This thesis present three studies that aim to investigate and compare different definitions of standard drinks and alcohol intake recommendations worldwide and explore University students' knowledge of, attitudes toward, and use of unit-based guidelines in the UK. Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with a range of economic, social and health problems. Heavy drinking patterns among University students are well documented. Like most developed countries, the UK government introduced the “sensible drinking” message and guidelines for alcohol consumption to encourage people to reduce their drinking. The first study was a review of official definitions of standard drinks and guidelines of 57 countries. Analyses showed a lack of international consensus in terms of the size of “standard drinks” or recommended daily or weekly maximum alcohol intake. The results suggested that a global system of units and low risk drinking guidelines could help people make better-informed choices about alcohol consumption and help consistency among researchers, health professionals and governments developing public health initiatives. The second study used an online survey to examine the multivariate correlates of motivation to use guidelines and accuracy of estimates of alcohol consumption among 640 students aged 18-37. Results showed that motivation and ability to accurately estimate the unit content of beverages were linked to various cognitive and behavioural variables such as conscientiousness and extraversion, familiarity with, and frequency of use of the guidelines and perceptions of how easy and useful the unit-based guidelines are. The third study employed semi-structured interviews in a sample of 12 students selected from the second sample. Thematic analysis revealed that participants were not motivated to adhere to the guidelines and lacked skills to apply them to manage their own drinking. Findings suggest that multifaceted public health interventions should include provision of information, efforts to motivate young people to change their behaviour, and strategies to develop skills for managing alcohol consumption.

In response to the challenges presented by unprecedented growth in higher education (HE) since 1978, China adopted policy experimentation (PE) as a means of introducing and testing HE reforms. This study involves four in-depth case studies of important reforms facilitated by policy experiments at different junctures of China's HE development: early 1980s, mid-late 1980s, late 1990s, and early 2010s. Within each reform, two elite universities as 'experiment points' (shi dian) were selected. Through cross-case analysis informed by semi-structured interviews and extensive documentary analysis, the study offers a holistic historical perspective on how PE has been used to bring about institutional changes in China's higher education. The study documents different rationales used for implementing policy experiments. State actors use PE to exert pressure on universities to introduce reforms, to lower associated risks and to strengthen the nation's overall HE policymaking capacity in a volatile and extremely heterogeneous context. For their part, university leaders have adopted PE locally to navigate China's politically charged policymaking environment and to negotiate with state actors more favourable terms for reforms. Therefore, the PE approach enables state-university interactions and power negotiations that create and maintain 'strategy space' for consensus-building and institutional changes. It is an iterative process characterised by central-local interaction and intentionally ambiguous boundaries. The state, however, retains ultimate authority for legitimatising, selecting and expanding policy experiments. It is best understood as elite-enabled experimentation within existing political hierarchies. Over time, China's PE approach has become a semi-institutionalised mechanism for HE reforms. In the various policy experiments discussed in this study, PE functions as a productive, disciplinary and symbolic force at different stages of the policy process. Sometimes it appears to offer a genuinely productive mechanism for producing, identifying and negotiating innovative policy options that may be replicated at a larger scale; sometimes its essential use lies in its generated regulative effect; and sometimes it assumes more of a symbolic role allowing the government to acquire or consolidate reform legitimacy. Policy processes are mediated by these different uses of PE towards either reform efficacy or institutional conformity. This study situates these reforms within broader political, social, economic and historical contexts, and highlights the policy implications for higher education reform internationally.

The thesis examines the functions of universities in transforming a developing economy into a Knowledge Based Economy (KBE). Universities play a vital role in strengthening the KBE by providing the resource, ‘knowledge’. This study explores the challenges encountered by academic leadership in Pakistan, while striving to achieve a KBE. Although, the Higher Education Commission (HEC), has introduced a large number of reforms in universities of Pakistan since 2003 but these reforms are only a beginning of a process of engagement of universities in socioeconomic development. The newly established Commission was charged with the task to align higher education with the needs of the country, provide greater access to quality higher education, and develop the skills of faculty. Other steps towards reformation of the higher education sector of Pakistan included the introduction of quality assurance systems in universities, investment in their physical as well as knowledge infrastructure and developing a ranking system for universities in order to create a competitive environment among them. These measures taken by the HEC were fundamental for the development of a globally recognised higher education system. The current emphasis on the promotion of entrepreneurship is now leading to the establishment of technology parks and technology transfer offices on campuses so that universities can contribute directly to the process of socioeconomic development. The thesis elaborates the conditions, which facilitate or hamper the functions of universities in Pakistan. University–industry linkages in the United States (Silicon Valley) and United Kingdom (Oxford and Cambridge) have inspired many developing countries. In order to follow the same trends, universities in Pakistan are adopting the entrepreneurial role too. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding how the roles and functions of universities in developing economies differ from those of universities in a KBE. Therefore, the researcher aims to fill this gap in the literature by investigating the perceptions of academic leaders in Pakistan. This research employs a qualitative design and grounded theory research strategy. The sample size consists of fifty semi structured interviews with various stakeholders of higher education such as the leaders of the higher education regulatory body (Higher Education Commission), five high ranking universities of Pakistan and the Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO) in Pakistan. Data are analysed inductively, resulting in a new substantive theory, the Model of Symbiosis. The study reveals, there are external and internal factors which facilitate the formation of a KBE. The external factor which include, good governance, political stability, an effective policy framework and strengthening of the institutions (government, judicial institutions, educational and financial institutions) while internal factors include the development of physical infrastructure of universities and knowledge creation as well as dissemination activities taking place in universities. These factors help in the creation of positive mind-set towards ‘knowledge’. Moreover, a KBE is based on surplus knowledge and innovation capability of a country. The production and use of surplus knowledge require collaboration among different institutional actors. The State, the National Eco-system of Education and the corporate sector, have to work in a symbiotic relationship so that synergy for a welfare society is generated. This welfare society will thrive economically and also it will become a part of the global international community. The researcher advocates that universities can put the economy on a stable condition if they are ‘tasked’ and deployed on a mission to solve issues of the society such as enhancing agricultural productivity, resolving the issue of electricity shortage, provision of clean drinking water, infrastructure development, and the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to create employment opportunities. Hence, universities in developing countries can act as agents of change provided that their basic infrastructure (both knowledge infrastructure and physical infrastructure) is developed and it supports those universities in their roles. Secondly, along with the basic infrastructure, a regulatory framework and intellectual property regimes should also be in place to strengthen the economy in developing countries.

nÃo hà / A pesquisa dirige seu foco de anÃlise para o trabalho docente na Universidade Estadual do CearÃ, com base na avaliaÃÃo das condiÃÃes de trabalho dos professores do Centro de Estudos Sociais Aplicados. Os objetivos especÃficos foram compreender as transformaÃÃes do trabalho docente no Ãmbito da âreformaâ do Estado e da universidade brasileira, compreender a polÃtica pÃblica estadual do ensino superior no Cearà e analisar a percepÃÃo dos professores do CESA acerca da condiÃÃo de trabalho na UECE. O percurso metodolÃgico foi realizado mediante pesquisa bibliogrÃfica, busca documental e investigaÃÃo empÃrica com aplicaÃÃo de questionÃrios com docentes do CESA. Verificou-se que as transformaÃÃes no mundo do trabalho repercutem sobremaneira no ensino superior e consequentemente no trabalho docente, tornando-o precÃrio. Isso tem relaÃÃo com as crises do capitalismo global, com as mudanÃas estruturais da educaÃÃo superior brasileira e com as estratÃgias realizadas pelos governos neoliberais. Seguindo as orientaÃÃes dos organismos internacionais, os governos brasileiros delegam para o setor privado responsabilidades de financiamento e fornecimento da educaÃÃo superior, por meio de estratÃgias privatizantes no setor pÃblico, ampliando o raio de aÃÃo do capital. A polÃtica educacional, arrimada nas propostas neoliberais, intensifica as privatizaÃÃes, a terceirizaÃÃo e a informalizaÃÃo, conduzindo o trabalho docente à precarizaÃÃo. O mercado de trabalho docente do ensino superior se reestruturou de forma substancial. A flexibilizaÃÃo dos regimes e contratos de trabalho se impÃs nas IES privadas e pÃblicas. à crescente a contrataÃÃo de professores substitutos, ocorre a intensificaÃÃo do trabalho nÃo somente no ambiente laboral, mas se estende tambÃm ao espaÃo familiar e pessoal; alÃm disso, nÃo hà condiÃÃes adequadas de trabalho, considerando que, na maioria das vezes, as condiÃÃes ergonÃmicas sÃo inapropriadas e os equipamentos sÃo inexistentes ou ineficazes. / The research concentrates the analysis on the faculty member work at âUniversidade Estadual do CearÃâ having as the basis the work conditions of the professors from the social study center and its applicabilites. The specif goals targeted the analyzis and understandin of the changes in the work of the faculty member considering the reformation of the State and the brasilian university and also to understand the state public policy and the teaching in the higler education system in Cearà and the analysis through the profesors perception of CESA about the work conditions at UECE. All the methodologic process was acyvired through bibliographe research, the documental research and the empiric search with the application of quizzes involuing faculty members from CESA. We verified that the transformations in the labor world has a strong impact on the hioher education system and consequently in the work of faculty members mahing it very weal. This has a oirect relation wizh the global capitalism crisis with the extauctural changes of brasilian hiohez educational system an with the estrategles applied by the neo-liberals governments following the instructions of the international institutions, the brasilian government has been delegating to the private sector the responsibilities of financing and applying the higlen education through different private estrategles in the public sector, expanding the rench of money to use. The education policy forms from the neo-liberals proposals intensifies the privatizations, the outsourcing work, the informal work, leanding the faculty work to be very weak. The faculty work area in the highen education has re-estructed in a substantial way. The flexibility of the hiring process has imposed itself in the private and publics IES. The hiring process of professors for substitution work has been increased and this forces a strong intensification of work hours not only in the environment but also affects the family and personal life furthermore there are no adequate working conditions, if we consider that, most of time the equipment and also the ergonomic conditions are inefficient and non-existent.

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This thesis deals with a reform of Czech higher education after the Second World War. While traditional treatments follow the communist experiment from its beginnings until its 'inevitable' downfall in 1989, this work focuses on its roots and end with the adoption of the new Higher Education Act in 1950. This reversal of perspective reveals similarities between the communist reform and modernisation trends which influenced the development of higher education also in the West. We follow the discussion about the future of higher education, which went on in 1930s-1950s, try to see how universities tried to approach the tension between their freedoms and demands for serving the public, and analyse the way in which the communist reform responded to this issue. Czech higher education was formed by Humboldtian principles, which were partly implemented in mid-19th century. During the interwar period, this framework basically remained in place: higher education developed in terms of quantity rather than quality but certain problems with demanded attention also started coming to the fore. Attempts by the Ministry of Education to implement partial reforms met with resistance from the academic institutions and many academics focused on passionately defending the autonomy of universities. During the wartime, the...

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Advisory Bodies and Expertise in the Czech Politics - Epistemic Communities and the Influence on the Reforms of Higher Education and Pension System Master thesis Bc. Kateřina Merklová The Master thesis Advisory Bodies and Expertise in the Czech Politics - Epistemic Communities and the Influence on the Reforms of Higher Education and Pension System concerns with the relation between politics and expertise. So-called epistemic community represents the knowledge interpreter that we consider an independent actor in the political process. In the theoretical part of the text, we have explained the original definition of the concept as well as its critics and case studies that cover various contexts. Following most of the authors, we have applied a looser definition of the concept and deconstructed its rigid criteria. The empirical part of the thesis presents a case study (N=4) based on comparative methods that analyzes variable influence of four particular epistemic communities (the authors of the White Paper on Tertiary Education, Bezdek's Committee, Bezdek's Committee II, and the National Economic Council) on policy-making process and its sources. Regarding our intention and research questions, we have chosen two qualitative methods - in-depth interviews and content analysis of relevant texts. We have...