In this thesis I examine the impact of the educational background of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) on firm performance of listed firms in the Stockholm stock exchange. This area of research is important given that researchers in the area of behavioral finance and in management argue that CEO characteristics such as educational orientation, age and functional background influence the way business problems are perceived and the decision making process. The numerous and growing challenges which businesses face, particularly in the area of operations,cost-cutting and production efficiency makes the need to examine how CEO educational background could be beneficial for firm performance very relevant. Particular attention is on listed firms in the manufacturing, oil and gas, energy sector characterized by low instability (turbulence) and the IT industry characterized by rapid growth and high turbulence. Educational background information for 100 CEOs is examined between 2008-2010. The information gathered from the annual reports of these companies, shows that the educational path way for most CEOs in these industries has been an engineering degree. The regression analysis on CEO educational background and firm performance show no significant relationship. More specifically the regression analysis show no support for the assertion that firms controlled by CEOs with an educational background in engineering have a firm performance advantage or outperformed firms controlled by CEOs with other backgrounds such as law ,marketing and finance. In addition, the finding shows no significant relationship between CEO educational level (undergraduate or postgraduate) and firm performance. The analysis thus showed no support for the claim that firms controlled by CEO with a higher level of education (postgraduate degree) had a superior firm performance over firms controlled by a CEO who had an undergraduate degree.

Background: International literature seems to agree that nurses are the backbone of quality patient care and safety. Moreover, the appropriate training of nurses is vital to providing high quality and safe patient care. South Africa has a dual healthcare system and different categories of nurses. The perceptions of the safety and quality of care of the different categories of nurses are not known in the South African context. Objective: To determine the relationship between the educational background of nurses and their perceptions on the safety and quality of patient care in private surgical units in South Africa. Methods: This study followed a comparative descriptive design. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire as part of an international collaborative study, Nurse Forecasting in Europe (RN4CAST). Hierarchical linear modelling was used to examine the relationships among the variables in the 304 completed and returned questionnaires. Results: Overall, both registered- and enrolled nurses seemed satisfied with the safety and quality of care delivered in their units. Registered nurses (RNs) scored higher in the occurrence of incidents in surgical wards, whilst enrolled nurses (ENs) were of the opinion that current efforts to prevent errors are adequate. Conclusions: This study provides information that RN’s and EN’s have different perceptions in some areas on the quality and safety of patient care. A statistically significant difference was found between RN’s and EN’s perceptions on the prevention of errors in the unit, namely, losing patient information between shifts and patient incidents related to medication errors, pressure ulcers and falls with injury. / Thesis (MCur)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Background: International literature seems to agree that nurses are the backbone of quality patient care and safety. Moreover, the appropriate training of nurses is vital to providing high quality and safe patient care. South Africa has a dual healthcare system and different categories of nurses. The perceptions of the safety and quality of care of the different categories of nurses are not known in the South African context. Objective: To determine the relationship between the educational background of nurses and their perceptions on the safety and quality of patient care in private surgical units in South Africa. Methods: This study followed a comparative descriptive design. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire as part of an international collaborative study, Nurse Forecasting in Europe (RN4CAST). Hierarchical linear modelling was used to examine the relationships among the variables in the 304 completed and returned questionnaires. Results: Overall, both registered- and enrolled nurses seemed satisfied with the safety and quality of care delivered in their units. Registered nurses (RNs) scored higher in the occurrence of incidents in surgical wards, whilst enrolled nurses (ENs) were of the opinion that current efforts to prevent errors are adequate. Conclusions: This study provides information that RN’s and EN’s have different perceptions in some areas on the quality and safety of patient care. A statistically significant difference was found between RN’s and EN’s perceptions on the prevention of errors in the unit, namely, losing patient information between shifts and patient incidents related to medication errors, pressure ulcers and falls with injury. / Thesis (MCur)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

<p>A good leadership inside a company is able to improve a company’s performance.</p><p>This thesis tries to highlight the importance of an effective leader for a company and</p><p>how a company is able to enhance their performance by upgrading leadership</p><p>training. Therefore, this work concentrates on the technical industry in Germany to</p><p>find a standardized leader image regarding biographical characteristics, which offers</p><p>the requirements for modulating leadership development methods or rather leadership</p><p>training to it.</p><p>The existing literature gave information about the duties and responsibilities of a</p><p>leading person and the major contributors to an effective leader. Beyond that,</p><p>information has been gathered about the educational background of the leadership</p><p>circles in Germany’s top companies to draw a conclusion about the composition of</p><p>the leadership ranks in Germany’s technical companies. Besides, leadership</p><p>development methods have been analyzed from which leadership training is</p><p>emphasized as the most important for this study.</p><p>In order to gather the missing information, a qualitative research has been conducted,</p><p>giving the information about the standard leaders as a male, studied engineer, who did</p><p>not experience leadership soft skills during his academic education. From this it</p><p>follows, that it is possible to adapt leadership training in terms of knowledge transfer</p><p>of leadership soft skills especially to fill the gaps of the technical audience.</p><p> </p>

A good leadership inside a company is able to improve a company’s performance. This thesis tries to highlight the importance of an effective leader for a company and how a company is able to enhance their performance by upgrading leadership training. Therefore, this work concentrates on the technical industry in Germany to find a standardized leader image regarding biographical characteristics, which offers the requirements for modulating leadership development methods or rather leadership training to it. The existing literature gave information about the duties and responsibilities of a leading person and the major contributors to an effective leader. Beyond that, information has been gathered about the educational background of the leadership circles in Germany’s top companies to draw a conclusion about the composition of the leadership ranks in Germany’s technical companies. Besides, leadership development methods have been analyzed from which leadership training is emphasized as the most important for this study. In order to gather the missing information, a qualitative research has been conducted, giving the information about the standard leaders as a male, studied engineer, who did not experience leadership soft skills during his academic education. From this it follows, that it is possible to adapt leadership training in terms of knowledge transfer of leadership soft skills especially to fill the gaps of the technical audience.

ABSTRACTJonasson Anna (2015). Educational background in forensic psychiatric patients – judged according to the LRV and LRV: sup. School Improvement and Leadership, Master, Learning and Society, Malmö University.The intention of the research in forensic psychiatry and special education is an improvement of psychiatric care, but also to contribute knowledge to prevention work in the community that lead to benefits for individuals` health and by extension economic gains. The aim of this study was to investigate forensic psychiatric patients´ needs of special education. The first question was how forensic psychiatric patients’ preschool and school background looked like. The second question was, wherein sessions of information, which would give possibilities to increase the patients´ information comprehension by special education during their treatment process. The theoretical base is socio-cultural perspective. By using a qualitative approach two qualitative studies were developed. In the first study a content analysis was conducted regarding pre-school and school background on 102 forensic psychiatric examinations. In the second study, the reader can follow a fictional patient through the forensic psychiatric treament process. The results show that 50 % of patients documented to have family-related problems. The most common measures were contact with BUP, Swedish child and adolescent psychiatry, and measures among the Care of Young Persons. 65 % attended at least 9 years of school and half of the patients have, received some form of grades. The enrollment, change of ward, distributing folders are some of the sessions of information, which would give possibilities to increase the patients´ information comprehension by using special education during the treatment process. Special education support involves consideration of the literacy level. The importance of the patients to have a realistic self-image regarding their cognitive abilities is emphasized. Tailor-made training programs in information literacy are proposed, also the importance of training non-cognitive abilities are recognized. Access to illustrative pictures and follow-up discussions at information sessions are also proposed as special education support.

The majority of previous research in the field of board diversity was dedicated to the direct link between board gender diversity and firm performance. Grounded in Agency- and Resource dependence theory, this thesis expands on this research and examines the main relationship including the influence of two additional factors: educational level of female directors and mandatory board gender quotas. Analyzing a sample of 454 European firms (3,871 firm-year observations) over the period 2007-2017, a positive relationship between board gender diversity and firm performance is found. Furthermore, the results suggest that educational levels or board gender quotas do not affect this relationship. The effects on firm performance differ depending on whether legislative measures or voluntary initiatives are in place, i.e. in contrast to legislative quotas, voluntary initiatives enhance firm performance.

The purpose of this study was to examine the following: (a) What is the nature of Kindergarten and First grade teachers’ beliefs and self-reported practices regarding early literacy learning and teaching?; (b) What is the relationship between Kindergarten and First grade teachers’ beliefs and self-reported early literacy teaching practices?; and (c) How do teachers’ educational backgrounds and professional development experiences explain the relationship between their beliefs and practices in early literacy learning and teaching? Three instruments were administered to the participants in this study. The Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (Deford, 1979), hereafter known as the TORP, was used to measure teachers’ pedagogical beliefs about the teaching and learning of reading. The Preschool Literacy Practices Checklist (Burgess, Lundgren, Lloyd, & Pianta, 2001), hereafter known as the PLPC, was used to measure teachers’ self-reported literacy instructional practices. A survey questionnaire I designed was used to obtain descriptive information about the participants in this study. Data were collected from forty-seven in-service Kindergarten and First grade teachers. The results of the TORP data from this study indicated that 6% of the participants represented the decoding perspective, 92% represented the skills perspective and 2% represented the wholistic perspective. Correlation scores from the PLPC regarding teachers’ beliefs and practices show there was no significant correlation between teachers’ beliefs and self-reported practices in the classroom. Additionally, the findings showed there is a relationship between teachers’ educational backgrounds and the reading literacy practices teachers view as important or essential in the early grades such as understanding the meaning of words, recognizing basic sight words, understanding concepts of print, and identifying the elements of a story.

Denna studie handlar om invandrare med olika akademisk bakgrund såsom exempelvis läkare, ingenjörer, jurister, lärare, revisorer och sjuksköterskor. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka upplevelser hos invandrare med akademisk utbildning, i vilken de har fått med sig från sina hemländer. Vi vill således se hur deras situation ser ut på den svenska arbetsmarknaden, avseende inkludering och strategi. Därtill vill vi ta reda på informanternas synpunkter på möjligheterna att lyckas eller misslyckas med att etablera sig inom ett kvalificerat yrkesområde. Vi har använt oss utav en kvalitativ metod. Valda teorier lyfter upp relevanta synpunkter för inkludering på arbetsmarknaden hos invandrarakademiker i denna studie. I teorikapitlet redovisas Stigma- inkludering, och Strategier för kapitalökning.  I vår studie visar resultatet på att våra informanter upplever svårigheter i sin strävan att nå en optimal arbetsposition som är i linje med deras tidigare utbildning från sitt hemland, och där de många gånger får arbeta med lägre kvalificerade yrken än vad de är utbildade till. Hälften av våra informanter är dock på väg att nå sina önskade positioner på arbetsmarknaden, och andra har redan lyckats med detta med hjälp av ett socialt nätverk. Trots detta tyder resultaten på att många upplever att vägen in till en arbetsmarknadsinkludering är svår, oavsett utbildning eller om man gått en yrkesutbildning i Sverige. En möjligen väg, och ett steg till inkludering på arbetsmarknaden, är att tro på sig själv, kämpa och inte ge upp.  Andra faktorer som kan ha betydelse för hur det går för individer med annan etnisk bakgrund på arbetsmarknaden kan givetvis också hänga samman med om det finns ett socialt nätverk kring dessa människor samt vilken efterfrågan som finns på arbetsmarknaden. Denna grupp av invandrare med akademisk bakgrund har i regel mindre socialt nätverk än övriga i majoritetssamhället. En möjlig förklaring till detta kan vara att det är ett nytt land med en annan kultur vilket kan innebära att de inte har många andra sociala relationer förutom kontakter med myndigheter och statliga institutioner. Detta kan fungera som en maktmekanism som både kan möjliggöra och begränsa utrymmet på arbetsmarknaden för denna grupp. / This study takes a look at immigrants with an academic background in various specializations such as medical, engineering, law, education, auditing and nursing. The purpose of this paper is to examine the experiences of immigrants with university education from their home countries, using the theoretical concepts of inclusion and strategy to assess their employment situation in Sweden. Furthermore, we have sought to explore informants´ views regarding opportunities to succeed or fail with establishing themselves in qualified occupation. We have used a qualitative method. The chosen theories offer perspectives useful for this study with regards to inclusion in the labor market of immigrants with university education. The theory chapter presents stigma-inclusion and strategies for capital increase.    Our study shows that on the path to inclusion in the labor market our informants experience difficulties in striving to reach their desired occupational positions corresponding to their education level acquired in their home country or through vocational training in Sweden. A step towards inclusion on the labor market is taken by “believing in yourself, struggling and not giving up”.  Also demand on the labor market is of importance, especially for the immigrant group struggling with achieving employment. Half of our informants are about to reach their desired positions in the labor market, while others already have achieved this by utilizing social networks. This strategy may be different from the rest of the population as a more limited social network for this group of immigrants. One possible explanation for this may be that there is a new country with a different culture which may mean that they do not have many other social relations besides contacts with authorities and government institutions. This can act as a power mechanism that can both enable and constrain the labor market for this group.

Academic education is often associated with better skills and higher quality. In this study we are looking into how educational background affects the quality of the education in after- school programs. In order to set our investigation of the connection between the educational background of the employees and the quality of the education at after-school in a broader context we also asked our informants about other factors which they believe affect the quality of the education in practice and in which ways. The majority of the data collection was gathered through a digital survey that was sent to five different schools in Stockholm and posted in two Facebook groups. The questions in the survey were based on the dictum from four interviews that were done at four of the schools as a way to prepare the survey. The result is analyzed with support of curriculum theory and discourse theory. The result of the study shows that there is a connection between the educational background and the quality of the education at after-school programs although the differences between the compared groups were not significant, and that there are other factors that have an equal or bigger impact on the quality of the education. The result also shows that there are many different perspectives on what quality in after-school programs might be.