Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Importance of FDI concept'

<p>The main objective of this thesis is to examine how the free markets’ superior agent, the transnational corporation (TNC) affects economic development and human rights’ conditions in the developing world.</p>

Mestrado em Desenvolvimento e Cooperação Internacional<br>Este trabalho analisa comparativamente as fontes de financiamento externo vis-à-vis as receitas de petróleo e os fatores que podem influenciar a APD a Timor-Leste. A questão principal desta dissertação é a discussão do papel dessas fontes de financiamento e, em particular, a APD e petróleo como fontes confiáveis de forma a assegurar o futuro desenvolvimento económico e social de Timor-Leste.<br>This work will comparatively analyze the sources of external financing sources vis-à-vis the oil revenue and the factors that might influence East Timor's ODA. Thus, the main research question of this dissertation is to discuss the role of those financing sources and, particularly, ODA and oil as a reliable source in assuring the economic and social future development in East Timor.<br>info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Scientific research on free will was started by Libet et al. (1982). They detected that thereadiness potential (RP) proceeded urges with up to 350ms. One interpretation of the RP wasthat it represented motor planning. The research progress of antecedent brain activity inrelation to conscious urges is investigated by looking at contemporary studies. How differentassumptions and definitions of the free will concept influences interpretation of these studiesis also discussed. The evidence is in favor that the RP is not representing motor planning.Antecedent activity has been detected with numerous technologies, most notably fMRIclassifiers which have been used to predict decisions in advance. Scrutiny of these resultsreveals that the experimental setups are dependent on time-locking trials which may construethe results. It is shown that predictions based on probabilistic antecedents can be interpretedin numerous ways. The review shows that free will positions differ from each other onseveral factors, such as whether free will is either-or or exists on a spectrum. Some notablepositions are not dependent on antecedent activity at all. The notion of control is one of thepivotal factors deciding if a subject experience free will, not if they are the causer per se.Future discussion will be improved by systematizing the differences between the free willpositions and communicating them clearly. Convergent evidence points at the explanatorymodel of free will being a cognitive feeling – A feeling which reports ownership over actionsbut does not cause them.

One of the most important contributions to the discipline of sociology was Emile Durkheim's theoretical discussion of the collective conscience. For Durkheim, it was the collective conscience—the common ways of defining the world, as well as the common moral bond between people—that provided the initial foundation for social solidarity. It was the glue that kept society organized and functioning. While Durkheim's discussion of the collective conscience is a landmark contribution to sociology, it is clear that the idea of collective definitions and representations predates Durkheim. One of the purposes of this theoretical study is to demonstrate how indebted Durkheim's thinking was to the thinking of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Significant parallels are shown to exist between Schopenhauer's notion of representation in The World as Will and Idea and Durkheim's pivotal concept of common moral bond or conscience as discussed in The Division of Labor in Society. The thesis is concluded by tracing the importance of the collective conscience through the rest of Durkheim's major works—Suicide, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, and The Rules of Sociological Method. In each case, the link between Durkheim's and Schopenhauer's thinking is highlighted.

Cette thèse analyse les relations entre consommateurs et marques de luxe, etcomment cette relation évolue au 21ème siècle. Face au défi de la désacralisation face aux mutations de la société, liées à l’hypermodernité, à la démocratisation du luxe, à Internet et aux médias sociaux, les marques de luxe traditionnelles recherchent desmoyens de rester pertinentes et sacrées. Nous décrivons comment le sacré évolue etcomment les marques utilisent les propriétés du sacré pour rester des marques de luxe.Notre hypothèse principale est que le concept de sacré dans la société évolue etnous proposons donc un cadre théorique qui décrit un nouveau sacré potentiel pour que les marques de luxe restent souhaitables pour les consommateurs du 21ème siècle.Nous avons mené des entretiens approfondis avec les consommateurs de marquesde luxe, analysé les données Instagram et effectué des analyses ethnographiques etnethnographiques sur les ensembles de données, ce qui nous a permis de donner unpremier aperçu et de découvrir le rôle et l’importance du caractère sacré des marques de luxe.Nos résultats montrent trois tendances dans les relations des consommateurs avecles marques de luxe, qui sous-tendent différentes visions du sacré. Celles-ci vont du (1) sacré traditionnel, à savoir l'exclusivité, au (2) nouveau sacré, à l'inclusivité, et (3) à la fusion de l'exclusivité et de l'inclusivité<br>This thesis analyzes the relationship between consumers and luxury brands, and how this relation is changing in the 21st century. Facing the challenge of being desacralized by the changes in society, stemming from hypermodernity, the democratization of luxury, the Internet, and social media, traditional luxury brands are looking for ways to remain relevant and sacred. We describe how sacredness is evolving and how brands are using the properties of sacredness to stay luxury brands.Our main assumption is that the concept of sacredness in society is evolving, and we therefore propose a theoretical framework that describes a potential new sacredness for luxury brands to remain desirable for consumers in the 21st century.We conducted in-depth interviews with luxury brand consumers, analyzed Instagramdata, and performed ethnography and nethnography analyses on the data sets, allowing us to provide first insights and findings on the role and importance of sacredness for luxury brands.Our findings show three patterns in the relationship of consumers to luxury brands,underlying different visions of sacredness. These range from (1) traditional sacredness, i.e. exclusivity, (2) new sacredness, i.e. inclusivity, and (3) a fusion of exclusivity and inclusivity

Elektroniese kommunikasie en handel is 'n verskynsel wat eksponensieel toegeneem het oar die laaste dekade saammet die ontwikkeling en uitbreiding van die Internet. Ten einde kompeterend te wees in die internasionale arena is dit belangrik dat Suid-Afrika 'n klimaat skep waarin elektroniese handel kan floreer. Daar bestaan egter die perspesie dat die huidige regsbedeling onvanpas en onvoldoende is om die kwessies wat ontstaan as gevolg van elektroniese handel te kan hanteer. In 1996 het die kommissie van die Verenigde Nasies gemoeid met internasionale handel, UNCITRAL die Mode/wet oor Elektroniese Handel gefinaliseer. Sederdien is die Modelwet opgeneem in wetgewing of het wetgewing be"invloed in verskeie Iande. Een van die onderliggende beginsels waarop die Mode/wet gebaseer is, is "funksionele gelykheid" ten einde met snel veranderende tegnologie tred te hou. Hierdie beginsel behels dat in ons soektog na regsoplosssings, papiergebaseerde oplossings nie netso nageboots moet word nie maar dat daar eerder gestreef word na ekwivalente regsoplossings binne die tegnologies raamwerk. Die Wet op Elektroniese Kommunikasie en Transaksies is die SuidAfrikaanse antwoord op hierdie internasionale verwikkelinge. Die oogmerk van hierdie skripsie is om artikels 11 tot 13, 18 en 19 van die Wet te bestudeer en te vergelyk met die Mode/wet. Verder om te ondersoek tot watter mate die doelwitte van die Groenskrif behaal is en in welke mate die Wet die behoeftes van die breer gemeenskap aanspreek, soos dit blyk uit die kommentaar op die Groenskrif. Die Suid-Afrikaanse benadering is gebaseer op internasionale voorbeelde en afwykings daarvan word ook bespreek. Hoewel die persepsie bestaan dat die Suid-Afrikaanse reg nie toegerus is om die veranderings te kan hanteer nie, is dit meerendeels net 'n persepsie. Suid-Afrika beskik oor 'n inherent aanpasbare gemenereg. In my opinie, sou opskrifstelling in 'n elektroniese omgewing nie 'n probleem geskep het binne die gemenereg nie. Dit blyk dat meer onsekerheid oor die aard van handtekeninge bestaan. Dit is waarskynlik dat gevorderde elektroniese handtekeninge (soos in die Wet bespreek) in ieder geval erken sou word. Die nuwe Suid-Afrikaanse Wet oor elektroniese handel ruim egter enige onsekerheid uit die weg. Die Suid-Afrikaanse Wet maak gebruik van verskeie internasionale bronne maar die UNCITRAL Modelwet dien as vertrekpunt. Daar blyk eenstemmigheid in Amerika, die Europese Unie en Australie te wees dat "funksionele gelykheid" die beste manier is om veranderende tegnologie te hanteer. Die beginsel van "funksionele gelykheid" is die goue draad wat deur nie aileen die UNCITRAL Mode/wet maar ook deur die Suid-Afrikaanse wetgewing geweef is. Die Suid-Afrikaanse wetgewing voeg verskeie beskermingsmeganismes ten einde verbruikers te beskerm teen die gevare van 'gesiglose handel'. Elektroniese skrif word as die ekwivalent van skrif op papier erken. SuidAfrikaanse wetgewing identifiseer die volgende basiese funksies van handtekeninge, naamlik: • Om die persoon te identifiseer; en • Om die persoon se goedkeuring van die inligting te kommunikeer. 'n Addisionele vereiste dat elektroniese handtekeninge so betroubaar as wat gepas was onder die omstandighede moet wees, word bygevoeg. Suid-Afrikaanse wetgewing spreek oak die kwessies van notariele parktyk, oorspronklikes, sertifisering en geregistreerde pas aan. In geheel behoort die bepalings rakende vormvereistes positief ontvang te word in die mark aangesien "funksionele gelykheid" behoorlik geimplementeer word en 'n juiste basis is.<br>Thesis (LL.M. (Import and Export Law))--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003

Le traité du libre-échange entre les États-Unis et le Canada, l'intégration économique des 12 pays d'Europe et les changements politiques et socio-économiques survenus dans les pays de l'Est sont des exemples d'événements qui ont marqué la fin de la dernière décennie. Ces événements ont pour effet de modifier les règles du jeu de la concurrence internationale en matière de commerce et d'affecter directement les activités des entreprises oeuvrant aussi bien dans les marchés étrangers que domestiques. La firme doit avoir la capacité de connaître davantage le comportement de la clientèle-cible et celui de la concurrence afin de mieux adapter ses stratégies de marketing à cette nouvelle réalité. Les décisions auxquelles les exportateurs et les producteurs locaux ont toujours fait face ont trait à des variables stratégiques, entre autres le prix, le nom de la marque, la promotion, la distribution, le service et le lieu de fabrication ("Made-In"). Cette dernière variable a toujours été d'une grande importance pour les firmes ayant des opérations étrangères; en effet, elle touche deux aspects décisionnels à savoir, le coût d'installation des unités de production dans un pays étranger et la réputation ou l'image de ce dernier chez le consommateur. La présence de produits importés à côté des produits domestiques augmente l’éventail de choix du consommateur. Cependant, sa préférence pour un produit par rapport à un autre dépend de plusieurs éléments, soit des facteurs reliés au produit comme son prix compétitif ou sa qualité supérieure, ou bien des facteurs de personnalité, comme le besoin de prestige et d'appartenance.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of administrators and teachers of the level of importance of the five key components of the middle school concept. More specifically, the study sought to determine if there was significant differences and significant relationships between the perceptions held by teachers and administrators regarding the level of importance of: (1) interdisciplinary teaming; (2) advisory programs; (3) varied instruction; (4) exploratory or connection programs; and (5) transition programs relative to the success of their middle school program. The research population consisted of 48 administrators and 120 teachers from a large metro Atlanta school system in Georgia. The respondents from the population of 48 administrators consisted of 34 subjects. The respondents from the population of 120 teaches consisted of 92 subjects. The independent and dependent variables were subjected to Pearson r correlation and t-tests for Equality of Means analyses. Data were gathered by a questionnaire. The findings from the data analysis suggested that were no significant differences and no significant relationships in administrators' and teachers' perceptions of the level of importance of the five key components of the middle school concept. The main recommendations from the findings were: (1) make sure administrators and teachers at the local middle school level continue to focus on the collegiality and continuation of staff development to strengthen what appears to be an existing level of professional agreement, and (2) central or district level administrators who are in charge of expanding the middle school program should they make sure as they select, prepare, and assign staff, that they take advantage of some of the persons who are currently working in existing middle schools by allowing these people to develop orientation programs and become mentors.

Thesis (BA(Hons)) -- Macquarie University, Dept. of Politics and International Relations.<br>Coursework. Submitted in (partial) fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Macquarie University, Dept. of Politics and International Relations, 2009. Includes bibliography.

La seguente tesi vuole produrre un'analisi sull'importanza dell'educazione come diritto umano fondamentale. Grazie all'istruzione, infatti, è possibile dotare ogni essere umano dei mezzi necessari per sviluppare la sua propria indipendenza di pensiero, che gli permetterà di ragionare criticamente ed essere libero. Inoltre, grazie all'istruzione, ogni persona sarà consapevole dei propri diritti e doveri e potrà concorrere alla propria libertà e alla costruzione di una società più equa e giusta. Questa tesi si propone di ricercare le radici di questa affermazione (nell'Illuminismo e nella Rivoluzione Francese) e vedere come storicamente si è affrontato il problema mediante il diritto internazionale e le organizzazioni internazionali, fino a giungere alla società attuale e alle sfide tutt'ora aperte riguardanti la diffusione dell'istruzione elementare come diritto umano e come mezzo per il raggiungimento della libertà.

This study focuses on foreign direct investment ("FDI") and its importance to the economy of South Africa. Recognising that FDI, notwithstanding the type, can contribute to economic growth and development, most countries including South Africa are constantly working to attract it, and hence its demand has become highly competitive. However, FDI does not go without some negative effects, such as conflicts between host and investor country, and the creation of damaging competition to local firms. These negative effects could be minimised if policies and strategies for the promotion and attraction of FDI is part of, and integrated into, general economic development and economic reform policies, and not seen in isolation. Although South Africa has implemented strategies to attract more FDI, a refinement of some of these policies is needed if the country is to be successful in this regard.<br>Economics<br>M. Comm. (Economics)

碩士<br>義守大學<br>土木與生態工程學系碩士班<br>99<br>By means of Transit Village, a community living environment with diversity, vital function and environmental specialty, to attract activities, increase population and promote public transportation system, which was a field aggressively studied by developed countries in recent years. In order to make the situation of combined public transportation sustainable architecture fully controlled, appropriate evaluation criteria such as city background, traffic behavior and public transportation construct level should be designed. The research construct a evaluation model for sustainable architecture of urban combined public transportation, which includes demand fraction discussion, criteria establishment, weight analysis and importance-satisfaction investigation. Criteria establishment was the primary task in the evaluation process, and the demand of sustainable architecture of urban combined public transportation from government, industry, the academic and users are required to understand in order to complete this stage, with the use of twice Modified Delphi Method to establish criteria fraction and criteria items, then utilize Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process to analyze the weight of thee groups including government, industry and the academic and implement users&apos;&apos; importance-satisfaction analysis simultaneously. After all, unfold the results showed "items should be enhanced" to decision makers and provide a direction of enhancing the sustainable architecture of urban combined public transportation. Kaohsiung City was set as the research region, through Modified Delphi Method Questionnaire, integrate cognition and opinion of sustainable architecture of combined public transportation from government, industry, the academic and users, construct three criteria categories including interior system management, exterior environment construct and perception and twenty evaluation criteria. By using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process to calculate, criteria importance rank from value high to low was interior system management(0.343), perception(0.339) and exterior environment construct(0.316). By the result of importance-satisfaction analysis method that evaluation criteria fell within "items should be enhanced" were "network completeness", "service rate", "transferring and waiting environment planning" and "parking environment planning". In the variance analysis of importance perception for each group, five most variant criteria were "safety"," parking space planning", "preference perception", "society cost and responsibility perception" and "surrounded commercial activities". In the conclusion, short comings of the system should be modified and improved by utilizing the result of this research, hope the system could better meets the demand of each groups on sustainable architecture of urban public transportation and could provide information of sustainable architecture for other cities in the future.

Student number : 0314533R MSc Project Report School of Mining Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment<br>Globalization has created investment opportunities for enterprises around the world. Attracting foreign investment into developing regions has been a key challenge in the strategies for economic growth and poverty reduction of developing countries. Overall, the results of foreign investment have been disappointing in some countries. Recent studies confirm that factors such as corruption, political instability, armed conflict, and other non-commercial risks have negatively impacted foreign direct investment inflows. However, there is renewed hope among government personnel that private investment can play an increasingly significant role in helping economic` growth. As host governments, international corporations, investment banks and multilateral insurance agencies learn from the mistakes of the past and commit themselves to improve the environment for business for mining industry, the prospect for the future brightens. Moreover, foreign investors are recognizing that if the host government can create a competitive environment, investments in developing countries have the potential to be highly profitable. It is hoped that this research effort will contribute in some way to better understand the inability of some countries to attract FDI. The current situation in developing countries is of particular relevance to the theme of this research project. The study compares non-commercial risk ratings for foreign direct investment inflows compiled for ten selected countries. The matrix provides a comparative assessment of noncommercial risk ratings, and highlights the importance of country risk and event risk as components of a composite risk rating.

Special Olympics International, an organization committed to providing sport opportunities for children and adults with mental retardation, has been a major advocate in promoting competitive experiences for the mentally retarded. Few studies have focused on the effects of participation in competitive athletics on individuals who are mentally retarded. The purpose of this study was to investigate the self-concept of winners, non-winners, and losers after participation in a Special Olympics competitive meet. The study also examined the attitude of mentally retarded participants toward competition and the perceived importance of competing in the event. The subjects for this investigation were participants from the Texas Special Olympics State Swimming Meet. The study included 95 males and 56 females. Comparisons were made among athletes placing first, second, and last in races at the swim meet. Following competition, subjects were administered a sub-scale of the Piers Harris Self Concept Scale (PHSCS) and asked questions relative to attitudes toward competition. A followup interview was conducted eight to twelve weeks following the swimming meet to determine the importance of having competed in the Special Olympics State Swimming Meet. No significant differences in self-concept levels existed among winners, non-winners, and losers immediately following competition. While all three groups expressed positive feelings toward participation in Special Olympics, the last place finishers were slightly more negative about swimming in the race when interviewed immediately following their participation. Also, immediately following the race, more second place finishers preferred to swim when racing other people than did winners and last place finishers. In a followup interview eight to twelve weeks after participation, no significant differences were found among groups regarding their attitude toward competing in the Special Olympics Swim Meet. Also, the perceived importance of the Texas Special Olympics State Swim Meet was not significantly different for winners, non-winners, and losers, as measured by responses to the followup interview.<br>Graduation date: 1991

碩士<br>國立中央大學<br>英語商業管理碩士學位學程<br>101<br>“The Book of Changes” is one of the most important classic Chinese literatures; it does not only talk about the changes upon the whole universe but also the management nowadays, especially about the management innovation. This study is aiming on using the concept of “The Book of Changes” to further explain how IBM, Facebook and InnoCentive achieve innovation. There will be three sections in this study. The first section is about how IBM experiencing the progress of “Destitution, Change, Flow and Everlasting” which is the basic idea of “The Book of Changes”. The second section is about viewing Facebook as a platform. The concept of a platform contains the idea of gathering and interaction which are the foundation of Facebook. The last section is about open business model. InnoCentive is one of the best examples by using open business model that consider as open innovation. Also, several hexagrams (which are called Gau, they are sets of the book of changes) have the similar insight between open innovation and “The Book of Changes”. InnoCentive is a website which gathers many talented people altogether, to reduce the time enterprises solving their problems. To conclude, innovation is a new practice for business to last long in the rapid changing environment. However, “The book of Changes” already point out some directions for enterprise to refer.

Nursing has been perceived as an inseparable part of our lives since time out of mind. Its development and the difficulties that its supporters had to face are historically demonstrable facts, which influenced the overall perception of nursing through various periods of the human race development. The historical view of nursing is important from the point of view of the understanding to nursing, its concept and namely its mission. The thesis "The Changing Concept of Nursing" has a theoretical character and its aim is to analyse the concept of nursing across history and to highlight its importance. The thesis is conceived as an analytical study with consequent elaboration of an interpretative text.

This longitudinal exploratory research was conducted to explore the experiences of first time fathers who self-identified through in-depth interviews as having experienced depression and/or anxiety or depressed mood in the first six months after the birth of their baby as well as their experiences with first time fatherhood more generally. The research was conducted in two distinct but interconnected stages with the results of the first method (qualitative) used to inform the second method (quantitative). Stage one involves a qualitative approach to explore in-depth the experiences of first time fathers as well as the phenomenon of paternal postnatal depression. The tenets of grounded theory analysis were used to analyse the data and identified the emergent theory of ‘coping’ comprised of all the emergent categories that provided an insight into the experiences of first time fathers in a specific context that provided a better understanding of the phenomenon from the participants’ perspective. Stage two involves a quantitative approach in the collection of the data and was conducted in four phases. Each phase contributed to the development of the Coping with New Fatherhood Questionnaire (CNFQ), a gender-specific self-report questionnaire for application in future population-based research. In the fourth phase a small sub-set of participants from the qualitative research in stage one reviewed the questionnaire to provide feedback on the format, wording and purpose of the draft questionnaire to determine face validity. The author plans to continue as part of a post-doctoral research focus to further refine and pilot the CNFQ with a large population sample and assess the psychometric properties of the instrument.<br>Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Population Health, 2013

碩士<br>國立高雄第一科技大學<br>運籌管理研究所<br>99<br>The purpose of this study is to permit an approach for: (1) exploring the importance of rolling stock&apos;&apos;s components and (2) evaluating the maintenance action of rolling stock&apos;&apos;s components. This methodology oriented with safety and reliability adopts the concept and technique of reliability centered maintenance (RCM) and quantitative risk assessment (QRA) for maintenance evaluation, because the operation of public railway transportation is close directly related to the death, or injury of person. One major process of RCM is the qualitative fault tree analysis (FTA) deciding minimal cut set for the following application of QRA. And the QRA&apos;&apos;s result decides the most important component(s) of system in an undesirable event via the risk importance measures. Via the definition of importance measures and the designed flowchart of maintenance action assignment logic, the suitable maintenance actions are evaluated for the most important component(s) and the other components. The design philosophy of system and maintenance engineers’ experience also indicate the appropriateness upon the importance and the maintenance actions of components. The fruit of this study serves as a reference for railway maintenance manager when allocating constraint resource on the execution of maintenance action for the important component(s) and also on the procurement number of important spare part(s).

1 ABSTRACT The master thesis deals with the application of the concept of diversity management. Its objective is to determine the degree of implementation of diversity management in selected primary schools in the Central Bohemian Region. The theoretical part describes the theoretical knowledge about diversity and diversity management, their importance, classifiction of every type and description of the implementation of diversity management in organization with possible connections to the schools. The theoretical part constitutes a knowledge base for the practical part, which presents the results of a survey conducted per an online questionnaire electronic forms and personal interviews with the directresses and the directors of elementary schools. The investigation of internal documents was conducted in schools of the directresses and directors in the last stage of the research process. The results of the research and conclusions presented in the thesis show a current report on the degree of implementation of diversity management in primary schools of the Central Bohemian Region, provide the description of a current situation and conclude in recommendations, while revealing the most common weak points, obstacles and aspects discouraging from the implementation of diversity management and their availability...

This third chapter of “From global efficiency to local self-sufficiency” represents the trend analysis part. Chapter one and two outlined world economic developments and its impact on consumer trends as well as introduced the food industry. This third section connects these topics while investigating which changing consumer trends shape the food industry. Based on 28 in-depth interviews, qualitative prospection attempts to validate topic relevance and identifies categories to group consumer trends. Quantitative validation consisting of 327 survey responses verifies identified trends and represents critical changes to respond to by supply-side of the food industry.

This diploma thesis deals with the opinions of teachers on the inclusion of competitive games in the nursery environment. The aim of the thesis is to find and analyze the opinions of a selected sample of teachers on this issue. The work is divided into four main chapters. The introductory chapters are devoted to the concept of the game of various authors and authorities, to the place of preschool child play in the environment of the kindergarten and also to the separate problems of the competitive game. The main part of the thesis is the analysis and evaluation of the research carried out. The essence of the empirical part is qualitative research. The data acquisition method is a semi-structured interview, through which educators working at the tertiary level of education are asked to include competing games in nursery schools.

mondo universitario ha subito un’ondata di cambiamenti che si possono ricondurre alla ricerca dell’eccellenza, declinata secondo le due dimensioni della valutazione e della rendicontazione. Tre sono quelli più evidenti: il primo, il passaggio da una ricerca curiosity driven a una ricerca funzionale al raggiungimento di risultati valutabili in tempi brevi; dalla ricerca pura a quella applicata, da un approccio problem-making a uno problem-solving, da una conoscenza come processo a una conoscenza come prodotto, da un modello disinteressato a uno utilitaristico (Barnett, 1994); il secondo, riguardante l’offerta formativa: dal momento che si è modificato il modo di concepire l’apprendimento; i curricula tendono a essere definiti in termini di risultati di apprendimento predefiniti (Blackmore, 2016); il terzo, peculiare della struttura amministrativa: dal momento in cui sono divenute essenziali una serie di nuove sovrastrutture (programmazione, valutazione, controlli, comunicazione) rispetto al mandato originario della struttura universitaria si registra un aumento consistente del personale delle strutture amministrative. Questi cambiamenti devono fare i conti con la perdita di prestigio della vita accademica, il cambiamento del ruolo dello studente, che è diventato sempre più importante e l’aumento delle procedure burocratiche che rischiano di ingessare un sistema un tempo caratterizzato da un’elevata autonomia. Per consentire alle strutture universitarie di affrontare le sfide culturali a partire dagli anni Settanta nelle università nord-americane si sono strutturate iniziative finalizzate allo sviluppo e alla promozione di una migliore offerta formativa. Tali iniziative vengono definite con l’espressione Faculty Development (FD), una policy accademica finalizzata a creare le condizioni per un miglioramento delle competenze di tutti coloro che sono coinvolti nelle attività svolte in un ateneo. Nella realtà italiana emerge la mancanza di una vera politica di formazione al teaching per i ricercatori e i docenti universitari, per non parlare dell’esigenza di superare il pregiudizio, di gentiliana memoria, secondo il quale non è necessario apprendere a insegnare, ma sia sufficiente avere successo nella ricerca, cui si aggiunge nell’ultimo decennio una continua e affannata richiesta al personale accademico di azioni organizzative, valutative e documentali, che assorbono tempo e energie senza il supporto di adeguati apparati gestionali e senza predisporre indagini valutative capaci di misurare l’effettivo esito di tutte queste azioni. L’effetto finale è un evidente declino (Capano et al., 2017) dell’istituzione universitaria. Si può ipotizzare che la cultura del organizzazione propria del Faculty Development possa contribuire nel contesto italiano a fornire azioni a supporto del cambiamento: è quanto mai essenziale dotare gli atenei di risorse funzionali a riqualificare la vita accademica, fornendo al personale accademico gli strumenti necessari per performare una buona scholarship, realizzare un’efficace offerta formativa e attuare adeguate forme di terza missione, capaci di incrementare la vita culturale della comunità. Il presente studio si propone come un’analisi sistematica della letteratura sul tema del Faculty Development, che persegue l’obiettivo di sviluppare una disamina estesa dell’oggetto, in modo che l’esplicitazione della datità raccolta fornisca un’analisi del fenomeno che possa essere di supporto a un’avveduta educational policy nel campo della formazione universitaria. Nel contesto italiano ad oggi non esiste una cultura di attenzione ai contesti di apprendimento universitario. L’offerta formativa è concepita come offerta di pacchetti curriculari e la predisposizione delle condizioni di apprendimento per il conseguimento del titolo universitario si risolve nella organizzazione di una serie di lezioni, frontali o laboratoriali, senza che tutto questo sia innervato da una specifica intenzionalità didattica. Questa immagine poco confortante non intende affatto trascurare tutti i casi di buone prassi sviluppati nei vari corsi di studio, ma il buono che emerge è demandato all’impegno del singolo, senza che l’istituzione universitaria si interroghi sul come predisporre le condizioni per il potenziamento della qualità dei processi di apprendimento. A fronte di questa situazione la necessità di migliorare la qualità dell’insegnamento non è mai stata così stringente e sfidante come lo è oggi, in un clima di continuo cambiamento della formazione superiore. Nuove tendenze definiscono la formazione superiore, attraversando confini istituzionali e nazionali. Essi influiscono sul modo in cui un insegnamento efficace viene concettualizzato, condotto e supportato, valutato, valorizzato e riconosciuto. È necessario affrontare temi quali l’inadeguata preparazione per il lavoro accademico nei corsi di studio magistrali, l’incapacità dei docenti a trasferire competenze, la crescente complessità degli ambienti accademici, le attese e le responsabilità istituzionali, la necessità di preparare meglio gli studenti con bisogni diversi, e la necessità di stare al passo con i balzi della conoscenza e i cambiamenti nelle professioni. Migliorare la qualità della didattica è inoltre essenziale perché consente di ridurre il numero degli abbandoni. È venuto il momento di transitare da un’offerta formativa di tipo episodico a una prospettiva di esperienze di apprendimento in continuità nel tempo, per accompagnare la formazione dei docenti in un modo strutturalmente organizzato (Webster-Wright, 2009). Sulla base della rilevazione fenomenica, sono emerse le seguenti domande di ricerca: che cosa è il FD? Cosa consente di fare? Come si mette in pratica? Quali sono le potenzialità? Quali sono i limiti? Il FD ha il compito di incentivare i docenti ad interessarsi ai processi di insegnamento e apprendimento e a procurare un ambiente sicuro e positivo nel quale fare ricerca, sperimentare, valutare e adottare nuovi metodi (Lancaster et al. 2014). È finalizzato a promuovere cambiamento sia a livello individuale sia a livello organizzativo. Occupa un posto centrale il miglioramento delle competenze di teaching (Steinert, 2014). Due importanti obiettivi sono rappresentati dalla promozione delle capacità di leadership e di gestione dei contesti (Steiner et al., 2012). Una volta definite le metodologie del teaching, che possono essere oggetto di apprendimento da parte del personale accademico, è risultato necessario identificare le principali modalità formative che un centro di Faculty Development (FDc) dovrebbe mettere in atto per favorire l’apprendimento delle competenze didattiche. Per comprenderne la funzione reale è stato utile prendere in esame le attività proposte dai più importanti centri del panorama accademico nordamericano, analizzandone la struttura organizzativa, le risorse disponibili ed identificandone le due figure principali: il responsabile dell’organizzazione dei processi formativi e il responsabile della struttura. L’analisi dei casi ha consentito di evidenziare i molteplici servizi che possono essere forniti da un FDc. Questa analisi di realtà è risultata molto utile poiché ha offerto indicazioni pragmatiche ai fini di una politica accademica innovativa anche in ambito italiano. Alla luce degli argomenti sviluppati è stato possibile ipotizzare anche per gli atenei italiani l’istituzione di “Centri per la professionalità accademica”, indicando possibili iniziative da essi realizzabili, che potrebbero trovare spazio nella realtà del nostro paese.