Thesis (MPA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Student Financial Support Schemes (SFSS) have become increasingly important in providing financial assistance for students pursuing higher education, in both developed and developing countries. SFSSs were first established in the 1950s. The years that followed saw an increase steady expansion of student loan programs, through the introduction of student loans in more countries and expansion in the number of loans available in relation to their size and new expanded approach. The trend was in response to higher education expansion, combined with increasing financial toughness and concern for equity, while at the same time there was a surge of interest in student loans in the late 1980s and 1990s, with new programs introduced in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom; several countries in eastern Europe, considering introducing student loans for the first time; and some developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America establishing or expanding student loan programs. The need for financial assistance is to enable students from low-income families to meet direct and indirect costs of higher education, and to ensure equality of opportunity, equity, and social justice. Recent arguments focused on whether student financial supports should be provided by governments, private agencies, employers, or institutions, and whether it should be in the form of scholarships, bursaries, grants either available to all students and or means-tested or fully repayable loans. Increasingly, debates also surrounds the question of how student loans should be administered in particular, eligibility and terms of repayment of loans, appropriate rates of interest, and mechanisms to target disadvantaged students while minimising default rates. Firstly, this study did a comparison between the SFSSs of the four different countries. Secondly, the best practices were identified and the Namibian case study was evaluated against the four countries. Lastly, some conclusions and recommendations were made that are aimed to improve the SFSS in Namibia. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Studente finansiële ondersteuningskemas in ontwikkelde en onder ontwikkelende lande lewer ‘n belangrike bydrae tot die finansiële ondersteuning van studente in höer onderwys. Studente finansiële skemas is tot stand gebring in die 1950s. In die daarop volgende dekades het daar ‘n enorme groei plaasgevind in die daarstelling van studente leningskemas. Nie net het die aantal leningskemas vermeerder nie, maar meer en meer lande het van die benadering gebruik gemaak. Gedurende die 1980s en 1990s was daar ‘n toename in studentegetalle in höer onderwys wat gevolglik gelei het tot ‘n toename in finansiële ondersteuning van studente. Die implementering van nuwe programme in Australië, Nieu-Seeland en die Verenigde Koninkryke het gelei tot ‘n toename in finansiële ondersteuningskemas van studente. Verskeie lande in Europa het oorweging geskend aan die implementering van finansiële ondersteuning van studente tewyl onder ontwikkelende lande in Asië, Afrika en Latyns Amerika oorweging geskenk het aan die uitbreiding van finansiële ondersteuningskemas aan benadeelde en opkomende studente. Finansiële ondersteuning van behoeftige studente is gedoen om die direkte en indirekte koste verbonde aan onderwys te dek, gelyke geleenthede tot onderwys te skep, toegang tot ondewys te verbreed en om sosiale geregtigheid te verseker. ‘n Debat het egter onstaan oor wie verantwoordelikheid moet aanvaar vir die toekenning van studiebeurse, lenings of skenkings aan studente. In die verband is daar spesifiek gevra oor watter bydrae instellings in die openbare en privaat sektore maak tot finansiële ondersteuning van studente. Verdere aangeleenthede wat tydens die debat geopper word is vrae soos, wie moet verantwoordelikheid aanvaar vir die bestuur van sodanige finansiële skemas, lenings, die rentekoers ter sprake by die terugbetaling van die lenings en watter metodes kan gebruik word in die geval van minder gegoede studente wat nie hul finansiële terugbetaling ooreenkomste kan na kom nie. Die studie is onderneem na aanleiding van ‘n vergelykende studie tussen vier verskillende lande se finansiële ondersteuningskemas. Daarna is ‘n beste praktyk ontwikkel waarteen die Namibiese finansiële ondersteuning skema geevalueer is. Sekere gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings is gemaak om die bestaande skema te verbeter.

Digitaliseringen har påverkat samhället i sin helhet, men det saknas aktuell forskning om digitaliseringen av socialt arbete. Därför har vi valt att kartlägga och diskutera området - empiriskt och teoretiskt. Studien ämnar kartlägga och jämföra socialtjänstens kommunala webbsidor kring den information som berör ekonomiskt bistånd, med koppling till rådande lagstiftning, mediateori och språkets betydelse. Studien studerar kommunernas användning av e-tjänster kopplade till ekonomiskt bistånd, sett till jämlikhet och tillgänglighet. Empirin, vilken inhämtats från tio svenska kommunala webbsidor med inriktning ekonomiskt bistånd, analyseras genom kvalitativ innehållsanalys som kompletteras med kvantifiering, genom frekvensanalys. Analysen tydliggjorde en domän; tillgänglighet, och två teman; information och kommunikation. Studien utgår från teorin om den andra mediaåldern, McDonaldisering, semiotik och isomorfism. Semiotisk teori har bidragit till att granska det latenta och manifesta, isomorfism för att förklara skillnader och likheter, samt McDonaldisation för att upptäcka effektivisering. Studiens resultat påvisar både likheter och skillnader mellan kommunerna. Skillnader återfinns i förhållning till tillgänglighet, begriplighet, samt hantering av lagstiftning. Vad gäller likheter tenderar informationen på webbsidorna att baseras på Socialtjänstlagen, kommunerna beskriver ansökningsprocessen på liknande sätt, samt att informationen är begränsad till svenska. Studiens resultat diskuterar tillgänglighet sett till kommunikation och information. Resultatet relateras till jämlikhet genom tillgång till e-tjänster inom socialtjänstens ekonomiska bistånd samt möjligheter till empowerment. Studiens resultat anger att fortsatt forskning behövs kring digitalisering och e-tjänster i socialt arbete, bland annat utifrån brukar- och personalperspektiv. / The digitalizing has affected the community as a whole, but current research about social work and its digitalization is lacking. Because of which, we have chosen to study and discuss this area - empirical and theoretical. This study aims to analyze and compare social services municipal websites regarding information about financial aid related to the current legislation, media theory and the importance of language. This study scrutinizes, through equality and availability, the usage of e-services regarding financial aid in municipals. The empirical data, which is gathered from ten Swedish municipal websites regarding financial aid, is analyzed by qualitative content analysis complemented by quantification, through frequency analysis. From the analysis a domain emerged; availability, and two themes; information and communication. This study has its base in The second media age, McDonaldization, semiotics and isomorfism. The theory of semiotics has contributed to a review regarding latent and manifest information, isomorfism to explain differences and similarities, and McDonaldization to explore efficiency. The result of the study indicates both similarities and differences among the websites. Differences were found concerning availability, intelligibility, and the usage of legislation. Similarities tend to exist in which the information on the websites were based on Social Services act, the municipals described the application process similar, and the information was limited to Swedish language. The result of the study discuss availability regarding communication and information. The result relates to equality through access to e-services within social services financial aid and opportunities to empowerment. The result of this study specify the need of proceeded research concerning digitalizing and e-services within social services, among other things on user and personnel perspective.

Organisational Leadership / The purpose of this study is to determine which factors influence the formation of intention to adopt the NSFAS online financial application system at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), and to identify barriers to adoption experienced by the NSFAS applicants at TUT. To achieve these objectives, the study utilised the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Ram & Sheth (1989) concept of barriers to model TUT NSFAS adoption patterns. To test this conceptual framework, a descriptive quantitative research survey approach was conducted. Data was collected through self-completion structured questionnaires from a sample of 644 TUT students in September 2015. SPSS Version 23 and STATA 12 were utilised to conduct descriptive and multivariate analyses including correlations and structural equation modelling respectively.

我國抗戰期間，美國提供援華物資，自一九三八年至一九四二年間，共有三項援助方案：內容摘要如下：[一]中美商業借款：可分成桐油，滇錫，鎢砂，和金屬借款。[二]：中美財政援助方案：美國國會於一九四二年通過同意借我政府五億美元以穩定我國財政。[三]租借法案：美國國會於一九四二年通過租借法案，給予中華民國物資以抵禦日本。在租借法案下美國提供我道路運輸之協助，以及供應軍械與飛機。本論文主要就以上三項方案之債務解決作一討論，因債務涉複雜之問題： 　　1.政府承認問題：美國已於一九七九年與中華民國政府斷交，承認中華人民共和國為代表中國之唯一合法政府，因此美國既不認為中華民國具有國際法人資格，缺乏代表性，中華民國政府是否有償還債務之義務？ 　　2.政府繼承問題：美國政府認為中國只有一個，中華人民共和國是代表中國之新政府。所以依照國際慣例，中華人民共和國應繼承舊政府的權利與義務，負有債務清償責任。 　　3.台灣關係法對中華民國拘束力的問題：美國與中華民國斷交後，美國國會制定了台灣關係法，用以規範美國與台灣的非官方關係，該關係法認為中美斷交以前的若干條約應繼續有效，所以這些債務條約都應繼續有效。惟台灣關係法是美國單方制定之國內法，無法拘束中華民國。本論文主要就以上三問題作一探討，以供國家當局參考。

Although higher education typically strengthens people with disabilities' chances to be in a competitive job market as a viable leverage to break away from poverty (Council of Canadians with Disabilities, 2014), the contemporary marketization of higher education within the era of neoliberalism has made degrees and diplomas increasingly unaffordable. The federal government responded to this predicament by increasing the Canada Social Transfer (CST) to offer up-front targeted funding to students with disabilities in 2008 (Kirby, 2011). However, virtually no literature has acknowledged whether financial grants meaningfully provide student with disabilities with an equitable opportunity to engage in post-secondary education (PSE). Using a critical discourse analysis (CDA) on government online materials that address federal and provincial disability grants for post-secondary students with disabilities in Alberta and Ontario, this thesis reveals how the neoliberal rhetoric of personal responsibility colonizes government disability grants and leaves students with "more responsibility" and "less control" over their finances in an already disabling world. / October 2015

The diploma thesis deals with the support analysis of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic. The aim of the thesis is to prove the importance of SMEs in the economics and to assess the influence of their support from the Operational Pogramme Enterprise and Innovations (OPEI) on the labour market. The main hypothesis represents the assertion that the SMEs support from the public sources is never effective. The statistical analysis proves that the SMEs in the Czech Republic on the international scale are economically significant. They participate from 99,8% on the total number of entrepreneur's subjects and from almost 60% on the country employment. The evaluation of the support program from the Operational Pogramme Enterprise and Innovations is based on the collected data from the questionnaire poll. The data analysis proved that the supports were important for the workplace production. The public source support analysis on an economical theory and empirical study base proved that the investments are not effective.

The diploma thesis analyses the economy of Ukraine and its importance from the world economy perspective. The work strives to investigate what key economic areas of influence Ukraine has and how development of Ukraine can impact other countries. At the beginning, this thesis analysis the history of the Ukrainian economy, all its struggles and successes. Subsequently, this work defines why and how the current situation in Ukraine is important to the world. Mainly, relationship with the European Union is considered. The thesis is concluded with an overview of economic predictions and scenarios of future development announced by international organizations.

This diploma thesis is focused on mortgage loan as a product for financing own housing and on analysis of development of mortgage loans depending on macroeconomic indicators. The thesis also includes definition of the most important risks related to mortgage loan, connection with real estate market, importance of property lien and forms of national financial aid of financing housing. At the conclusion of the thesis illustrative case showing choice of appropriate mortgage loan is mentioned.

The aim of this study is to investigate how administrators of financial aid experience that legislation and municipal guidelines take a children’s rights perspective into consideration, and whether there, within the organizational structure and its norms, is room for maneuvering in order to meet the needs of children. A children’s perspective has since long been included in Socialtjänstlagen and has only gotten stronger since The Convention on the Rights of the Child became a part of Swedish legislation. According to research prior to this study the public debate has been lively as to what is an acceptable living standard for children and whether or not the conditions should be allowed to be affected by the limited recourses of the guardians. The results of the study show how the financial aids administration mainly focuses on an adult perspective where demands on guardians sometimes trump the needs of children. Furthermore, the study shows that there is no unanimous answer to what can be considered a reasonable standard of living for children. This causes administrators of financial aid to be caught between two contradictory sensations. On the one hand they feel relatively free in how they can maneuver within the guidelines given by the organization, on the other hand they are restrained by national guidelines. In summary it is apparent that the children’s rights perspective within financial aid is dependent on a large number of parameters ranging from the individual human standpoint to the national and formal ones, all of which need to be taken into consideration.

Through the assistance of a literature study, the purpose of this degree project is to investigate if a hierarchical status order within social work exists and where the work with financial aid and its employees are located in this status hierarchy. Another goal is to compile knowledge around if the status has the opportunity to develop. A part of the literature has shown a clear lack of knowledge regarding the work with financial aid which causes prejudice about the employees and how they carry out their tasks. This ignorance may be due to the lack of research in the field which underestimates the services in financial assistance and instead prioritizes other forms of social work therefore contributes to the low status. The central queries of this project are to examine firstly the adding factors to the subordinate status of the social worker and the organization in terms of work with financial aid, secondly to investigate how the work itself is viewed by outsiders such as politicians, other social workers, the general population including media and lastly to inspect if there are any possibilities of increasing the current status. The main results of this report that have been found identify four main factors such as workload, external prestige, mobility and clientele, which contribute to the organization's status and have an impact on how individual social workers experience the low occupational status. Finally, the researchers demonstrate some proposals on how status can be raised with the help of actual job descriptions, investment in resources and greater differences in educational levels that also aim at further education for the role of executive.