Requirements for Becoming an Adjunct Professor in Medicine: A Comparative Analysis of the Regulations of German Medical Faculties

Background: Following a medical habilitation or equivalent qualification after continuous scientific activity, one can apply for a position as an adjunct professor (außerplanmäßige Professur). The medical faculties in Germany have issued regulations for these appointments. The aim of this paper was to compare the requirements for appointment as an adjunct professor among medical faculties. Methods: The currently valid regulations of medical faculties in Germany were analyzed for the target criteria of publication performance, teaching performance, possibility of shortening the procedure; consideration of appointment for junior professor, patents, acquisition of third-party funding, medical didactic qualifications, and/or special scientific achievements; and review procedure. Results: An analysis of 38 currently valid regulations showed large differences between the requirements. The number of required first/senior authorships differs significantly within the regulations (from 4 to 16). The median of the required number of first/senior authorships is six (Q1 = 5, Q3 = 7). In total, 93% (n = 35) of the universities provide information on the publication medium or the value of the publication. Third-party funding is desired or required in 68% (n = 26) of the regulations. There are also clear differences in the scope of required teaching activities, which range from two to a maximum of six years of teaching. Shortening the time to apply for an adjunct professorship is possible in 45% (n = 17) of the cases. In total, 97% (n = 37) of the faculties provide information on external review, with 71% (n = 27) most frequently requesting one or two external reviews. Conclusion: The regulations show clear differences among individual requirements for adjunct professorship. Standardization would be desirable and would lead to comparable conditions and therefore also to a fair recognition of scientific achievements.

Lessons Learned from the Development of the North Carolina Extension Master Food Volunteer Program

This article describes the curriculum and program development process that was used to create the North Carolina Extension Master Food Volunteer program. We used a rigorous program development process, including conducting a needs assessment, piloting and evaluating the program, incorporating revisions based on feedback, and receiving external reviews that were incorporated into the final product. We provide lessons learned and best practices for others to follow. These include the importance of piloting the program, involving agents and key partners throughout the entire process, and providing flexibility and adaptability in program delivery.

The efficacy of aligning lessons learnt from significant bushfire incidents to the organisational stratum

Australia's bushfire seasons are expected to become longer and more severe due to the effects of climate change and an increasing population living in rural-urban fringes. Social and economic vulnerability to extreme natural hazards means that Australia’s emergency services sector plays a significant role in community safety and wellbeing. Therefore, it is important that the sector continually improves. Australia has a long history of conducting external reviews into significant bushfires. While these reviews receive good support and seek to identify relevant lessons, barriers remain that prevent these lessons from being effectively learnt. It is possible that some of these barriers exist because the stratum of work impedes the capture, codifying and adjustments to systems. This research investigated the premise that lessons learnt in the Australian emergency services sector occurs on a stratum, with different types of lessons learnt at different levels of work. Four significant independent bushfire reviews were analysed to evaluate whether specific lessons could be aligned to the stratum of work. Findings were that not all lessons apply to all levels of organisations. This supports the premise that lessons are learnt on a vertical organisational stratum; for example, some lessons were operational, others were tactical and some were strategic. It was determined that a lack of understanding of the barriers within an organisations stratum could impede the effectiveness of lessons being learnt.

The pricing of green bonds: external reviews and the shades of green

We investigate the asset pricing implications of the greenness of bonds. To estimate a green-pricing effect, we determine the ‘green bond premium’ as the difference between the yields of matched conventional and green-labeled bonds. On a cross-sectional average, green bonds experience a statistically significant positive premium. This premium increases with external greenness evaluations, i.e., investors accept premiums of up to 5 basis points for bonds with a substantial environmental agenda. This external validation effect, which is strongest for bonds that are rated dark-green, may offset not incurring information costs, as this effect decreases with increasing age of bonds.

The Beginning of More Worries: Doctoral Candidates’ Untold Stories After Submission of Dissertation

The present study focused on this particular situation in which doctoral candidates become anxious, impatient, and disappointed while experiencing a prolonged delay in processing their dissertation during and after the submission. The researchers tend to explore doctoral candidates’ storied experiences they had while confronting such procedural barriers and delays. We undertook a narrative mode of inquiry to explore the events and storied experiences through interviewing doctoral candidates from public universities in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Nine doctoral candidates were selected through snowball sampling with the criterion of including those participants who were waiting for their external reviews at least for more than 1 year. From the narratives, the emergent themes include supervisors’ mutual relationships, the pressure of paper publication, lack of administrative support, external evaluation and follow-up and stress of delayed evaluation. The study has implications for relaxing procedural formalities during and after submission of a doctoral dissertation to facilitate students in the timely attainment of their doctoral degrees.

The reform of human resource management in the Irish public service

This paper reviews human resource management (HRM) reforms in the Irish public service over the past twenty-five years. The narrative is based around five HRM themes which have been the main focus of public service reform efforts: performance management, public service careers, leadership, strategic HRM and employment relations. The paper examines all available independent empirical research as well as internal and external reviews commissioned by the public service. The paper contributes to the empirical literature on HRM in the public service and in Ireland, and locates the pattern of HRM reform in the public service in Ireland in comparative context. The paper concludes by noting that while progress has been made, further energy is required in respect of HRM reform.

Navigating a Music Career in Higher Education

This final chapter examines the tenure and promotion process and provides sample paperwork from the School of Music, Theatre & Dance at the University of Michigan with details regarding rank and eligibility, promotion guides for teaching, promotion guidelines for scholarship, research and creative activity, and promotion guidelines for local, state, regional, national, and international service. Rules for deliberation and voting are shared including details about internal and external reviews and student evaluations. Instructions for the submission of paperwork including CVs, statements of teaching, research, and service and summaries of student evaluations are provided. Questions for discussion and final activities assist readers in considering the University of Michigan documents in relation to their home institution.

Assessing Improvement and Professional Career Skills in Senior Capstone Design through Course Data

An objective internal departmental review of course data indicates that a one credit hour fall seminar course which allows many preparatory topics to be engaged by the senior capstone teams makes the spring laboratory portion of the course run more smoothly. Professional topics such as team building, oral and written communication skills, and organizational interaction have been suggested by industrial partners and are now integrated into the course sequence before the students perform their physical work, reducing issues during the lab component. Course adjustments are on-going, and in the spirit of continuous improvement, those adjustments are periodically evaluated for effectiveness. It has been statistically demonstrated that the addition of an internally reviewed feasibility pitch early in the fall semester has resulted in better external reviews for both the fall management and spring technical design presentations. Likewise, providing the chance for the teams to see a video tape of their final presentation, before it is reviewed by various outside parties, has resulted in significantly better final presentations. In general, the formation of all engineering and mixed teams has been found to produce better end projects than those created by all technology-based student teams. These elements and other demonstrated positive changes to the Xxxxxx Agricultural & Biological Engineering capstone sequence can be described as cultivating professional attributes, and the experience is reviewed in this paper.