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The aim of this cross-disciplinary, year-long, longitudinal qualitative study was to gain useful insights into the experiences of undergraduates undertaking work placements, focussing particularly upon their emotional responses to the challenges facing them. The research involved a small group of students from an HEI in northwest Ireland, drawn from four very different programmes. They were interviewed at length both before and after their placement, and also made available their reflective learning journals, kept over the course of their placements. A critical examination of the data looks to the psychological and emotional demands of undergraduate work placement and argues the need for rigorous preparation pre-placement and good pastoral support before, during and after the exercise. Although based in Ireland, the findings pose generic dilemmas: the issues encountered (and the solutions suggested) are by no means exclusive to Irish HE, as the literature review indicates.

As a means to capturing the thoughts, feelings, fears, and hopes of the participants’ pre and post-placement, the core research questions were: “How effectively do work placements bridge the gap between HE institutions and the workplace?” and “Do placements prepare students emotionally for the workplace and /or lead to improved academic performance?” By answering from the perspective of their own experiences, several key themes emerged, namely: Expectations and preparation pre-placement; Contexts, remits and roles during placement; Learning gain (as enhanced employability and/or improved academic ability).

The findings suggest that a wide range of employer-valued transferable key skills (together with improved self-confidence, psychological resilience, and emotional maturity) may be gained via informal modes of workplace learning, but that some of the activities carried out by worker-learners during placement may vary widely. It is, therefore, important to prepare students thoroughly pre-placement, support them throughout the process, and act promptly upon their feedback. A draft checklist aimed at placement mentors, academic tutors and course leaders is offered here based upon the study’s findings: its generic nature means that it looks beyond HE in Ireland, and could be of use in crafting meaningful work-based learning opportunities and tangible employability outcomes irrespective of jurisdiction or discipline.

Although small in scale (eight participants) and based in Ireland this two-year study is cross-disciplinary and deals with generic issues of interest to those involved in Higher Education, namely, under-graduate employability, emotional maturity, learning gain, reflective learning, and the pastoral care of placement students (as learner-workers).

Having undergraduate students complete some form of bespoke, enhanced pre-placement training (modular or extra-mural) could also potentially avoid: Misperceptions or misunderstandings over placement terms (structure, content, duration) between placement provider, student and college Concerns on the part of placement providers that they might not be taking on high-calibre undergraduate students, thereby risking their own practice or reputation

Such “pre-employability” training could increase the likelihood of placement students being willing or able to take on extra-mural voluntary roles in profession-relevant organisations, e.g. charities, NGOs, with the associated benefits in terms of CV-building, maturity, personal development and reputation. Pre-placement preparation could include role-play, to help accustom students to the likely (or indeed unlikely) events and scenarios often associated with their future careers, and to thus embed a greater sense of self-confidence, and limit or prevent anxiety. Ensuring that students have had a good grounding in both the norms and potential demands of their chosen profession is key: this, in turn, would ensure that they are also keenly aware, pre-placement, of their own abilities, limitations and any knowledge gaps.

The work offers “front-row” insights into the student experience across four very different disciplines: it provides a useful platform for “the student voice” in terms of a pre and post-placement “snap shot” of their hopes, expectations, and not least, their emotional responses to the challenges of placement. It highlights the importance of robust preparation and comprehensive pastoral care.

Les transports constituent cet élément qui, dans une économie d'échanges rend possibles toute activité de production et de consommation. Ils sont à la base de l'implantation des diverses entreprises productives et leur propre développement assure une expansion harmonieuse de ces entreprises. En leur absence, des activités productives peuvent s'avérer vaines. De ce point de vue, ils passent généralement pour un secteur d'une valeur stratégique primordiale, fait confirmé par l'histoire de tant de régions et de nations. Des peuples qui pendant une époque ont su, mieux que d'autres, franchir des barrières sur terre, sur les mers ou dans les airs, en ont tiré richesse et puissance. Il est ainsi vrai par exemple, si l'on se réfère à une certaine histoire économique et sociale, que «la prospérité liée à l'économie des échanges est restée longtemps le privilège de certains peuples navigateurs».

The Banff National Park is the most famous of Canada. The development of the recent years has been considered as to fast and to massive. The author analyses the key factors of success of the park development. He describes the new strategic park policy which takes into account the carrying capacity and the protection of the great nature and landscape.

OF all the delightful recreations classed, for divers professional reasons, under the general designation of work, which cause the librarian's existence to be regarded with envious eyes as one of the most joyous and irresponsible on earth, the most delectable is surely that of cataloguing ; and the moments when the cataloguer feels himself fullest of enthusiasm, when he knows it would be impossible to exchange his lot with any human being, are those spent in the absorbing occupation of correcting proofs, for then to the more sensuous delights of the game are added the zest and ardour of combat. Some day I may, with the editor's sanction, make a few observations on the pleasures of cataloguing in general: for the present I am going to consider only this final phase. A curious feature of the pastime or “work,” to adopt the conventional phraseology, is that some people are unable to see the fun of it and innocently suppose the term “work” to be meant seriously. Still, when one reflects that every sport is looked upon by outsiders either as a deadly form of depravity, or as idiotically tedious and laborious, it is clear that this feature is neither wonderful nor exceptional. Golf, angling, football, punting, mountaineering, even book‐collecting, are each looked upon as “work” by those who love other kinds of recreation, which may yet be in reality not a whit less arduous.

Parc National … Expression quasi magique pour certains car elle évoque la Nature; la “Nature perdue” presque partout. Depuis la création du premier d'entre eux en 1872 et singulièrement depuis l'avènement des loisirs et du tourisme de masse en Europe il y a un peu plus d'une génération, les Parcs, perçus comme les antithèses du quotidien banal, pollué et artificiel, font déplacer des foules avides d'espaces naturels ou pseudo‐naturels et de vie animale majestueusement libre.

Le tourisme dans sa forme et son importance d'aujourd'hui ne serait concevable sans l'évolution prodigieuse des moyens de transport survenue dès l'apparition du chemin de fer et suivie par l'automobile et l'avion. Caractérisant le vingtième siècle, André Siegfried parle de l‐âge du tourisme, celui‐ci étant le fils de la vitesse et de la démocratie, qui s'intègre étroitement dans l‐évolution industrielle. Le même auteur emploie l'image du tourisme moderne qui correspond à une révolution, non seulement dans la façon de voyager, mais dans la composition même de la clientèle touristique.

A brief description of the parts of a modern book: The usual order, &c., of the various parts of an average modern book may be enumerated as follows:—

Nach den Ermittlungen des Niederländischen Statistischen Zentralamtes wurden 1969 von Januar bis Dezember in den Hotels der Niederlande 3 750 801 Ankünfte von Touristen mit 8 834 682 Übernachtungen verzeichnet. 1968 waren es 3 706 426 Ankünfte und 8 866 712 Übernachtungen. Darnach haben 1969 die Ankünfte in den Hotels um 44 375 oder 1,2% zugenommen, die Übernachtungen dagegen um 32 030 oder 0,4% abgenommen. Von den 1969 in den Hotels angekom‐menen 3 750 801 Touristen waren 2 054 706 = 54,8% Aus‐länder und 1 696 095 = 45,2% Niederländer, von den 8 834 682 Übernachtungen entßelen 4 998 743 = 56,6% auf die Ausländer und 43,4% auf die Niederländer. 1969 haben sich die Ankünfte der Ausländer gegenüber 1968 um 125 790 oder 6,5% vermehrt, die Ankünfte der Niederländer aber um 81 415 oder 4,6% vermindert. Ein ähnliches Bild bietet die Entwicklung der Übernachtungen. Die Zahl der Ausländerübernachtungen hat sich 1969 um 257 151 oder 5,4% erhöht, die der Niederländerübernachtungen ist dagegen um 289 181 oder 7% niedriger geworden.