This study examines the status of the technical qualifications accorded to graduates in the training programme at Jubail Industrial College, one of two English-medium colleges in Saudi Arabia, and in particular attempts to assess the relevance of these qualifications to their employment, from the points of view of the graduates and of their employers. The study uses a sample population taken from technical graduates and their employers in the six cities of the Eastern Region, to evaluate the attitudes of these two groups by means of questionnaires (90%) and interviews (10%), intended to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the College's training programme. As an adjunct it also seeks to examine the expectations of students who have undertaken their Co-operative Training Programme but not yet entered into employment. It uses the One-Sample T-Test to determine the mean levels of satisfaction of the individual groups and then of the three groups together. The Analysis of Variance Test (ANOVA) and Pair-Wise Comparison Test (Tukey HSD) are used to test differences between the means of the three groups. The study is divided into nine chapters. Chapter I sets out the aims of the research and describes the College's role in training students for work in industry. Chapter II gives an overview of Saudi Arabia, including its educational system and especially technical education and vocational training. Chapter III describes the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu and then focuses on the College, highlighting its mission within the country's economic development and detailing its programmes. Chapter IV describes the policy of economic diversification to reduce dependence on oil and Chapter V reviews the relevant literature on technical and vocational education in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Chapter VI reiterates the aims of the study and explains the null hypotheses associated therewith, as well as the associated factors and elements. Chapter VII presents and analyses the data obtained with respect to the respondents' levels of satisfaction with the factors and elements, and thereafter Chapter VIII discusses the results and draws conclusions about the validity of the null hypotheses, identifying possible causes for the levels of satisfaction expressed. Finally, Chapter IX provides a summary, makes recommendations for the improvement of the College programme, for industrial organisations and for policy makers, and gives suggestions for further research.

Human capital and screening theories of the role of education in the labour market have similar predictions about individual behaviour and labour market outcomes. This makes it difficult to test between the theories. Nevertheless, the task of doing so is important since the social return to education is likely to be small unless education adds to productivity as human capital theory, but not screening theory, assumes. Education may only convey information about likely individual productivity under screening. It serves this function because individual productivity is difficult for employers to observe. In fact, there is very little evidence from existing tests of the theories that education does not add to productivity. However, few of the tests that have been undertaken between the theories are convincing. The three empirical chapters of this thesis contain tests of some aspects of the theories.

Human capital and screening theories of the role of education in the labour market have similar predictions about individual behaviour and labour market outcomes. This makes it difficult to test between the theories. Nevertheless, the task of doing so is important since the social return to education is likely to be small unless education adds to productivity as human capital theory, but not screening theory, assumes. Education may only convey information about likely individual productivity under screening. It serves this function because individual productivity is difficult for employers to observe. In fact, there is very little evidence from existing tests of the theories that education does not add to productivity. However, few of the tests that have been undertaken between the theories are convincing. The three empirical chapters of this thesis contain tests of some aspects of the theories.

No description available.

Immediately after the discovery of oil, the State of Kuwait put in place a plan for massive economic and social development for its people. This proposed plan required sophisticated labour skills to implement development requirements. However, over the years the country has continued to witness a labour market imbalance due to an inadequate supply of graduate skills that did not satisfy the demand from its workplace. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mismatch between outputs from higher education and labour market requirements. The present study employed a mixed approach to address its main research questions. It applied a quantitative approach using questionnaires prepared for graduates currently working and employers from both the public and private sector. It also utilized a qualitative approach using interviews with stakeholders in the labour market such as higher education personnel and policy makers. The literature review provided an overview of educational objectives and their relation to economic, social, and human resource development. It also looked at the nature of the relationship between higher educational institutions and the labour market, as well as providing some examples of the labour market gap around the world. The key findings indicated that higher educational institutions faced problems with regard to their role in the provision of knowledge and skills. The study found that employers believe that the quality of education provided by the institutions is low. Similarly, the study found that employers believe that the communication amongst stakeholders in the education system is not effective. In addition, employers reckoned that the main factors influencing graduates’ quality of education were the lack of skills, lack of motivation and weak communication. Similarly, graduates believed that the main factors influencing their quality of education were lack of skills, as well as overestimating job privileges and area of study. Furthermore, graduates satisfaction with their current jobs was influenced by many factors; such as low-quality education, disappointment with career development, source of skills, area of study, and gender. In fact, the literature identified the low quality of education as the main cause of the skills-gap worldwide, while it had always valued communication for closing the skills-gap. This study has confirmed that there is an imbalance within the Kuwaiti labour market. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed in the concluding chapter of the thesis.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DX83516.

This thesis studies the labour supply with aspiration-based reference-dependent preferences. The first contribution of the thesis is the theoretical modelling of behavioural contract theory. In Chapter 1, I modify the classical principal-agent model with uncertainty and moral hazard by replacing the Expected Utility preferences of the agent with chance theory preferences (Schmidt and Zank, 2013). Chance theory agents are primarily concerned with the sure wage they can obtain, i.e., the certain component in their contract, as they treat increments in bonuses markedly different to similar changes in sure wages. Similar to the classical predictions, our agents' optimal contracts are contingent payment schemes, however, they differ with respect to the level of the sure wage. I also contrast my predictions to those of the model of Herweg et al. (2010), who assume agents with expectation-based loss-averse preferences. The other contribution of this thesis is the empirical support for the theory of aspiration-based reference-dependent preferences with field data in education economics. In Chapter 2, I study aspiration-based reference-dependent preferences in undergraduate students' performance and effort provision. Students' reference points are set as their targeted grades. I extend a two-period economics-of-education model (Krohn and O'Connor, 2005) by proposing an additional utility function that is based on the difference between the realised grade and targeted grade. I design surveys and collect data by following a group of undergraduate students at the University of Manchester for two semesters of a full academic year with a two-period panel. My results provide evidence for students' reference-dependent preferences in two ways: first, a significant jump in students' proxied utility of grade is found at the reference point, which also implies students are loss averse. Second, the reference point positively affects students' effort provision. I further study the formation of the reference point and its variation over time. My results suggest that students partially update their past realised results into the formation of reference points. Further, the relative change of their reference points depends on the achievement of the past period reference point.

Decentralisation remains a preferred instrument of education reform policies throughout the world. In theory, decentralisation shifts power and authority from the state at national level to the school community at local level. In South Africa, a decentralising initiative in education was the promulgation of the South African Schools Act, No 84 of 1996, which provided parents with an opportunity to share in the governance of a public school by being elected to serve on its school governing body. In this context, it appears that members of school governing bodies hold unique sets of expectations when serving on a school governing body. Expectations may influence the nature and type of education to which a particular school community aspires and may consequently influence the workloads of the educators at that school. A primary search of national and international literature on governing bodies provides numerous descriptions of governmental intentions with respect to governing bodies but the expectations that governing body members have of educators, appears to be a neglected field of empirical enquiry. This study therefore examines public primary school governing body functions in the light of prevailing education labour law and other relevant law. The findings emerging from open-ended questionnaires completed by members of school governing bodies, time-use diaries recorded by educators and interviews with principals together with an analysis of prevailing education labour law and other relevant law consistently show that the workloads of educators who teach at public primary schools situated in middle-class contexts have intensified. There appears to be a variety of factors, which singularly and collectively contribute to the intensification of educators’ workloads. Among these are the increasing expectations of parents, differences in the conceptual understanding of professionalism, marketisation and managerialism arising from decentralisation and the principal’s leadership style. The findings point to sport and professional development as the core duties, which demand a great deal of educators’ time and appear to militate most on educators’ private lives. Moreover, this research has provided conclusive evidence that despite the fact that school governing bodies’ expectations of educators are aligned with prevailing education labour law and other relevant law, the open-ended nature of such law, together with omissions and silences, allows legal space for individual and contextual interpretation and implementation. It is therefore, the most prominent factor contributing to the intensification of educators’ workloads. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

This doctoral thesis addresses one of the most significant topics in contemporary research in international migration; that is the education-occupation mismatch of highly qualified foreign workers in the labour market of a host country. The thesis focuses on the situation in the Czech labour market in the time-period between 2009 and 2016. By the possibility to utilize a unique set of non-public, anonymized individual data on foreign employment this thesis provides a first thorough empirical evidence on the level of mismatch of skilled migrant workers in the Czech labour market, with a dominant focus on quantitative approach to the given issue. Results of the research reveal that the mismatch between the migrant employees' attained (tertiary) and required education at their job occupations on the Czech labour market does exist and it is encountered by 20-30 % of tertiary educated foreign workers; moreover, level of mismatch has been gradually increasing over the given time-period. The differences in the level of mismatch then fundamentally differ across particular citizenship groups. The resulting level of mismatch of highly skilled foreign workers in the Czech labour market seems to be driven predominantly by broader social and economic drivers. More specifically, these are particularly a limited...

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Collective bargaining has gained more prominence within the industrial relations system as the latter is undergoing a worldwide transformation process. None of the effects of this transformation process is potentially more important to workers than the impact on dispute resolution. Changes in world markets furthermore necessitate a renewed emphasis on quality of products and services. Within this context labour conflicts in the public service have potential crucial consequences for the South African government's ability to promote economic development and service delivery. The Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) with its nine provincial chambers provides the infrastructure for collective bargaining in the public education sector and plays an important role in managing conflict and disputes within this sector. The goal of this research is to determine whether the Western Cape provincial chamber of the ELRC (PELRC) is effective in the fulfilment of its statutory functions, with specific reference to its collective bargaining and dispute resolution functions. Data has been collected by conducting interviews using an interview schedule. The research indicated that the PELRC does perform its statutory collective bargaining and dispute resolution functions. The PELRC, however, is more active in terms of dispute resolution than collective bargaining. The research established that the PELRC does not measure its effectiveness. Results were inconclusive regarding the PELRC's effectiveness in terms of its service delivery. The research, though did manage to identify those factors that contribute to effectiveness as well as those that counter it. It furthermore indicated that when effective, the PELRC's service delivery has a positive impact on the said statutory functions. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kollektiewe bedinging het in vernaamheid binne die arbeidsverhoudinge sisteem toegeneem soos wat laasgenoemde 'n wêreldwye transformasie proses ondergaan. Geen van die gevolge van hierdie transformasie proses is vir werkers moontlik belangriker as die invloed wat dit op dispuut oplossing het nie. Veranderinge binne wêreld markte het verder 'n hernuwe klem op die kwaliteit van produkte en dienste genoodsaak. Binne hierdie verband het arbeidskonflik in die staatsdiens potensieel kritieke gevolge vir die Suid-Afrikaanse regering se vermoë om ekonomiese ontwikkeling en dienslewering te bevorder. Die Raad van Arbeidsverhoudinge in die Onderwys (RAVO) met sy nege provinsiale kamers verskaf die infrastruktuur vir kollektiewe bedinging in die openbare onderwys sektor en speel 'n belangrike rol in die bestuur van konflik en dispute binne hierdie sektor. Die doel van hierdie navorsing is om te bepaal of die Wes-Kaap provinsiale kamer van die RAVO (PRAVO) effektief is in die uitvoering van sy statutêre funksies met spesifieke verwysing na sy kollektiewe bedinging en dispuut oplossing funksies. Data is ingesamel deur onderhoude te voer waartydens 'n onderhoud skedule gebruik is. Die navorsing het aangetoon dat die PRAVO wel sy statutêre kollektiewe bedinging en dispuut oplossing funksies uitvoer. Die PRAVO is egter meer aktief in terme van dispuut oplossing as kollektiewe bedinging. Die navorsing het vasgestel dat die PRAVO nie sy effektiwiteit meet nie. Resultate was onoortuigend betreffende die PRAVO se effektiwiteit in terme van sy dienslewering. Die navorsing het wel daardie faktore wat tot effektiwiteit bydra sowel as dié wat dit teenwerk geïdentifiseer. Dit het verder aangetoon dat wanneer effektief, die PRAVO se dienslewering 'n positiewe invloed op die genoemde statutêre funksies het.