The lived experiences of experienced Vipassana Mahasi meditators: an interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Research into the effects and mechanisms of mindfulness training draws predominantly on quantitative research. There is a lack of understanding about the subjective experiences of experienced mindfulness meditators, which may provide additional insights into the effects, processes and context of mindfulness training. This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of a novel group of experienced mindfulness meditators who practise Vipassana Mahasi (VM) meditation. The study aimed to understand how experienced VM practitioners make sense of the effects of practice and what processes they ascribe to it. Participants attended semistructured interviews, and their responses were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results yielded overarching themes including (a) improvements in hedonic and eudaimonic well-being; (b) insights into self, others and perception of reality; (c) attaining equanimity; and (d) physical and interpersonal difficulties. Participants perceived VM as a ‘cleansing’ process whereby maladaptive responses were eliminated through mindfulness, other supportive mental qualities, decentering and nonattachment. The findings revealed a complex and dynamic set of interdependent outcomes and processes, which are reinforced by Buddhist teachings and ethical practices. This study highlights the need for additional interdisciplinary research into topics such as insight generation and supportive mental qualities cultivated during VM, novel states of well-being informed by Buddhist constructs and interpersonal difficulties related to long-term practice. Findings also suggest that incorporating Buddhist teachings and ethics into mindfulness-based interventions may enhance practitioner understanding and implementation of meditation techniques.N/

Student Loan Reforms for German Higher Education: Financing Tuition Fees

It is generally agreed that the funding base for German universities is inadequate and perhaps the time has come for serious consideration of the imposition of nontrivial tuition charges. Against this background, this paper compares conventional and income contingent loans for financing tuition fees at German universities. With the use of unconditional age-income quantile regression approaches our analysis considers two critical aspects of the loan debate: the size of repayment burdens associated with normal mortgage-style loans, and the time structure of revenue to the government from a hypothetical income contingent loan scheme. It is found that tuition fees at German universities could increase considerably with the use of an income contingent loan system based on current policy approaches used in Australia, England and New Zealand.In diesem Papier werden konventionelle und einkommensabhängige Kredite zur Finanzierung von Studiengebühren and deutschen Universitäten untersucht. Unsere Analyse betrachtet zwei entscheidende Aspekte der Kreditdebatte: die Rückzahlungsbelastung konventioneller Kredite und den Zeithorizont öffentlicher Einnahmen aus hypothetischen einkommensabhängigen Krediten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine Einführung einkommensabhängiger Kredite den Spielraum für Studiengebühren an deutschen Universitäten beträchtlich ausweiten könnte

Education Impact Study: The Global Recession and the Capacity of Colleges and Universities to Serve Vulnerable Populations in Asia

This paper reviews the capacity of colleges and universities to serve poor and vulnerable populations during past and present economic shocks. The main argument is that the environment of the global recession - an Asia far more economically integrated than during past economic shocks, with more unified aspirations to be globally competitive and socially responsible - need not delay reforms in higher education. In fact, the global recession is an opportune time for higher education in the Asia and Pacific region to continue reforming governance and administration, access and equity, internal and external efficiency, and regional collaboration. This paper proposes a series of measures to increase the resilience of higher education systems in serving poor and vulnerable populations during the economic recession. These measures include: (i) tuition assistance, subsidies, and loans; (ii) information and guidance for first-generation college students on choosing appropriate programs of study; (iii) community-based vocational and technical higher education that provides jobs in a rapidly changing labor market; (iv) innovative forms of cost sharing between public and private institutions of higher education; (v) resource decisions made on the basis of performance-based objectives; (vi) intensification of philanthropic culture that provides scholarships for poor students; (vii) upgrading of research about problems confronting poor communities; and (viii) regional strategies across the Asia and Pacific region for closer instructional program collaboration among colleges and universitie

Financing higher education in sub-Saharan Africa: some reflections and implications for sustainable development

The purpose of this article is to discuss how best to finance higher education in low-income countries of sub-Saharan Africa, drawing on benefits and drawbacks of the prevalent models of higher education finance, and lessons to be learned from countries which have seen greater expansion of their higher education systems in recent decades. Two main aspects are distinguished: first, a recognition of the powerful evidence that the general level of education in a country, its human capital, matters in determining a path to economic development; second, understanding that it does not help to produce large number of unemployed graduates whose only option due to absence of jobs is to engage in rent-seeking activities which in the end undermine both the essence of the human capital investment made, and job creation to be associated with human capital skills. Three areas are discussed, fully publicly financed “free” university education model; feasibility and lessons about fees; feasibility and lessons about loans. In addition, the paper makes suggestions on the measures to widen participation and promote equity and quality

Está insatisfeito com o seu chefe? Será devido a ele ou a si? O efeito que o locus de controlo tem na relação entre liderança e satisfação

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada no ISPA - Instituto Universitário para a obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Social e das Organizações.A presente investigação teve como objetivo estudar a relação que existe entre as variáveis Liderança, Satisfação com o Líder e Locus de Controlo, no âmbito organizacional. Sendo assim, o principal objetivo da investigação é estudar se a relação entre Liderança e Satisfação com o Supervisor é positiva ou negativa, e se o Locus de Controlo tem um efeito moderador nessa mesma relação. A amostra desta dissertação é composta por 149 trabalhadores (dos quais 68% são do género feminino) recrutados através do método snowball, e que têm supervisão direta. A avaliação da Liderança Transformacional e Transacional foi feita através do Questionário Multifatorial de Liderança (Salanova, Lorente, Chambel, & Martínez, 2011); a Satisfação com o Supervisor foi avaliada com recurso a parte do Questionário de Satisfação Laboral S20/23, (Pocinho e Garcia, 2008); e o Locus de Controlo foi medido através da escala MASLOC (Multidimensional Academic-Specific Locus of Control) (Barros, 1992). Os resultados indicam que existe uma relação positiva entre os dois estilos de Liderança e a Satisfação com o Supervisor. No entanto, o efeito de moderação do Locus de Controlo entre a Liderança e a Satisfação com o Supervisor não se verificou. No fim foram discutidas as implicações e limitações consideradas no presente estudo e foram feitas sugestões para estudos futuros.This research aimed to examine the relationship between Leadership, Satisfaction with Leadership, and Locus of Control in organizations. Specifically, this research tested if the relationship between leadership style and employees satisfaction with leadership is moderated by employees’ locus of control. Participants were 149 employees (68% of which were female), engaged in the current research through a snowball participant’s recruitment procedure. All participants had a direct supervisor. Transformational and transactional Leadership styles were measured using the Multifactorial Leadership Questionnaire (Salanova, Lorente, Chambel, & Martínez, 2011); Satisfaction with supervisor was assessed using part of the Satisfaction with Work Questionnaire (Pocinho & Garcia, 2008); and Locus of Control was measured using the MASLOC (Multidimensional Academic-Specific Locus of Control), (Barros, 1992). The research findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between supervisor’s Leadership style, and employees’ satisfaction with leadership. However, locus of control did not have any effect on this relationship. The study’s limitations and implications were also debated in the end of the dissertation