In Portugal, there is a diversified higher education system comprising some 160 institutions: universities, polytechnics and isolated schools, public or private, with a total enrolment of some 350,000 students. This article presents the analysis of the results of questionnaires which were completed in 2004 by students entering higher education for the first time so as to understand their perceived needs and aspirations and how they chose their institution/study programme.
In the last few years, there has been a decline in the number of candidates to higher education — mainly due to demography — which created strong institutional competition. Therefore it is important to understand the reasons behind students' choices, perceived needs and aspirations and how students assess the capacity of different institutions/programmes to fulfil these. It is also relevant to understand how their choices may be conditioned by factors such as their socio‐economic and cultural background, employability prospects, other available information, gender and type of institution and study programme.
Background: Significant deficits in emotional recognition and social perception characterize patients with schizophrenia and have direct negative impact both in inter-personal relationships and in social functioning. Virtual reality, as a methodological resource, might have a high potential for assessment and training skills in people suffering from mental illness. Objectives: To present preliminary results of a facial emotional recognition assessment designed for patients with schizophrenia, using 3D avatars and virtual reality. Methods: Presentation of 3D avatars which reproduce images developed with the FaceGen® software and integrated in a three-dimensional virtual environment. Each avatar was presented to a group of 12 patients with schizophrenia and a reference group of 12 subjects without psychiatric pathology. Results: The results show that the facial emotions of happiness and anger are better recognized by both groups and that the major difficulties arise in fear and disgust recognition. Frontal alpha electroencephalography variations were found during the presentation of anger and disgust stimuli among patients with schizophrenia. Discussion: The developed program evaluation module can be of surplus value both for patient and therapist, providing the task execution in a non anxiogenic environment, however similar to the actual experience.
" "H Hi ig gh he er r e ed du uc ca at ti io on n ((r re el la at te ed d)) c ch ho oi ic ce es s i in n P Po or rt tu ug ga al l: : j jo oi in nt t d de ec ci is si io on ns s o on n i in ns st ti it tu ut ti io on n t ty yp pe e a an nd d l le ea av vi in ng g h ho om me e" " C Ca ar rl la a S Sá á D Di ia an na a A Am ma ad do o T Ta av va ar re es s E El ls sa a J Ju us st ti in no o A Al lb be er rt to o A Am ma ar ra al l NIPE WP 04/ 2010 " "H Hi ig gh he er r e ed du uc ca at ti io on n ((r re el la at te ed d)) c ch ho oi ic ce es s i in n P Po or rt tu ug ga al l: : j jo oi in nt t d de ec ci is si io on ns s o on n i in ns st ti it tu ut ti io on n t ty yp pe e a an nd d l le ea av vi in ng g h ho om me e" " C Ca ar rl la a S Sá á D Di ia an na a A Am ma ad do o T Ta av va ar re es s E El ls sa a J Ju us st ti in no o A Al lb be er rt to o A Am ma ar ra al l N NI IP PE E * *
Purpose -This paper aims to reflect on the relevance of the Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP) of the European University Association (EUA) to universities' quality improvement. It aims to analyse IEP follow-up reports to determine whether the programme contributes to the development of a quality improvement culture. Design/methodology/approach -The structure and contents of 22 follow-up reports were analysed to assess the IEP programme. All reports were subject to content analysis using adequate software (NVivo 8 with a 242 nodes tree), the main goal being to evaluate progress made since the original evaluation. Findings -The reports analysed and the work by other authors show that IEP can constitute a useful approach towards the universities' quality improvement. IEP evaluations generally give a precise account of problems faced by each university, identifying its strong and weak points, opportunities and threats, and presenting clear recommendations and suggestions for improvement. If properly discussed inside the university, these evaluations can form the basis for an improvement plan. Research limitations/implications -In general, follow-up teams recognise the difficulty to distinguish changes caused directly by EUA teams' recommendations from others caused by external pressures. Practical implications -The follow-up process has as its main rationale the idea that a second review can assist a university evaluating progress made since the original evaluation. The reports analysed show that changes have always happened to a certain extent after the first evaluation. Originality/value -This paper makes a contribution to the understanding of the effects of institutional evaluation over institutional quality culture.
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