Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the characteristics of talent in relation to international business to facilitate selection and development of talent in human resources (HR) and human resource development (HRD).Design/methodology/approach – A mixed method design was used: focus groups with business professionals to identify the characteristics of highly talented international business professionals (HTIBP), resulting in a concept profile; Delphi study for validation; systematic comparison of the opencoding results to existing literature to identify characteristics of talent.Findings – A specific and concise profile of HTIBP has been developed. This profile has five domains: achieving results; communicating; innovating; self-reflecting; seeing patterns and interrelationships in a global context. From literature cross-referencing, we have identified innovating, being creative andhaving a drive to achieve results are most distinguishing for HTIBP.Practical implications – The paper facilitates an ongoing discussion about what constitutes talent, and offers new perspectives for companies to consider when selecting and developing talent.Originality/value – The conceptual contribution of the paper offers a fresh and practical empirical perspective on what talent entails.
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World globalisation drives companies to undertake international expansion with the aim of retaining or growing their businesses. When companies globalize, managers encounter new challenges in making international marketing strategy (IMS) decisions, which are influenced by perceived cultural and business distance between their home- and foreign country. Telkom Indonesia International (Telin) was formed by Telkom Indonesia (i.e. the state-owned company in the telecommunication industry in Indonesia) to engage in international business within a global market. The central question in this study is to what extent do managers’ perceived cultural and business distance between home- and foreign country influence their IMS decisions? A mixed research strategy will be employed by applying qualitative and quantitative methods concurrently. The data collection will involve interviews with CEOs and managers, alongside a web survey to 55 managers of Telkom's. Results suggest important consequences for IMS decisions and emphasizes the need for dialogue on perceptions of cultural and business characteristics of countries.
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The scope of policies within universities and professional practices is becoming increasingly global and more and more networks of professionals and researchers are conducting collaborative programmes and research projects. Translating these collaborations into flourishing practices is often more challenging than initially anticipated especially if there is an international dimension. In these circumstances participants often experience challenges triggered by power relations, differences in culture, contexts, and perspectives on practice and research. This paper is underpinned by an educational psychology perspective and falls within an interpretive paradigm. The metaphor of the patchwork quilt is used during learning and teaching seminars to explain collaborative practice and research because the steps involved serve as a useful visual aid for further comparison and reflection. Using data from four studies, we discuss the experiences of international participants conducting collaborative research over the course of an international Masters programme in Europe and the experiences of alumni of the programme attempting to conduct research after the completion of the Erasmus Mundus (EM) Masters Programme We argue that international collaborative practice and research take time, especially in the initial stages. They have the potential to support bridging and bonding universally and lead to enrichment and enhancement for the participants.
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BACKGROUND: Prediction models and prognostic scores have been increasingly popular in both clinical practice and clinical research settings, for example to aid in risk-based decision making or control for confounding. In many medical fields, a large number of prognostic scores are available, but practitioners may find it difficult to choose between them due to lack of external validation as well as lack of comparisons between them.METHODS: Borrowing methodology from network meta-analysis, we describe an approach to Multiple Score Comparison meta-analysis (MSC) which permits concurrent external validation and comparisons of prognostic scores using individual patient data (IPD) arising from a large-scale international collaboration. We describe the challenges in adapting network meta-analysis to the MSC setting, for instance the need to explicitly include correlations between the scores on a cohort level, and how to deal with many multi-score studies. We propose first using IPD to make cohort-level aggregate discrimination or calibration scores, comparing all to a common comparator. Then, standard network meta-analysis techniques can be applied, taking care to consider correlation structures in cohorts with multiple scores. Transitivity, consistency and heterogeneity are also examined.RESULTS: We provide a clinical application, comparing prognostic scores for 3-year mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using data from a large-scale collaborative initiative. We focus on the discriminative properties of the prognostic scores. Our results show clear differences in performance, with ADO and eBODE showing higher discrimination with respect to mortality than other considered scores. The assumptions of transitivity and local and global consistency were not violated. Heterogeneity was small.CONCLUSIONS: We applied a network meta-analytic methodology to externally validate and concurrently compare the prognostic properties of clinical scores. Our large-scale external validation indicates that the scores with the best discriminative properties to predict 3 year mortality in patients with COPD are ADO and eBODE.
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This article discusses some characteristics of the educational framework of the programme and tries to compare the results of the programme as reported by graduates with the 'professional competencies for Sustainable Development’, as formulated by DHO (the organisation for Sustainable Higher Education in the Netherlands). Because of the strong international character of the programme (students from more than 50 different countries in all continents of the world graduated since 1996), a specific issue of concern is the applicability of the Dutch Sustainable Competences in an international setting, and the implications for the teaching and learning approach. The experiental learning theory and the learning styles as defined by Kolb (1984) and the cultural dimensions as described by Hofstede (2009) are used to check this. Results from short online interviews with graduates all over the world illustrate the results of this comparison.
MULTIFILE
Internationalisation has become an “institutional imperative” for many institutions of higher education. Two propositions are that internationalisation would help students develop competencies needed in todays globalised world, and increase the employability of students. This piece summarises findings from the HBO-Monitor (a survey amongst alumni of Dutch universities of applied sciences) to substantiate the aforementioned propositions. The analysis suggests that internationalisation measures such as a foreign experience are conducive to the acquisition of international competencies. By contrast, little support derives from the HBO dataset concerning the link between internationalisation (or the thereby acquired competencies) and an increase in employability. However, a good number of alumni confirm that international competencies are needed in their current jobs. Based on this project, the Research Group International Cooperation will set up a longitudinal study on internationalisation at THUAS and its impacts.
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Treatment guidelines difer signifcantly, not only between Europe and North America but also among European countries [1–4]. Reasons for these diferences include antimicrobial resistance patterns, accessibility to and reimbursement policies for medicines, and culturally and historically determined prescribing attitudes. The European Association of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics’ Education Working Group has launched several initiatives to improve and harmonize European pharmacotherapy education, but international diferences have proven to be a major barrier to these eforts [5–7]. While we have taken steps to chart these diferences [6, 8], it will probably not be possible to fully resolve them. Rather than viewing these diferences as a barrier, we should perhaps see them as an opportunity for intercultural learning by providing students and teachers a valuable lesson in the context-dependent nature of prescribing medication and the diferent interpretations of evidence-based medicine. Here, we extend our experience with interprofessional student-run clinics [9, 10], to report on our first experiences with the “International and Interprofessional Student-run Clinic.” We organized three successful video meetings with medical and pharmacy students of the Amsterdam UMC, location VU University (the Netherlands), and the University of Bologna (Italy). During these meetings, one of the students presented a real-life case of a patient on polypharmacy. Then, in a 45-min session, the students split into smaller groups (break-out rooms) to review the patient’s medication, using the prescribing optimization method and STOPP/ START criteria [11, 12]. The teachers rotated between the diferent rooms and assisted the students when necessary. Teachers and students reconvened for 60 min for debriefng, with students presenting their fndings and suggestions to revise the medication list and teachers stimulating discussion and indicating how they would alter the medication list. Participation was voluntary, and the meetings were held in the evenings to accommodate students in clinical rotations. Third-to-fnal-year medical and pharmacy students participated in the three meetings (n=17, n=20, n=12, respectively). They reported learning a lot from each other, gaining an international and interprofessional perspective. Moreover, they learned to always consider the patient’s perspective, that evidence-based medicine is context-dependent, and that guidelines should be adapted to the patient’s situation.
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Phd Thesis Higher professional education aims to prepare graduates for the complexity of professional practices. The development of conceptual understanding is important to deal adequately with this complexity, especially in an unstructured professional domain such as international business. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the concept conceptual understanding in this professional domain, how it can be measured, what it looks like, how it changes, and in what ways it differs between students. The dissertation comprises five empirical studies for which data collection took place at a university of applied sciences in the Netherlands.
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More than 45,000 international students are now studying for bachelor programs in the Netherlands. The number of Asian students increased dramatically in the past decade. The current research aims at examining the differences between Western European and Asian students’ perceptual learning styles, and exploring the relationships between students’ learning styles and their academic achievements in international business (IB) study. One hundred and seventy-two students from a Dutch university participated in the survey research. Western European students significantly outperformed Asian studentsin academic performances. Significant differences in learning styles were also found between Western Europeans and Asian students in English, second language, business subjects, and group project learning. Besides, in comparison with Asian students, Western European students preferredto learn from hearing words, taking notes of lectures, and getting involved in some classroom experiences such as role-playing. They may benefit more from lecture-based subjects than Asian students.Based on the findings, practical recommendations are offered for instructors in international higher education
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Background: Globalisation trends such as increased migration to andwithin European countries have led to even greater cultural diversityin European societies. Cultural diversity increases the demand ofcultural competency amongst professionals entering their workfield. In particular, healthcare professionals need knowledge and skillsto equip them to work with clients from different cultural backgrounds.Within higher education (HE), the professional developmentof cultural competency should ideally feature in undergraduate educationand is often promoted as a by-product of a study abroadperiod. However, recognising that logistical and financial barriersoften exist for extended study abroad, one alternative approachcould be participation, at home or abroad, in a short-term internationalprogramme set within students’ own HE institutions.Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore HE students’ experiencesof participating in international ‘short-term mobility week’programmes at three European universities.Methods: Each university involved in the research offered short termprogrammes for healthcare professions students at their owninstitution, where both local students and students from abroadcould participate. Participants were healthcare students in theprogramme at one of the three universities. Data were collectedthrough focus group interviews (4–8 students per group; n = 25).The data were transcribed and then analysed qualitatively, usinga content comparison method.Results: The analysis identified six categories, which reflectedstudents’ journeys within the short-term international experiences.Conclusions: The analysis suggested that, for these students,engagement in a short-term mobility week programme providedvaluable opportunities for encounters with others, which contributedto personal and professional development, greater confidencein the students’ own professional identities, as well as anincreasing sense of cultural awareness.
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