now become commonplace and, even, legitimised within the context of tackling terrorism, affecting the experiences of the majority of Muslims in the West and elsewhere in diverse ways. British academia has opened its doors to non-traditional academics, including those from racial and/or ethnic minority backgrounds. Equality policies have been developed, particularly subsequent to the Race Relation Amendment (2000), which has sought to fulfil the recommendations of the Macpherson report (1999). Nevertheless, inequalities do permeate British academia and the experiences of non-traditional academics have been tainted by institutional racism, in both quantity and quality. Statistics attest the former, highlighting the underrepresentation of non-traditional academics in British academia, more particularly in senior leadership and professorial positions. Empirical research findings attest the latter through citing several factors, including career trajectory barriers and the double standards racial bias that operates in a subtle way within higher education institutions (HEIs). These broader and institutional dimensions set the scene for this thesis, the aim of which is to examine the experiences of Muslim academics. The particular experiences of this group of academics have been ignored in previous research, as faith/belief matters have largely been overlooked in studies that explored the experiences of minority academics. This thesis adopts a qualitative approach utilising theoretical bricolage that principally draws on Critical Race Theory (CRT). The notion of race in CRT is, however, expanded to include faith/belief. The thesis also draws on Post-colonial and De-colonial theories, Bourdieu's concept of 'habitus' and Fraser's model of 'status recognition'. It explores the perceptions of Muslim academic participants regarding their own personal/professional identities and how Muslim academics negotiate their Muslim-ness in academia and considers how wider narratives have influenced how they speak about their 'Muslim identity'. The views of the participants are particularly important to examine the extent to which, if any, the 'normative truths' have penetrated academia. This thesis also examines the perceptions of the participants regarding their career experiences and considers whether the experiences of this group of Muslim academics corresponds to, or differs from, the experiences of their fellow non-traditional academics. The Whiteness of the academy was an overarching theme, under which the participants' experiences of racism vis-a-vis job opportunities, career advancement and the multi-faced forms of epistemic racism were discussed. Exceptionalism seemed to be a pre-requisite of gaining a positive experience. Not only did exceptionalism temper perceptions of 'otherness', but being exceptional was an aspect that advanced the career trajectories of some of the participants. Silence was another major theme that recurred in various forms across the fieldwork. These silences appear to have been a consequence of the wider stigmatisation of the Muslim identity, which became evident in the ways some of the participants chose to go about interpreting, or declaring, their Muslim-ness in their workplace. While being Muslim created challenges and required some of the participants to exert substantive negotiations and efforts to fit in, it was advantageous for others, in terms of their career trajectories. Religious micro-aggressions were habitual to the participants with regards to their interactions with staff, and this was particularly acute for females wearing the hijab, where the religious micro-aggressions in HEIs took on a gendered aspect of the 'Muslim problem'. Silence also penetrated the narratives in relation to issues of institutional racism. Networking with other non-white academics was another main theme that featured in the accounts. Muslim academic participants, like other non-traditional academics seek support and mentorship from other minoritised academics to be able to survive in academia. The current study concludes by suggesting that there is a need for more consideration to be given to the aspects of faith/belief in HE policy and practice. This needs to be conducted within a framework that acknowledges the existence of religious microaggressions and the overwhelming normativism of Whiteness in academia.

As social networking websites continue to rise in popularity, their role as a communications tool for academic institutions raises intriguing questions. This is especially true of Facebook, which was originally begun as an exclusively college-based social network. Facebook potentially represents an opportunity to cost-effectively communicate with students, faculty and other members of the college community. The goals of this study were to provide descriptive statistics that might aid in better understanding if students currently do or do not visit academic Facebook pages and why they visit those pages, what is most likely to cause them to visit academic Facebook pages, and how universities might best utilize this tool as a means of communication. The implications of that data could be extremely useful, especially in regards to resource allocation and future university communications.

In this exploration, I consider the dilemmas I experienced as a young qualitative researcher, particularly the ethical questions about how I write, who I implicate as I write, and how community fits into my ideas of qualitative inquiry. This account is drawn from conversations with peers and mentors, ethnographic experience, and interviews. It is an explication of how the academic capitalist discourse that surrounds higher education conflicts with the premises of qualitative inquiry. It is a call to arms for second-generation qualitative researchers to push the boundaries, expand the development, and increase the readership of our work. It calls on our academic parents to continue to protect us within the academy, but also from the academy's criteria as we attempt to enlarge our readership and influence.

Excerpt: Life in the academy is characterized by what can feel at times like a flexible , self-determined schedule, with its long breaks and short days at the office, and with the academic’s ability to break up the day to accommodate appointments and family demands, relative to the workaday grind of much full-time, on-site employment.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of international programs in preparing participants for effective engagement in the world's economy and the complexity of multiple societies and cultures. The study's objective is to identify and assess the skills and competencies that are in demand for graduates of international programs, from both the United States and foreign perspectives, and their main economic social and civic contributions. This research project develops, pilots and validates a list of critical competencies and skills for persons starting careers in international settings, creating a unique and valuable product. In addition, the project uses the validated listing for gathering and analyzing preliminary empirical data to help understand and evaluate the outcomes and importance of these competencies from three different--yet related perspectives--major employers, preparation institutions, and recent graduates of the program. The researcher will address the following questions: 1. What are the competencies and skills being required of employees and perspective employees as identified by the businesses and the corporate world? 2. What are the competencies and skills being emphasized by academic institutions in preparing prospective employees for the world of work? 3. To what extent are the competencies and skills of academic programs congruent with the required competencies and skills of the corporate world? The products of this work provide for the first time a valuable foundation for policy, planning, research, evaluation, and marketing the nature and importance of high quality, well prepared higher education graduates to meet the needs of our country's global workforce.

El proyecto consiste en el diseño de una Academia de Música en la intersección de los distritos Pueblo Libre, Cercado de Lima y San Miguel. El objetivo principal es ofrecer una infraestructura de carácter interdistrital que logre acoger músicos en formación y profesionales para brindarles ambientes donde puedan recibir una formación musical y se desempeñen en su labor como artista. El concepto arquitectónico tiene como énfasis integrar el programa educativo con la exposición de la música a través de espacios intermedios. Además, se propone que este sea un proyecto que pueda despertar sensaciones en el usuario a través del manejo de la luz y el color en los espacios para lograr influenciar positivamente en el aprendizaje y crear ambientes agradables. / This thesis is a design proposal for an academy of music, planned for the intersection of the districts of Pueblo Libre, Cercado de Lima and San Miguel. The aim of the project is to offer an infrasctructure for the three neighbouring districts, which will host future and professional musicians and will bring them closer to a creative environment, where they can get a musical education and therefore be able to carry out their work as artists. The architectural concept emphasizes the integration of the educational program and the exposure to music by using intermediate spaces. Furthermore, the building is designed in order to inspire its users through the use of light and color, so that it might positively influence their learning process and at the same time create a pleasant environment. / Tesis

<p>Denna studies övergripande syfte var att förstå de drivkrafter som leder till att vissa sjuksköterskor söker sig till akademisk kompetensutveckling medan andra ser det som helt otänkbart. Studiens mer preciserade syfte var att undersöka hur sjuksköterskor med kompletterande studier i vårdvetenskap ser på akademisk kompetensutveckling. Följande frågeställningar fokuserades för att få en mer nyanserad bild av detta fenomen: Vad har kompetensutvecklingen inneburit för sjuksköterskorna? Vad är det för kunskap de vill utveckla och varför? Vilka drivkrafter har motiverat sjuksköterskorna till kompetensutveckling? Vilka faktorer uppfattar sjuksköterskorna har möjliggjort/försvårat deras kompetensutveckling? Den teoretiska anknytningen gjordes till följande begrepp: kompetens, kunskap och motivation. Definitioner och teorier inom respektive begrepp användes för att försöka förstå, förklara eller värdera undersökningens resultat. Studien genomfördes som en halvstrukturerad intervjuundersökning med ett allmänkvalitativt perspektiv. Respondenterna utgjordes av tio sjuksköterskor med pågående eller avslutade studier inom vårdvetenskap på grund- eller avancerad nivå. Alla var kvinnor och arbetade inom vitt skilda delar av sluten- och öppenvård inom såväl landsting som kommun. Intervjuerna spelades in på band och transkriberades ord för ord och detta material analyserades efter inspiration från Granheim och Lundmans modell för innehållsanalys. Resultatet utmynnade i de fyra kategorierna <em>drivkrafter, förutsättningar, kompetenser</em> och<em> konsekvenser. </em>Under respektive kategori kom ett flertal underkategorier att ytterligare förstärka bilden av den akademiska kompetensutvecklingens villkor. Bland de avgjort viktigaste resultaten fanns den kulturkrock mellan klinik och akademi som respondenterna upplevt i mötet med studenter och nyutbildade sjuksköterskor. I detta möte fann de en stark drivkraft till egna akademiska studier vars syfte bestod av främst två delar, att skaffa sig kunskaper inom det egna kunskapsområdet omvårdnad, samt att skaffa sig redskap för såväl forskningskonsumtion som – produktion. Att den kliniska verksamheten ännu inte var redo för akademin var en annan tydlig bild som uppstod ur sjuksköterskornas berättelser. De kunskaper som värderades högst fanns inom den praktiska produktiva delen av vården och beskrevs av sjuksköterskorna oftast som förmågor. Den personliga utvecklingen var såväl en drivkraft till som en konsekvens av studierna och denna uppfattades som central för den vidare studiemotivationen. Sjuksköterskorna beskrev sina studier som en process som närmast kunde liknas vid att göra en resa, i detta fall <em>den akademiska resan. </em></p> / <p>This study investigated the main motives for why some registered nurses choose to continue on the path of higher educational studies. More specific, this study aimed to explore how registered nurses with additional academic marks in nursing science viewed academic competence development. Following questions were used to capture the complexity of the phenomenon of academic competence development; i) What did competence development involve for the registered nurses? ii) What kind of knowledge did they strive to develop and why? iii) What were the main motives for their competence development? and finally iv) What factors did they perceive as facilitators and/or barriers for competence development? Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten female registered nurses, who were either still enrolled or had completed basic or advanced academic studies in Nursing Science. The informants worked in different kind of specialties either in secondary or in primary care. All the interviews were taped and transcribed before being analyzed inspired by the model of content analysis as described by Graneheim and Lundman. Established theories and definitions for the concepts of competence, knowledge and motivation were used to understand, explain and/or to evaluate the findings. The content analysis revealed four categories,<em>‘motivations’, ‘conditions’, ‘competences’ and finally ‘consequences’. </em>Each category was also interpreted to include several sub categories. One of the main findings coming out from this study was the obvious culture clash experienced to occur in meetings between the informants and newly graduated registered nurses or nursing students. Experiencing this culture clash meant that the informants became strongly motivated to pursue further degrees in nursing science. Their studies mainly aimed at increasing their knowledge within their own speciality but also to increase their skills in appraising and performing nursing research. Their own individual and personal developments were interpreted to be both a motive and a consequence of taking on further academic competence development. In the analysis of the nurses stories it became obvious that clinical practice were not yet ready for nurses who departures from a theoretical and academy knowledge base in their everyday practice. Hence, practical and productive nursing knowledge, mainly described by the nurses as abilities, were more highly valued than theoretical academic knowledge. The nurses experienced that the process of continuing to develop their academic competences could be compared by a journey and in this case more specific<em> an academic journey. </em></p>

<p>Sweden is often described as one of the best countries in the world for women to live in. Despite this and despite a number of equal opportunity interventions within the area of higher education from the mid 1990s and on, Sweden follows the international pattern of the "leaking pipeline" when it comes to gender distribution in academia. The higher up in the academic hierarchy the more men and the fewer women. The topic of this thesis is mapping gender in academic workplaces. The aim is to explore ways in which the social relations of researchers everyday working lives are gendered. This involves studing ways in which gender inequality is produced, maintained or ignored within the discource of gender equality in Swedish academic workplaces and in Swedish society at large.</p>

Sweden is often described as one of the best countries in the world for women to live in. Despite this and despite a number of equal opportunity interventions within the area of higher education from the mid 1990s and on, Sweden follows the international pattern of the "leaking pipeline" when it comes to gender distribution in academia. The higher up in the academic hierarchy the more men and the fewer women. The topic of this thesis is mapping gender in academic workplaces. The aim is to explore ways in which the social relations of researchers everyday working lives are gendered. This involves studing ways in which gender inequality is produced, maintained or ignored within the discource of gender equality in Swedish academic workplaces and in Swedish society at large.

Denna studies övergripande syfte var att förstå de drivkrafter som leder till att vissa sjuksköterskor söker sig till akademisk kompetensutveckling medan andra ser det som helt otänkbart. Studiens mer preciserade syfte var att undersöka hur sjuksköterskor med kompletterande studier i vårdvetenskap ser på akademisk kompetensutveckling. Följande frågeställningar fokuserades för att få en mer nyanserad bild av detta fenomen: Vad har kompetensutvecklingen inneburit för sjuksköterskorna? Vad är det för kunskap de vill utveckla och varför? Vilka drivkrafter har motiverat sjuksköterskorna till kompetensutveckling? Vilka faktorer uppfattar sjuksköterskorna har möjliggjort/försvårat deras kompetensutveckling? Den teoretiska anknytningen gjordes till följande begrepp: kompetens, kunskap och motivation. Definitioner och teorier inom respektive begrepp användes för att försöka förstå, förklara eller värdera undersökningens resultat. Studien genomfördes som en halvstrukturerad intervjuundersökning med ett allmänkvalitativt perspektiv. Respondenterna utgjordes av tio sjuksköterskor med pågående eller avslutade studier inom vårdvetenskap på grund- eller avancerad nivå. Alla var kvinnor och arbetade inom vitt skilda delar av sluten- och öppenvård inom såväl landsting som kommun. Intervjuerna spelades in på band och transkriberades ord för ord och detta material analyserades efter inspiration från Granheim och Lundmans modell för innehållsanalys. Resultatet utmynnade i de fyra kategorierna drivkrafter, förutsättningar, kompetenser och konsekvenser. Under respektive kategori kom ett flertal underkategorier att ytterligare förstärka bilden av den akademiska kompetensutvecklingens villkor. Bland de avgjort viktigaste resultaten fanns den kulturkrock mellan klinik och akademi som respondenterna upplevt i mötet med studenter och nyutbildade sjuksköterskor. I detta möte fann de en stark drivkraft till egna akademiska studier vars syfte bestod av främst två delar, att skaffa sig kunskaper inom det egna kunskapsområdet omvårdnad, samt att skaffa sig redskap för såväl forskningskonsumtion som – produktion. Att den kliniska verksamheten ännu inte var redo för akademin var en annan tydlig bild som uppstod ur sjuksköterskornas berättelser. De kunskaper som värderades högst fanns inom den praktiska produktiva delen av vården och beskrevs av sjuksköterskorna oftast som förmågor. Den personliga utvecklingen var såväl en drivkraft till som en konsekvens av studierna och denna uppfattades som central för den vidare studiemotivationen. Sjuksköterskorna beskrev sina studier som en process som närmast kunde liknas vid att göra en resa, i detta fall den akademiska resan. / This study investigated the main motives for why some registered nurses choose to continue on the path of higher educational studies. More specific, this study aimed to explore how registered nurses with additional academic marks in nursing science viewed academic competence development. Following questions were used to capture the complexity of the phenomenon of academic competence development; i) What did competence development involve for the registered nurses? ii) What kind of knowledge did they strive to develop and why? iii) What were the main motives for their competence development? and finally iv) What factors did they perceive as facilitators and/or barriers for competence development? Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten female registered nurses, who were either still enrolled or had completed basic or advanced academic studies in Nursing Science. The informants worked in different kind of specialties either in secondary or in primary care. All the interviews were taped and transcribed before being analyzed inspired by the model of content analysis as described by Graneheim and Lundman. Established theories and definitions for the concepts of competence, knowledge and motivation were used to understand, explain and/or to evaluate the findings. The content analysis revealed four categories,‘motivations’, ‘conditions’, ‘competences’ and finally ‘consequences’. Each category was also interpreted to include several sub categories. One of the main findings coming out from this study was the obvious culture clash experienced to occur in meetings between the informants and newly graduated registered nurses or nursing students. Experiencing this culture clash meant that the informants became strongly motivated to pursue further degrees in nursing science. Their studies mainly aimed at increasing their knowledge within their own speciality but also to increase their skills in appraising and performing nursing research. Their own individual and personal developments were interpreted to be both a motive and a consequence of taking on further academic competence development. In the analysis of the nurses stories it became obvious that clinical practice were not yet ready for nurses who departures from a theoretical and academy knowledge base in their everyday practice. Hence, practical and productive nursing knowledge, mainly described by the nurses as abilities, were more highly valued than theoretical academic knowledge. The nurses experienced that the process of continuing to develop their academic competences could be compared by a journey and in this case more specific an academic journey.