Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

全民健康保險制度在台灣開辦以來已經快二十年了，在全民都有保險、給付的範圍從基礎到複雜的醫療照護完整、合約醫療機構相當普遍、就醫的方便性等，得到大多數台灣民眾的肯定。 但全民健保這一路實施下來卻為台灣帶來的龐大國家赤字。健保局針對於每年五千餘億的健保費用其中的藥品費用(為第二大支出，占了其中的25%)多次長期進行多種的藥費及藥價管控措施，低廉的新藥核價加上每兩年的藥價調查後的藥價調降，國外藥廠除了要配合健保的藥價政策外，還需要面對醫療機構對於現有藥品再降價的要求。長久下來，藥廠利潤逐年下降影響甚劇。 其中以今年七月所要實施二代健保中「藥品三同」對於原開發藥廠藥衝擊最大。衛生署所實施的三同政策，即是針對健保給付超過15年的藥品，實施「同成分」、「同品質」、「同價格」，調整為同價格。此一政策倘若實施，原開發藥廠利潤嚴重下降，可能會導致會放棄台灣市場，民眾只剩下國產學名藥可以選擇。再者，三同政策最大的瑕疵，在於只單方面考慮健保給付的藥價，卻忽略了藥廠製藥成本，此舉明顯不顧成本不同卻硬性規定價格，明顯違反市場機制，也違反健保精神。 專利藥到期的原開發藥藥廠要如何因應以縮小品質及價格的爭端，只著眼於一昧砍藥價來填補健保財務虧損，不仔細思考同成分就一定同品質的問題而將藥品砍至同一價格的健保署藥物品質認定及給付標準。 本研究探討之研究問題包括: 1)在台灣健保逐年調降藥價的政策下藥品三同政策前，原開發藥廠在台的經營模式為何,2)在政府政策培育下的學名藥如何日益茁壯來影響專利藥到期的原開發藥廠市場活動，3)藥品三同政策實施後對專利藥到期的原開發藥廠的衝擊4)主要獲利的專利藥品皆到期的台灣武田藥品公司未來的經營模式從主要價值活動面該如何調整因應。 本研究以Afuah A.(2004)經營模式架構，先從過去健保政策下原開發藥廠的營運模式做說明，再以目前健保政策環境因素的變化，如何影響個案公司的市場行銷活動，而活動又如何影響公司的資源、定位及成本。 本研究發現「藥品三同」對台廠學名藥因具有較佳的成本競爭優勢，對原開發藥廠產生威脅，但因原料的不穩定性讓病患、處方醫師無法信任。所以原開發藥廠除了監督政府長期對學名藥廠品質加以把關、用訴訟延緩學名藥的上市外、另外一方面併購國內學名藥廠，以配合醫療院所對於低價高品質藥品的需求。最後，專利藥到期的原開發藥廠從健保政策中與學名藥廠價格競爭獲得利潤，就必須改變營運模式，首要的就是降低成本。如何從採購及製造方面有效降低成本著手，進一步調整有形、無形資產投入、人員配置培養與組織等策略資源，以及定價、市場區隔等定位修正，是原開發藥廠需要深入思考的問題。 / National Health Insurance (NHI) program has been implemented in Taiwan for almost 20 years. It has earned recognition for the compulsory enrollment for all residents in Taiwan, the benefits covered from basic to complicated medical care, the prevalence of contract medical facility and the convenience of going to doctors. NHI, however, has caused fiscal deficit for the past few years. Drug cost, among the over 500,000,000,000 NTD health insurance fee, is the second largest expenditure, which takes up 25 percent of health insurance fee. Therefore, Bureau of National Health Insurance has taken measures to manage and control drug cost and drug price multiple times for a long period. Foreign pharmaceuticals have cooperated on the low-priced pricing for new drugs and have lowered drug price after drug price evaluation every two year. However, there is still demand from medical institution for lowering drug price. The profit is therefore significantly affected in the long run. Among the impacts, the significant one for research-based pharmaceutical companies is “three sameness of drug” in the 2nd generation NHI, which will be implemented in this coming July. This three sameness policy is to adjust those drugs which are covered by NHI for over 15 years and are of the same ingredients and quality to the same price. If this policy is put into practice, the profit of research-based pharmaceutical companies would plunge, which may result in their leave of Taiwan market. The domestic generic drugs, as a result, would be the only choice for the general public. Moreover, the major flaw of this three sameness policy is that it merely considers the drug price NHI covers, not the costs of pharmaceutical companies. That the drug price is set inflexibly without taking costs difference into consideration is against not only market mechanism but also the essence of NHI. The questions this study aimed to investigate were: 1. What have been the operating models of research-based pharmaceutical companies in Taiwan in the circumstances of drug price drop year by year before “three sameness policy”? 2. How have the government-sponsored generic drugs affected the market activities of drug patent expiration of research-based pharmaceutical companies? 3. What have been the impacts of “three sameness policy” on drug patent expiration of research-based pharmaceutical companies? 4. How should the operating model of Takeda Pharmaceuticals Taiwan, Ltd. adapt to, from the aspect of primary value activities, the condition of drug patent expiration of its profitable drugs? Based on the framework of operating model by Afuah A.(2004), this study began with the operating model of research-based pharmaceutical companies in former NHI policy. It then elaborated on how changes of the present NHI policy have influenced the marketing activities of the case company and how these activities have influenced the company’s resources, position and costs. This study reveals that “three sameness policies” is favorable for Taiwanese generic manufacturers for their costs competition. However, the instability of raw materials could not gain the trust of patients and doctors. Therefore, in order to cooperate on the demand for low-price and high-quality drug, researched-based pharmaceutical companies supervise the government’s check on the quality of generic manufacturers, employ litigation to suspend the launch of generic drugs or merge domestic generic manufacturers. If research-based pharmaceutical companies with drug patent expiration would like to compete with generic manufacturers and make a profit in NHI policy, they would have to change their operating model. How to reduce costs of purchase and manufacture and go further to adjust the input of physical and intangible assets, strengthen professional training of personnel and organization and modify strategies for pricing and market segmentation are the main issues worth considering.

Orientador: Maria das Graças Conde Caldas / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T14:50:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Oliveira_MaisaMaryellide_M.pdf: 7716126 bytes, checksum: d2fd3886e0a476ecbd5603a9171a86c5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Escolas públicas brasileiras têm experimentado novas abordagens pedagógicas, inclusive, por meio de projetos realizados em parceria com universidades. Estas iniciativas buscam desde a apropriação das tecnologias de informação e comunicação por professores e alunos até o desenvolvimento de metodologias que estimulem a reflexão e a autonomia de pensamento. Esta pesquisa objetiva avaliar de que maneira a parceria entre universidade e escola pode contribuir para a melhoria do ensino em geral e de Ciências em particular. Para tanto, analisa atividades de educação pela investigação e, mais especificamente, de robótica pedagógica, coordenadas pelo Núcleo de Informática Aplicada à Educação (NIED), da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), na Escola Municipal de Ensino Fundamental (EMEF) Professora Elza Maria Pellegrini de Aguiar, de Campinas (SP). As atividades foram acompanhadas entre junho e dezembro de 2013. O trabalho configura-se como um Estudo de Caso único (YIN, 2001), de natureza qualitativa, em que foi utilizado o método quantitativo de forma complementar. Foram ainda realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas, aplicados questionários de percepção sobre Ciência e Tecnologia e analisados desenhos obtidos através do Draw a Robot Task (DART), teste para conhecer os imaginários das crianças sobre robótica. O corpus foi composto por 128 alunos, de cinco turmas do 4º ao 6º ano do Ensino Fundamental, além de duas docentes e da orientadora pedagógica da Escola. Os resultados indicam que a partir de novos aprendizados adquiridos com a equipe do NIED, as docentes abordaram temas curriculares de modo interdisciplinar e os estudantes foram incentivados a fazer experimentos e a pesquisar em diferentes fontes de informação. Além disso, as atividades do projeto estimularam o estreitamento dos laços entre a Escola e as famílias dos alunos e, também, contribuíram para que estabelecessem conexões entre os conceitos estudados e seu cotidiano. Apesar dos aspectos positivos, foram percebidas algumas limitações. Nas investigações realizadas pelas crianças, por exemplo, as docentes seguiram etapas pré-determinadas, com perguntas prontas e poucas variáveis, contrariando o espírito do projeto. Com relação especificamente ao ensino de robótica, foi possível concluir que os benefícios foram além do aprendizado de conceitos. As aulas contribuíram, também, para o desenvolvimento do senso crítico dos estudantes, de sua capacidade de trabalhar colaborativamente e para o aumento de seu interesse e motivação. Com este trabalho, espera-se encorajar estudos e práticas referentes ao método de aprendizagem baseada na investigação e contribuir para o desenvolvimento de novas parcerias entre universidades e escolas, para melhorar a qualidade do ensino no Brasil / Abstract: Brazilian public schools have experienced new educational approaches including through projects carried out in partnership with universities. These initiatives seek from the appropriation of information and communication technologies by teachers and students to the development of methodologies that encourage reflection and thought autonomy. This research aims to evaluate how the partnership between university and school can contribute to the improvement of education in general and scientific education in particular. For this, one analyzes the pedagocial robotics activities and inquiry-based education, which were coordinated by the Nucleus of Informatics Applied to Education (NIED), from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), and were held in the Elementary School Elza Maria Pellegrini of Aguiar, located in Campinas (SP). The activities were followed from June to December 2013. This is a single case study (YIN, 2001), based on a qualitative approach, in which the quantitative method was used complementarily. Semi-structured interviews were held, questionnaires related to perception on Science and Technology were applied and drawings obtained through the Draw a Robot Task (DART) were analyzed ¿ the test was used to identify the children's imaginary about Robotics. The corpus consisted of 128 students from five different classes, from 4th to 6th elementary school grade, two teachers and the School's pedagogical advisor. The results indicate that from the new learning acquired with the researchers, the teachers addressed curricular issues in an interdisciplinary manner and students were encouraged to prepare experiments and research on different sources of information. Furthermore, the project activities contributed to closer the bond between the school and the students' families and also helped the children to establish connections between the studied concepts and their everyday life. Despite the positive aspects of the project, some contradictions were perceived. In the investigations carried out by the children, for example, the teachers followed predetermined steps, with ready questions and few variables, contradicting the spirit of the project. With specific regard to robotics' teaching, it was possible to conclude that the benefits went beyond the learning of concepts. Educational robotics classes contributed to the development of students' critical thought, their ability to work collaboratively and it also helped to increase their interest and motivation. This study expects to encourage researches and practices related to the inquiry-based learning method and contribute to the development of new partnerships between universities and schools to improve the quality of education in Brazil / Mestrado / Divulgação Científica e Cultural / Mestra em Divulgação Científica e Cultural

In dieser Dissertation wurden drei zentrale Ziele mit einem Mixed-Methods-Ansatz verfolgt. Ein erstes Ziel war es, ein umfassendes Modell affektiv-motivationaler Forschungsdispositionen für Studierende der Sozialwissenschaften zu entwerfen, da sich existierende Konzeptionen von Forschungskompetenz ausschließlich auf kognitive Leistungsdispositionen konzentrieren. Mithilfe von Experteninterviews und einem Expertenrating wurden neun affektiv-motivationale Forschungsdispositionen identifiziert, die notwendig sind, um die Anforderungen eines sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschungsprozesses zu meistern. Ein zweites Ziel lag in der Entwicklung und Validierung von Testinstrumenten zur Erfassung der identifizierten affektiv-motivationalen Forschungsdispositionen. Basierend auf den Standards der psychologischen Testkonstruktion konnten Selbsteinschätzungsskalen für alle neun affektiv-motivationalen Forschungsdispositionen erarbeitet und Validierungsnachweise erbracht werden. Diese Arbeiten bildeten die Grundlage für das Erreichen des dritten Ziels: Es sollte getestet werden, inwieweit die Teilnahme am Forschenden Lernen zu einer Entwicklung kognitiver und affektiv-motivationaler Forschungsdispositionen führt. Das Forschende Lernen ist ein didaktisches Format, bei dem Studierende eigenständig einen Forschungszyklus durchlaufen, um eine Forschungsfrage zu beantworten. Bis dato lagen zwar theoretische Postulate zur Wirksamkeit Forschenden Lernens in den Sozialwissenschaften vor, aber kaum empirische Befunde. Im Rahmen einer Prä-Post-Studie (N=952) in Veranstaltungen des Forschenden Lernens zeigte sich, dass Studierende sowohl positive als auch negative Entwicklungen verschiedener Forschungsdispositionen aufweisen. Als zentral erwies sich die Rolle der begleitenden Lehrperson. / This dissertation addressed three central goals using a mixed-methods approach: The first goal was to develop a comprehensive model of affective-motivational research dispositions for students of the social sciences since existing models of research competence concentrate on cognitive dispositions. With the help of expert interviews and an expert rating, nine affective-motivational research dispositions were identified. The second goal was the development and validation of test instruments to assess the identified affective-motivational research dispositions. Based on the standards of psychological test construction, self-assessment scales were developed for all nine affective-motivational research dispositions and evidence for their validity was generated. These previous steps formed the basis for addressing the third goal: To test whether research-based learning is a suitable format to foster different cognitive and affective-motivational research dispositions in the social sciences. Research-based learning is a didactic format in which students complete a full research cycle to answer a research question. So far, there are many theoretical claims on the effectiveness of research-based learning in the social sciences but a lack of empirical evidence. In a pre-post study (N=952) in research-based learning courses, it was shown that students benefit from a favourable development of some of the research dispositions, whereas other dispositions decreased. The role of the facilitating instructor proved to be central.

Denna masteruppsats syftar till att bidra med kunskap om lärares lärande och undersöka deras användning av kulturella redskap i en aktionsstudie. I studien undersöks processen i ett arbetslag där universell design för lärande (UDL) presenteras och diskuteras som en möjlig stödstruktur för undervisningen i form av en aktionsstudie. Målet med den är att bidra med kunskapsbildning om hur undervisning kan planeras och utformas med hjälp av den systematik UDL bidrar till.  För att kunna besvara studiens frågeställningar genomfördes en aktionsstudie med tre lärare på en F–6 skola. Studien är genomförd med en kvalitativ metod där loggboksanteckningar från aktionsstudiens sessioner utgör en del av empirin, åtföljd av enskilda, reflekterande intervjuer. Deltagarna undervisade två klasser i ett tre–lärarskap på ett mellanstadium och diskuterade och reflekterade över texter och filmer om universell design för lärande (UDL) under sex sessioner.   Resultaten från aktionsstudien visar hur språket och kommunikationen förändrades under sessionerna, vilka möjligheter och hinder för implementeringen av UDL som identifierades och inställningen till forskningsbaserade arbetssätt utkristalliserades. Hur deltagarna använde sig av kulturella redskap i sitt eget lärande likväl som i sin undervisning framkommer också som ett resultat av denna studie. / This master thesis aims to contribute with knowledge about teachers´ learning and investigate their use of linguistic tools in an action research study. In this, where UDL is presented and discussed as a possible scaffolding structure, the process in a team of teachers at a middle school is investigated. The aim of the action research study is to create knowledge about how the systematic work with UDL can contribute to the planning and forming process of teaching.   In order to answer the research questions in the study, an action research study was conducted with three teachers at a middle school. The study is conducted with a qualitative method, in which field notes from the sessions in the action research study is one part followed by separate, reflective interviews with the participating teachers. The participating teachers were teaching in two classes in a grade at a middle school and have during six sessions discussed and reflected on texts and films about Universal Design for Learning (UDL).   The results from this action research study showed how the use of language and communication changed during the sessions, which possibilities and obstacles could be identified in implementing UDL and how the attitude towards research based approaches could be seen. How the participants used sociocultural tools in their own learning as well as in their teaching can also be seen as a result of this study.

Proseminar- und Seminarmodule für Studierende bilden das wissenschaftliche Arbeiten oftmals nicht umfassend ab. Zudem besteht die Herausforderung, dass Studierende heterogene Wissensstände aufweisen, häufig geringes Interesse an ihren Seminarthemen zeigen und gelernte Inhalte nach Abschluss eines Seminars meist nicht mehr präsent sind. Daher war es das Ziel des hochschulübergreifenden Projektes KoSemKo, Studierenden mit dem Schwerpunkt Marketing die Möglichkeit zu geben, interessante Ergebnisse, die sie im Rahmen ihrer Seminararbeiten selbst entwickeln, in einer professionellen Konferenz- Atmosphäre zu präsentieren. Studierende sammeln dadurch nicht nur Erfahrung im wissenschaftlichen Schreiben, sondern schlüpfen gleichzeitig bei der Durchführung eines Peer-Reviews in die Rolle der Gutachter_innen und auf der Konferenz in die Rollen der Vortragenden und Teilnehmer_innen. Durch das Einnehmen dieser verschiedenen Perspektiven setzen sich die Studierenden kritisch und tiefer greifend mit ihren Themen auseinander. Dadurch wird zudem die Motivation gesteigert und gleichzeitig die inhaltliche sowie wissenschaftlich/methodische Komponente der Proseminar- und Seminararbeiten verbessert. Ein im Rahmen des Projektes entwickeltes Online-Lernmodul zum wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten unterstützt den Lernprozess der Studierenden und dient im Nachgang der Verstetigung des Gelernten. Das Projekt wurde von der Fachgruppe Marketing der Westsächsischen Hochschule Zwickau sowie der Professur Marketing und Internationaler Handel der Technischen Universität Bergakademie Freiberg realisiert.

NACHTIGALL (Nachhaltigkeit agil lenken) ist ein didaktisches Konzept, welches Studierenden erlaubt, sich auf innovative Weise mit den Kernfragen einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung auseinanderzusetzen. Das Lehr-/Lernkonzept integriert agile Projekte, welche im Ideenraum Nachhaltige Stadt pilotiert werden, jedoch adaptierbar sind. Ziel ist die Vermittlung von agilen Fähigkeiten und nachhaltigen Problemlösungskompetenzen durch teil-digitalisierte Lehrveranstaltungen, Fachwissen und Methodenansätze. Mithilfe des Wissens entwickeln die Studierenden Ideen zu einer Nachhaltigkeitsvision, welche mithilfe von SCRUM interaktiv ausgestaltet und interdisziplinär auf Nachhaltigkeit bewertet werden.

[ES] La presente tesis doctoral tiene el propósito de afirmar la existencia, así como de dar cuenta de las posibilidades, de una metodología propia de mediación entre la obra de arte contemporáneo y especialistas en educación. Su carácter es expandido y atento a la visualidad. Con expandido se entiende por una parte, la cualidad de situarse interrelacionadamente en diferentes contextos: el centro de arte, el aula universitaria y la escolar. Por otra, la de fomentar desplazamientos y cruces del campo educativo al del arte y del campo del arte al educativo. Esto desemboca en la generación de nuevas identidades docentes y nuevas formas de ser artista así como en nuevas formas de colaboración entre estos profesionales, en favor de una revitalización del hecho artístico, mejoras en la educación artística y en la educación interdisciplinar desde el arte. Con atención a la visualidad se entiende el carácter de una mediación en la que la realidad sentipensante, la estética y la visualidad se proponen como ejes de la acción de mediación y como guías que pueden equilibrar la tendencia a la sobrexposición de la subjetividad del receptor de la obra de arte y la tendencia a sobrexponer las cualidades de la obra frente a las experiencias del receptor, de tal modo que se valore un equilibrio relacional obra-sujeto. Esta propuesta de mediación tiene sentido desde un proceso deselitizador del arte, desde una perspectiva reestetizadora de la educación artística y desde una dirección repersonalizadora de la relación del artista-receptor con la obra y del artista con la sociedad. Su planteamiento filosófico de fondo es pragmatista. La investigación se sitúa en un campo entre la práctica del arte y la educación artística. El posicionamiento de la que parte es a/r/tográfico. Todos estos planteamientos se concretan en el contexto espacio y tiempo de nueve años de trabajo en el campo de la docencia desde la materia de Didáctica artística del Grado de Educación en Florida Universitaria por una profesora (la misma que investiga y escribe estas letras) de formación y trayectoria como pintora. La metodología de investigación aplicada es la educativa basada en artes visuales y la a/r/tográfica. Desde este marco metodológico se proponen dos estrategias de investigación: la fotonovela para la mediación artística y la Logotesis para la investigación a/r/tográfica. / [CA] La present tesi doctoral té el propòsit d'afirmar l'existència, així com de donar compte de les possibilitats, d'una metodologia pròpia de mediació entre l'obra d'art contemporani i especialistes en educació. El seu caràcter és expandit i atent a la visualitat. Amb expandit s'entén d'una banda, la qualitat de situar-se interrelacionadament en diferents contextos: el centre d'art, l'aula universitària i l'escolar. Per una altra banda, la de fomentar desplaçaments i entrecreuaments del camp educatiu al de l'art i del camp de l'art a l'educatiu. Això desemboca en la generació de noves identitats docents i noves maneres de ser artista així com en noves formes de col·laboració entre aquests professionals, en favor a una revitalització del fet artístic, millores en l'educació artística i en l'educació interdisciplinària des de l'art. Amb atenció a la visualitat s'entén el caràcter d'una mediació en la qual la realitat sentipensant, l'estètica i la visualitat es proposen com a eixos de l'acció de mediació i com a guies que poden equilibrar la tendència a la sobrexposició de la subjectivitat del receptor de l'obra d'art i la tendència a sobrexposar les qualitats de l'obra enfront de les experiències del receptor, de tal manera que es valore un equilibri relacional obra-subjecte. Aquesta proposta de mediació té sentit des d'un procés des-elititzador de l'art, des d'una perspectiva re-estetitzadora de l'educació artística i des d'una direcció re-personalitzadora de la relació de l'artista-receptor amb l'obra i de l'artista amb la societat. El seu plantejament filosòfic de fons és pragmatista. La investigació se situa en un camp entre la pràctica de l'art i l'educació artística. El seu posicionament és a/r/tográfic. Tots aquests plantejaments es concreten en el context espai i temps de nou anys de treball en el camp de la docència des de la matèria de Didàctica artística del Grau d'Educació a Florida Universitària d'una professora (la mateixa que investiga i escriu aquestes lletres) de formació i trajectòria com a pintora. La metodologia d'investigació aplicada és l'educativa basada en arts visuals i l'a/r/togràfica. Des d'aquest marc metodològic es proposen dues estratègies d'investigació: la fotonovela per a la mediació artística, i la Logotesis, per a la investigació a/r/togràfica. / [EN] This doctoral thesis is aimed at stating he existence, as well as to account for the possibilities, of a methodology of mediation between the work of contemporary art and education specialists. It has both an expanded and an attentive-to-visuality nature. By expanded we mean, on the one hand, the quality of situating itself interrelatedly in different contexts: the art centre, the university classroom and the school classroom. On the other hand, it encourages shiftings and crossovers from the field of education to the field of art and from the field of art to the field of education. This leads to the generation of new teaching identities and new ways of being an artist, as well as new forms of collaboration between these professionals, in favour of a revitalisation of the artistic fact, improvements in art education and interdisciplinary education from art. Attention to visuality is understood as the nature of a mediation in which thinking and sentient reality, aesthetics and visuality are proposed as axes of the action of mediation and as guides that can balance the tendency to overdisplay the subjectivity of the receiver of the work of art and the tendency to overdisplay the qualities of the work against the experiences of the receiver, in such a way that a work-subject relational balance is valued. This mediation proposal makes sense from a de-eliticising process of art, from a re-aesthetising perspective of art education and from a re-personalising direction of the relationship of the artist-recipient with the work and of the artist with society. Its basic philosophical approach is pragmatist. The research is situated in a field between art practice and art education. The position from which it starts is a/r/tographic. All these approaches take place in the space and time context of nine years of work in the field of teaching Art Didactics for the Degree in Education at Florida Universitaria by a teacher (the same one who is researching and writing these lines) with a background and career as a painter. The research methodology applied is the educational methodology based on visual arts and a/r/tography. From this methodological framework, two research strategies are proposed: the Photo-novel for the artistic mediation, and the Logothesis, for the a/r/tographic research. / Rueda Gascó, L. (2023). Mediación expandida. Un estudio a/r/tográfico y educativo basado en la visualidad entre la obra de arte contemporáneo y docentes de Infantil y Primaria [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/193687

No description available.

Not only is Quantum Mechanics (QM) conceptually rich, it is also a theory that physics students have found abstract and technically formidable. Nevertheless, compared to other classical topics of physics, university students’ understanding of QM has received minimal attention in the physics education literature. The principal purpose of this study was to characterize the variation in the ways that undergraduate physics students depict the basic concepts of QM and to extrapolate the results to scaffold possible changes to instructional practices at the university that provided the context for the study. In so doing, an adaptation of a developmental phenomenographic perspective was chosen. Empirically, the study was approached through in-depth interviews with 35 physics students from two Ethiopian governmental universities after they had been exposed to the traditional QM course for one-third of a semester. Interview responses were analyzed using phenomenographic approach where a picture of students’ depictions was established for each quantum concept by expounding the given responses. For each basic quantum concept addressed, the structure of the description categories was separately constructed, and overall, it was found that naive, quasi-classical ontology and/or variants of classical ways of visualization are dominant in students’ responses. For example, it was found that students’ depictions of the photon concept could be described with three distinct categories of description, which are (a) classical intuitive description, (b) mixed model description and (c) quasi-quantum model description. Similarly, the findings revealed that it is possible to establish three qualitatively different categories of description to picture students’ depictions of matter waves, namely, (a) classical and trajectory-based description, (b) an intricate blend of classical and quantum description and (c) incipient quantum model description. Likewise, it was found that students’ depictions of uncertainty principle can be described as: (a) uncertainty as classical ignorance, (b) uncertainty as measurement disturbance and (c) uncertainty as a quasi-quantum principle. With regard to learning QM, the categories of description made clear several issues: most students did not have enough knowledge to depict the basic concepts of QM properly; they were influenced by the perspective of classical physics and their perceptions in making explanations about QM; and they also applied mixed ideas, one based on their classical model and the other from newly introduced QM. These results are also supported by the findings of previous studies in similar domains. Findings from the study were used to guide the design of multiple representations-based instructions and interactive learning tutorials on the conceptual aspects of QM that has been shown to address specific difficulties identified in the study. Theoretical and practical implications of the study, as well as potential future considerations are drawn. / Mathematics, Science and Technology Education / D. Phil. (Mathematics, Science and Technology Education)