Professional certification is arguably a means of validating a practitioner's competency within their trade. Certification can also be beneficial for enhancing a profession's prestige, improving academic programs, and helping to define the profession in question. However, certification can be considered not feasible, effective, or perhaps even necessary. Due to the likelihood of these conflicting viewpoints, it is essential for any profession to determine the support level from its members prior to implementing a certification process. This thesis presents the results from a 1998 survey for the American Evaluation Association, whereby their members responded to items regarding the need, effectiveness, feasibility of enacting a certification system for professional evaluators. Respondents were mixed in their attitudes. A slight majority indicated a certification system could be feasible. However, more respondents were unconfident than confident that certification can be effective or is even necessary; additionally, many were undecided on these issues.

Recent reports have indicated that students’ motivation is declining, and that students in vocational programs show particularly low motivation. However, studies show that motivation and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) strategies are closely intertwined, where motivation is depicted as an instigating and maintaining force that fuels a learner’s efforts toward a goal, and SRL-strategies are the actions that learners use to solve different tasks and structure their own learning processes. The result of these studies infer that vocational students’ struggle may not only be explained through having low motivation, but perhaps also through having few and/or ineffective learning strategies. To gain insight into this matter, this study  aims to research what vocational- and general academic program students in upper secondary school report on their motivation and use of SRL-strategies when solving individual assignments in English class, and whether there are any tangible differences between the two programs. The study uses a quantitative method, where a questionnaire was used to elicit 22 vocational program students’, and 29 academic program students’ self-perceived positions in regard to different statements related to motivation and SLR-strategy use. The statements were answered through a seven-point Likert scale. The study found that academic program students report higher for all types of motivation and SRL-strategy use, although vocational students only report slightly lower in comparison. The more tangible differences were that vocational program students reported for significantly higher anxiety, less sense of responsibility, and use of fewer socio-affective strategies. This study’s results show that there are some tangible differences between the two groups. The study can therefore be used as a stepping-stone for future studies on how to help students in becoming more capable.

The West Indies College is an institution of higher education in Jamaica which was established by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in 1909. It has had three names: 1909-1923, West Indian Training School; 1924-1958, West Indian Training College, and 1959-present, West Indies College. The school has been served by over 20 presidents. The needs of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the Mandeville community, Jamaica, and the West Indies region continue to play an important role in the addition and elimination of academic programs at the college. Present programs have attracted students from Africa, North and South America, the West Indies, and Europe. The college has industries that are used as facilities to provide the work-study program for students to fulfill the college's operational philosophy of educating the entire person. The industries assist students in the development of manual skills and in the payment of tuition. The West Indies College is funded by grants of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, tuition fees, profits from industries, and individual contributions. The school also receives a financial advantage in the form of tax exemption from the Jamaican government. An organized Department of Alumni Affairs assists the college in moral, professional, and material support. Due to the generosity of individual alumni, scholarships have been established to help needy students.

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Cette thèse a pour objectif d'enrichir la notion de professionnalisation. S'articulant autour des notions de régulation de l'entrée dans un corps professionnel et de fabrique de professionnels, elle propose une conception originale du processus de professionnalisation des formations universitaires. Elle tente principalement de construire une typologie des formations à partir de l'analyse synchronique et diachronique de leurs contenus et de leurs méthodes d'apprentissage. Ce travail mobilise un ensemble hétéroclite de travaux de sciences sociales allant de l'histoire des universités et de la sociologie des professions à la philosophie aristotélicienne. À partir de la question de recherche « Quels types de professionnels les formations universitaires sont-elles en mesure de fabriquer ? », il part du postulat que la nature des savoirs transmis fixe les modalités de cette fabrication. Il montre que ces savoirs participent de trois types de discipline (discipline pratique, discipline scientifique et discipline poïétique) auxquels sont rattachés quatre types de formation : la formation professionnelle généraliste, la formation professionnelle spécialiste, la formation professionnelle scientifique et la formation professionnelle poïétique. / This thesis aims to enrich the concept of professionalization. This work proposes an original conception of the process of professionalization of the university academic programs. This work is based on the concepts of regulation of the entrance into a profession and of making of the professionals. It primarily seeks to construct a typology thanks to the analysis of training content and learning methods from a synchronic and a diachronic point of view. This work uses resources from history of universities, sociology of professions and aristotelian philosophy. Starting from the following research question « What types of professionals the university academic programs are able to make? », it assumes that the nature of knowledge obtained by a student determines the conditions of this making. This knowledge consists of three types of discipline (practice discipline, scientific discipline and poietic discipline) which are related to four types of trainings : professional generalist training, professional specialist training, professional scientific training and professional poietic training.

The aim of this study is to gain an understanding for the factors behind the successful establishment in the Swedish labor market for foreign-born women who have a college or university degree from their home countries. This has been achieved by applying a qualitative method, whereas semi-structured interviews with five foreign-born women have been conducted. The theory used in the analysis are the theories of "social and cultural capital" and "empowerment". The findings of the study show that level of education, work experience, language skills affect foreign-born opportunities to enter the labor market. Moreover, the findings show that the interviewees perceived several obstructions to their inclusion in the Swedish labour market. These include language barriers and lack of social networks. The interviews also show that people who have an academic education from their home countries need to adapt their education to the Swedish labor market to find a qualified job. The results of the study also show that new arrivals need to apply for income support during the first period in Sweden, due to the fact that they lack their own income and assets.

The system of higher education in the United States of America has retained some of its original character yet it has also grown in many ways. Among the contemporary priorities of colleges and universities are undergraduate student learning outcomes and success along with a growing focus on diversity. As a result, there has been a growing focus on ways to achieve compositional diversity and a greater sense of inclusion with meaningful advances through better access and resources for individuals from non-dominant populations. The clearest result of these advances for sexual and gender diversity has been a normalization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) identities through positive visibility and greater acceptance on campus. However, it appears that relatively few institutions have focused on improving academic diversity and students’ cognitive growth around LGBTQ issues. Through historical inquiry and a qualitative approach, this study explored the fundamental aspects of formal LGBTQ studies academic programs at some of the leading American research universities, including Cornell University, the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of Texas at Austin – a purposeful sample chosen from the Association of American Universities (AAU) member institutions with organized curricula focused on the study of sexual and gender diversity. The analysis of primary and secondary sources, including documents and interviews, helped create historical narratives that revealed: a cultural shift was necessary to launch a formal academic program in LGBTQ studies; this formalization of LGBTQ studies programs has been part of the larger effort to improve the campus climate for sexual and gender diversity; and there has been a common pattern to the administration and operation of LGBTQ studies. Clearly, the research shows that LGBTQ studies, as a field of study and formal curriculum, has become institutionalized at the American research university. A key outcome of this research is the creation of a historiography of curricular development around sexual and gender diversity at a sample of premier research universities. This work also begins to fill the gap in the study of academic affairs at the postsecondary level of education related to LGBT and queer studies and the organization and administration of learning about diversity and inclusion. Ultimately, the results of this study can influence the continued advancement and maturity of this legitimate field of study as well as academic diversity and social transformation around sexual and gender diversity.