Suchergebnisse

The university aspirations of disadvantaged high school students are significant for their university participation rates because such aspirations influence their academic achievements and as a corollary their eligibility for university entry. To positively influence the university aspirations of these students and thereby increase their university participation rates, the Australian Government in 2010 implemented the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Programme (hereafter, HEPPP) wherein the Government provides funding to universities to, inter alia, operate outreach programmes with high schools identified as disadvantaged, namely drawing from lower socio-economic status demographics. However, in 2014 the Government announced the intention to deregulate university tuition fees which may negatively influence the university aspirations of disadvantaged high school students and thereby undermine the efficacy of HEPPP. Considering the relationship between fee deregulation and HEPPP, two factors may ameliorate the negative influence that fee deregulation is predicted to have on the efficacy of HEPPP: The existing higher education income-contingent loan system, HECS-HELP, and the Government's proposal to introduce a Commonwealth Scholarship scheme for disadvantaged students. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to determine whether, according to participants, the predicted negative influence of fee deregulation would be greater than the combined positive influence of both HECS-HELP and the Commonwealth Scholarship scheme, and therefore whether fee deregulation would undermine the efficacy of HEPPP. This study utilised a mixed methodology approach encompassing both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative method was a questionnaire administered to careers advisers (n=14) situated in New South Wales high schools associated with HEPPP funded university outreach programmes. The qualitative method was semi-structured interviews with directors of student equity (n=4) at Australian universities. In total 18 individuals participated in the data collection processes. It could not be definitively determined whether, according to participants, the predicted negative influence of fee deregulation would be greater than the combined positive influence of both HECS-HELP and the Commonwealth Scholarship scheme, and therefore whether fee deregulation would undermine the efficacy of HEPPP. Hence, the aim of this study was partially achieved. Nonetheless four policy recommendations emerged from the findings and these recommendations highlight the significance of this study. The first, second and third recommendations were that the positive influence the Commonwealth Scholarship scheme is predicted to have on students' aspirations would foreseeably be enhanced by ensuring: (1) scholarships are made available to a majority of eligible disadvantaged students; (2) the application processes for scholarships are uncomplicated and not overly time consuming to complete; and (3) scholarships are allocated for relocation and living costs. The fourth recommendation was that HECS-HELP debts should remain indexed according to the Consumer Price Index, as opposed to the bond rate, to ensure that fee deregulation does not undermine the efficacy of HEPPP.

This study is based on a panel sample of small farm households drawn from eight rural communities in Chile, interviewed in 1968 and 1986. The incidence and intensity of poverty based on primary income increased over this period. Three sets of factors are identified which would induce these changes. The analysis is completed by using cross-sectional data to estimate an income function in 1968 and in 1986. (DSE/DÜI)

This pioneering monograph integrates the major research findings of the past four decades and offers a new model for the study of human sexuality. The author examines the empirical literature on sexuality for the developmental stages of childhood, adolesc

In Drechsel, Pay; Scott, C. A.; Raschid-Sally, Liqa; Redwood, M.; Bahri, Akissa (Eds.). Wastewater irrigation and health: assessing and mitigating risk in low-income countries. London, UK: Earthscan; Ottawa, Canada: International Development Research Centre (IDRC); Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). ; The volume and extent of urban wastewater generated by domestic, industrial and commercial water use has increased with population, urbanization, industrialization, improved living conditions and economic development. Most developing-country governments do not have sufficient resources to treat wastewater. Therefore, despite official restrictions and potential health implications, farmers in many developing countries use wastewater in diluted, untreated or partly treated forms with a large range of associated benefits. Aside from microbiological hazards, the practice can pose a variety of other potential risks: excessive and often imbalanced addition of nutrients to the soil; build-up of salts in the soils (depending on the source water, especially sodium salts); increased concentrations of metals and metalloids (particularly where industries are present) reaching phytotoxic levels over the long term; and accumulation of emerging contaminants, like residual pharmaceuticals. As these possible trade-offs of wastewater use vary significantly between sites and regions, it is necessary to carefully monitor wastewater quality, its sources and use for location-specific risk assessment and risk reduction.