Download up to 20 articles from ScienceDirect at the same time!

ScienceDirect has a brand new function!

It's called Document Download Manager and enables you to download up to 20 full text articles at a time whilst still doing normal searching in ScienceDirect.

The DDM also allows you to automatically name downloaded full-text articles according to your own naming convention and pre-select a preferred destination for downloads. This helps reduce the irritation factor of lost files, and makes the process much more intuitive.

Confused?

Here is how it works: (Click on the images to enlarge them)

Step 1: Do a search on ScienceDirect

When you get the list of results you will see a new button just above the results (on the image marked in black) - Download Pdf's. This button allows the downloading of more than 1 full text article at a time.

You can either mark certain articles and then click on Download Pdf's - or you can click on it without marking any items. (If no items have been marked you will get a pop-up stating that the first 20 articles will be downloaded.)

Step 2: Make sure the pop-ups are not blocked

Step 3: Click on the Download Pdf's link

Step 4: Choose the name of the file as well as where you want the pdf's to be downloaded to (e.g. flash drive, specific folder etc)

You can give your own naming convention to the list:

Once you are down naming the file and choosing a place for the pdf's you can see the status of the files as they are being downloaded

Once the download is complete you will see an icon of the pdf:

If you go to where you've saved the files you will see all of them are there:


I think this will save a great deal of time for researchers since you can still go on with the searching in ScienceDirect, while your files are being downloaded in the background.

Time is running out to order books for 2009

Copyright david_ming

Time is almost running out to order new books for 2009 - and some departments still have a bit of money left in their book budgets. (Contact your HOD for the exact amount)

Remember you will lose what you do not spend.

To help you choose new relevant titles, here is a list of publishers with links to relevant books:

Department Business Management

Blackwell Publishing
Business & Management

Cambridge
Business & Management
Management catalogue

Elsevier
Business
Strategy and Strategic Management

Harvard Business Press
2008/9 Catalogue
Global Business
Leadership & Managing People

MIT
Business

Oxford University Press
Business

Springer
Business & Management

Taylor & Francis
Business Management

Wiley
Business & Management

Palgrave
Business

Department Information & Knowledge Management

Blackwell Publishing
Computing (General)

Chandos
September – December 2008 Catalogue

Elsevier
Management Information systems
Computer Science (includes applications, hardware & architecture, software, AI etc )
Computing & Information Technology

MIT
Computer Science & Intelligence Systems

Oxford University Press
Computer Science

Palgrave
Computer Science

Department of Marketing Management

Blackwell Publishing
Marketing

Cambridge
Business & Management: (Marketing falls under Business & Management at Cambridge)

Elsevier
Marketing

Harvard Business Press
Sales & Marketing

Springer
Marketing
Media Management

Wiley
Marketing & Sales
Advertising

Department of Sport & Movement Studies

Blackwell Publishing Sport Science

Elsevier
Sports medicine

Taylor & Francis
Sport

Palgrave
Sport

Department of Transport & Supply Chain Management

Wiley
Transportation
Logistics
Supply Chain Management

Springer
Transport
Procurement
Production & Logistics

Random House
Transportation

National Academic Press
Transportation And Infrastructure

Elsevier
Transport
Supply chain management
Logistics

Higher Education Inflation Index for the USA released

Copyright yirsh

The Higher Education Price Index (HEPI) is an inflation index designed specifically to track the main cost drivers in higher education in the USA.

It is an essential planning tool for educational managers, enabling schools to project the future budget and funding increases required to maintain real purchasing power and investment. HEPI is issued annually by Commonfund Institute and is distributed free of charge to educational institutions.

HEPI is a more accurate indicator of changes in costs for colleges and universities than the more familiar Consumer Price Index. It measures the average relative level of prices in a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by colleges and universities each year through current fund educational and general expenditures, excluding research.

HEPI is compiled from data reported and published by government and economic agencies. The eight categories cover current operational costs of colleges and universities. These include salaries for faculty, administrative employees, clerical employees, and service employees, fringe benefits, utilities, supplies and materials, and miscellaneous services.

HEPI has been calculated every year since 1983 and includes inflation data going back to 1961. Since fiscal year 2002, HEPI has been based on a regression formula. In 2005, Commonfund Institute assumed responsibility for maintaining HEPI and calculating its annual rate of change.

Credit Cards usage up in emerging markets

Copyright LotusHead

According to a new Forbes article, credit card usage is on the rise in the emerging economies of the world:

" The growth of credit card use in Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe signals continuing financial development in these markets. However, the experience of South Korea in 2003 demonstrates that excessive growth in this type of consumer credit has the potential to threaten economic stability.
In recent years, the credit card industry in emerging-market economies has expanded rapidly:
--Between 2004-07, the number of credit cards in Brazil and Mexico more than doubled, while the number of cards in circulation in Poland tripled.
--Russia has also seen major growth.
--Outstanding credit card debt in India tripled over the same period.
--In China, growth in the number of outstanding credit cards averaged just over 23% from 2004-07. It surged to nearly 93% in the first half of 2008. "

For more on the article, click here.

For scholarly articles discussing credit cards and emerging markets click:

• here for articles from EbscoHost
• here for articles from ProQuest
• here for articles from ScienceDirect

Who's in charge of Asia's Fab 50?

Forbes Business just released a list of CEO's of the Top 50 companies operating in Asia:

The Council for Medical Schemes Annual report released

Copyright by miqueias

The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) released their Annual Report for 2007/2008 yesterday.

As the regulatory authority responsible for overseeing medical schemes in South Africa (SA), the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS or Council) administers and enforces the Medical Schemes Act 131 of 1998 (MSA or Act).
The CMS is an autonomous public agency funded through levies charged to medical schemes and is accountable to the Minister responsible for national health matters.

The report itself is quite long (177 pages), but the key goals of the CMS, taken from the report, are:

Goal 1: We monitor the impact of the Medical Schemes Act 131 of 1998 and recommend improvements.

Goal 2: Secure adequate protection for beneficiaries by approving the manner in which medical schemes carry out business and by monitoring their financial performance.

Goal 3: Support the work of trustees and promote public understanding of the way in which medical schemes function.

Goal 4: Take fair and timely enforcement actions when required.

Goal 5: Investigate and resolve complaints of beneficiaries.

Goal 6: Foster the development of the CMS as an attractive workplace and an employer of choice.

Goal 7: Develop strategic alliances with counterpart regulators and others.

New issue of Consumer Insight available

Nielsen's magazine Consumer Insight just released the September 2008 issue and here is what you can expect:

The Online and In-Store Crossover Conundrum.

Can online and in-store have a synergistic channel relationship? The crossover sales question leaves marketers wondering—what are the incremental offline sales attributable to my Web site and do I run the risk of cannibalization?... Read More

Cross-Media Brands: Connecting with Consumers Across Platforms.

For brands that connect with consumers across multiple media, measurement accuracy is paramount. But which method is more accurate—single source or fusion data? A study by ESPN and Nielsen shows the best pathway to the richest insights.... Read More
Defensive Branding: How to Defend Your Brand in an Age of Consumer Control.

Bloggers gone wild. What do you do when consumer vigilantes attack your product? First, know your B.Q. (Nielsen Brand Advocacy Quotient). Second, kick your defensive branding campaign into high gear... Read More
Beyond Data: The Power of Insights .

Feeling overwhelmed by an avalanche of data? Information overload weighs heavily on businesses and “more” does not always mean “better”. When you parlay facts into wisdom, you gain competitive advantage by making the power of insights work for you... Read More
Rising Russian Rubles.

As residents of a cash-rich country with a rising middle class, Russian consumers are optimistic and on the run. As they drive the growth of “convenient” snacks, meal-makers, mobile phones, premium alcohol and others, how will this rising star change in the next decade?... Read More

"Below the Topline" - Global Immigration.

In many countries in the developed world, immigrant populations are so large that establishing a relationship between them and your products may mean the difference between reaching brand sales goals or not. read more

Copyrighted image: srbichara

Top Tens and Trends

Our latest intelligence on Movies, TV, Books, Music, CPG Trends and more. read more

Jacob Zuma's at UJ

Copyright David Sandison

Jacob Zuma, the president of the ANC, will address a public lecture here at the University with the theme of his talk being: Access to justice in a democratic South Africa.

Date: 9th September (this Tuesday)

Time: 14:30 for 15:00

Venue: UJ Sanlam Auditorium (E-Ring) here on the APK Campus

RSVP: Barenice van Reenen (x6662)

Know what your consumer is thinking

Keeping up to date with consumers and consumer attitudes is critical for business success, but how do you know what consumers are thinking? (Short of asking everyone you see...)

Nielsen's Global Consumer Reports are quite helpful as it provides statistics and commentary on global consumer/marketing issues.

Here is a list of some of the newest reports:

Consumer Confidence, Concerns, Spending and Attitudes to Recession: A Global Nielsen Consumer Report

Consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level in several years, according to the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index, the definitive gauge of consumer sentiment around economic and social concerns across 51 countries.

Consumers and Designer Brands : A Global Nielsen Report

The latest Nielsen survey on designer brands reveals that consumers remain enraptured by the allure of luxury, and there are generous payoffs for designer brands that dare to diversify

Packaging and The Environment : A Global Nielsen Consumer Report

There's no doubt about it: Green is the new black. With publicity surrounding the threat of global warming on the rise, environmental friendliness has fast become a marketer's dream.

Netball South Africa & the Sports Trust briefings

Netball SA briefed the Parliamentary Group: Sport & Recreation Committee on the activities of the organisation.

Here is the full version of Netball SA's briefing and here the briefing of the Sports Trust.

The summary is as follows:

• It emphasized activities undertaken to develop netball in South Africa,
• set out the funding received from the Department of Sport and Recreation and the private sector,
• discussed the challenges of transformation with regard to participation and performance, and
• discussed the challenges facing the organization such as lack of funding, of full time staff and facilities.
• Members commented that the issue of transformation should be examined, as it did not always imply that participation compromised performance.
• Members asked about the dispute regarding the Nelson Mandela District’s affiliation to NSA. Members also questioned the rationale for the Merit Tournaments arranged by NSA.
• The Committee noted that it would be receiving a briefing on some of the problems in Beijing, and that the Minister would also be attending the meeting when the Annual Report of the Department was discussed.
• Further issues to be discussed by the Committee included the money given to Federations, who had not always signed the service level agreements.

Dual careers in academia - what you need to know

Meeting the needs and expectations of dual-career academic couples— while still ensuring the high quality of university faculty—is the next great challenge facing universities. This according to Standford University's report: Dual-Career Academic Couples: What Universities Need to Know (August 2008)

Academic couples comprise 36 percent of the American professoriate—representing a deep pool of talent. The proportion of academic couples (i.e., couples in which both partners are academics) at four-year institutions nationally has not changed since 1989.

What has changed is the rate at which universities are hiring couples. Academic couple hiring has increased from 3 percent in the 1970s to 13 percent since 2000. And universities in the US are being to take notice and devoting attention to dual-career issues. In recent years, a number of conferences and collaborative efforts have sprung up, and university hiring practices are evolving to keep pace.

There are three key reasons for taking a new look at couple hiring:

Excellence. The study suggests that couples more and more vote with their feet, leaving or not considering universities that do not support them. Support for dual careers opens another avenue by which universities can compete for the best and brightest.

Diversity

The new generation of academics is more diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity than ever before. With greater diversity comes the need for new hiring practices - and one of these practices is couple hiring.

Quality of Life

Faculty today are a new breed determined more than ever to strike a sustainable balance between working and private lives. Couple hiring is part of a deeper institutional restructuring around quality-of-life issues. To enhance competitive excellence, universities are increasingly supporting faculty needs, such as housing, child care, schools, and elder care, in addition to partner hiring.

Higher Education in Europe - beyond 2010

Image copyright thanx

Higher education institutions are being subjected to a variety of pressures that seek, primarily, to enhance higher education’s contribution to the successful creation of so-called ‘knowledge societies’, together with, and receiving only slightly less emphasis, the achievement of greater equity and social justice.

The report Higher Education Looking Forward: An Agenda for Future Research has examined the relevant higher education research literature in terms of its underlying conceptual approaches and empirical findings across a number of selected sub-themes (see below) in order to derive a future research agenda that will address scientific questions of long term strategic concern to the future of higher education.

The five themes that have been addressed are:

Higher education and the needs of the knowledge society
Key questions within this theme will be the adequacy of human capital theory in explaining changing relationships between higher education and work, the balance between initial formation and continuing professional development in knowledge-based economies, and the division of labour between higher education institutions and employers in meeting education and training needs.

Higher education and the achievement of equity and social justice
Key questions here concern the relationship between higher education’s roles in social reproduction and its roles in extending opportunities for social mobility and the achievement of greater social justice.

Higher education and its communities: interconnections and interdependencies
Key questions will concern whether new function can be performed without detriment to the old and what are the change mechanisms within higher education institutions and systems needed to bring about effective realignments between higher education and its various communities

Steering and governance of higher education
Key questions for this theme are to do with the implications of different forms of decision-making, accountability and funding for higher education’s ability to perform existing and new functions.

Differentiation and diversity of institutional forms and professional roles
The questions raised within theme five relate to the preceding themes and to whether further differentiation within national systems will be accompanied by greater convergence between systems if higher education is to respond effectively to changing social and economic climates in European countries

Download the whole report for or see the Project Summary a quick overview .

University news from Africa

AFRICA: New head for African universities association/Karen MacGregor The new Secretary General of the Association of African Universities, Professor Goolam Mohamedbhai, took up his post this month. His priorities include growing the AAU's membership, strengthening its secretariat and collaborating with continental development bodies to drive a revival of African universities. This is no easy job - but one for which the former president of the International Association of Universities and University of Mauritius vice-chancellor is exceptionally well qualified.




ZIMBABWE: Unqualified Mugabe supporters access HE/Clemence Manyukwe Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party is forcing the admission of young supporters into higher education institutions even though they do not meet entry requirements. Students claim the party is using them to destabilise the student union movement by reporting on its activities.
Mugabe scraps student elections/Clemence Manyukwe Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe is tightening his grip on the country's institutions of higher learning by scrapping elections to choose student leaders.


EGYPT: Universities must open during holy month/Ashraf Khaled Egyptian Minister of Education, Hany Helal, has caused a stir by opposing a suggestion that the new academic year be postponed until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Insisting that studies at universities and other education institutions begin on 20 September, Helal was quoted in the press as saying: "Postponing the academic year until the end of the [lunar] month of Ramadan would give a bad impression in the West that Muslims are lazy."


NIGERIA: Controversy over university entrance system/Tunde Fatunde University teachers and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) are once again at loggerheads over Nigeria's reformed higher education admission policy. The board, which operates a competitive national entrance examination, is unhappy about universities being allowed to conduct their own admission exams - and has accused some of using the tests to make money.


TUNISIA: New agency to promote research and innovation
A new national agency to promote research and innovation in Tunisia was established in August, under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education



SENEGAL: University students reluctant to leave campus Students remaining at Senegal's biggest university, Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, have finally left the campus after water and electricity supplies were cut off last week. They had been refusing to leave their accommodation at the end of an extended academic year, protesting that they had not received their grants.