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The purpose of the study is to explore the dominant ideas in research on the management of time in construction. The focus of research has been to improve techniques for optimising the timing and sequence of activities.

A critical review of research on construction time management, challenging the typical focus. We examine the assumptions different authors make, underline the limitations of the dominant research approaches and examine the prospects for developing a new approach to researching these issues.

The dominant approach in literature focuses on unique activity traits in construction planning and measurable patterns between time-related variables. This assumes that time in construction can be managed by changing the way activities are calculated. These approaches have not been correlated with improvement in performance. Social practice theory may help to explain how programmes figure as one of many objects used during construction.

The focus is on reviewing indicative literature from key journals in construction management. The implication is that research is needed about how such documents are used in practice, which goes further than optimising plans in theory.

Future research could focus on understanding the context of construction planning practice and shift the debate from a focus on optimisation to practice.

An interpretivist approach with a focus on how tools such as planning documents are used on site. Social practice theory may provide a clearer explanation of the place of construction planning within the practice of construction management. This could provide solutions that deal effectively with stakeholder expectations around timely completion of construction projects.

This chapter critically examines the provision and underlying partnership structure of a range of online and distance teacher preparation courses introduced in Scotland from 2014 to 2018. These courses reflect a period of teacher shortages and were developed by Universities in partnership with local authority employers, particularly in rural areas. This chapter explores the geographic and policy context before analysing the national and local policy drivers that led to the expansion of online and distance provision. The structures of a range of programmes introduced by the University of the Highlands and Islands, the University of Aberdeen and the University of Dundee are considered in detail. This is reflected against the national policy drivers of teacher shortages in rural areas, the challenges of recruiting secondary science and technology teachers and the introduction of national funding from the Scottish Government for ‘New Routes into Teaching’. The Government aim of recruiting highly qualified graduates into teaching as a career is contrasted with the local requirement to support a wider more equitable access to a teaching career, for people already committed to living in rural Scotland. This chapter concludes with an analysis of the processes and technology utilised in these programmes before considering the future of online and distance teacher preparation in Scotland.

In response to the challenges of enhancing quality, the agency of government which is responsible for coordinating university education in Nigeria, the National Universities Commission, evolved a system of academic programme accreditation in 1991 to ensure conformity with minimum standards and to promote quality. The purpose of this paper is to examine the outcomes of some of those accreditation exercises and how they have influenced the quality of and access to university education.

The paper analyses secondary source data from accreditation reports of 1999, mop up exercises and accreditation re‐visitation of 2000‐2005 and that of November 2005.

The mean percentage of programmes with full accreditation status was found to have increased from 12.6 in 1999 to 48.5 in 2005, that of programmes which got interim accreditation decreased from 72.66 in 1999 to 48.30 in 2005, while the one for programmes which were denied accreditation decreased from 17.9 in 1999 to 9.5 in 2005. Federal universities had more programmes with full accreditation and less programmes with denied accreditation status. State universities had less number of programmes with full accreditation and higher number with denied accreditation status. Generally, the results showed that accreditation status of most academic programmes improved in subsequent accreditation exercises, meaning that the deficiencies noticed were remedied. The programmes that were denied accreditation caused a reduction in the number of vacancies for student admission.

The paper focuses on federal and state universities only. Private universities are excluded.

The paper suggests that the universities in Nigeria should be closely monitored for their academic programmes to scale the accreditation hurdle.

The paper shows that accreditation of academic programmes helps to improve the quality of university education.

An in‐depth analysis of hospitality certification programmes was conducted. The study revealed important insights on certification demographics, development processes, certification paths, administration, benefits of certification, credibility and the future of certification programmes. It is found that developing certification programmes commonly involves a long and detailed process. There are serious obstacles in getting association membership to adopt certification programmes. Associations prefer to develop, and manage their certification programmes. Certification programmes seem to benefit both associations and members.

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from research that explored the influence of contextual factors on the adoption and development of Electronic Theses and Dissertation (ETD) programmes in the Arab Gulf States.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of five groups of stakeholders with an interest in the implementation of ETD programmes. The groups were postgraduate students, academic staff, library managers, system administrators, and postgraduate officers from five Gulf States universities. In addition, an online survey was conducted with 309 participants in order to test and explore, in a larger sample, the issues identified in the interviews.

Research participants identified three levels of factors; contextual, institutional, and personal. In addition, they highlighted that contextual factors have an influence on institutional factors. These contextual factors include misunderstanding of plagiarism, strong economy, recencey of research programmes, and younger societies. For example, due to the recencey of postgraduate programmes in the Arab Gulf States, some of the theses and dissertations are low in quality and quantity. The Arab Gulf States have strong economies and this helped to provide the necessary technological infrastructure needed for adopting ETD programmes. Since the Gulf societies are quite young they are more likely to adopt new technologies. In addition, people at these states appear to have a weak understanding of plagiarism issues and thus they have more concerns about these issues.

This paper provides insights about the factors influencing the adoption and development of ETD programmes in the Arab Gulf States.

The difficulty of getting busy executives to focus their attention during management and executive development programmes is discussed. The experience of programmes conducted at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) from 1986 to 1988 is built on. A set of behaviours and attitudes is identified which blocks and creates resistance to learning in programme sessions. To deal with these attitudes and behaviours, a general principle can be useful in programme design: a development programme has to provide a level of stimulation and learning equal to or greater than the experience one is getting in the workplace or from work. Analysis of programme evaluations and follow‐up discussion with participants reveal that three factors can be used to overcome resistance to management development and significantly influence overall programme performance, and these are described and discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the authors' experiences of designing and implementing an enterprise development programme for female entrepreneurs. The programme targets those women who already have a business and wish to grow it further.

The paper describes the motivation for the programme and the range of issues which is encountered in its design and delivery. It concludes with a brief assessment of lessons learned.

In addition to the importance of design and focus, the experiences of the Female Entrepreneurship Ireland‐Wales (FEIW) project indicate the need for appropriate programme presentation and marketing; networking and mentoring aspects are also hightlighted.

As this is a pilot project with flexibility to adapt to the needs of the participants, it is not possible to apply a robust evaluative framework, although such a framework will need to be developed in due course. That said, the qualitative data collected pre‐, during and post‐programme delivery offer valuable insights to the needs of female entrepreneurs; this learning may be incorporated into the design of future programmes.

The FEIW programme is essentially a pilot initiative and is delivered in only two regions. Thus, it is difficult to generalise findings.

As a case study, the experiences of the FEIW project contribute valuable empirical evidence regarding the design and implementation of an enterprise programme for female entrepreneurs.

It is more than a decade since Skinner's first publication on programmed instruction. In the interim period American schools and colleges have adopted the technique with characteristic enthusiasm and vigour, whilst in the USSR there has been a similar ready realisation of its educational value at many levels of teaching.

The purpose of this paper is to explore why corporations are forming corporate education partnerships with universities and the role of corporate education programmes.

The paper presents the findings from quantitative research involving 79 senior managers from North America, the UK, and Australia responsible for the management of their university‐corporate education partnerships.

The research finds that the primary reason for establishing university‐corporate education partnerships is to provide a recognised university award programme to complement an organisation's in‐house education programmes. Also, by aligning with a university an organisation is able to add strength and credibility to its in‐house corporate education programmes.

The research provides an insight into the growing role of university‐corporate education partnerships and helps to quantify some emerging aspects of these partnerships.

This paper aims to deal with evaluation of different parameters of an induction programme conducted by a transmission and distribution major in India. The study aims to indicate which aspects of the training programme need to be emphasised when devising induction programmes for managers and non‐managers, and to ascertain whether there is any significant difference in their reactions.

Evaluation has been done with the help of trainee reaction measured by a questionnaire. The statistical tools used include factor analysis to generate factors that influence trainee satisfaction and a t‐test to test the hypothesis that there will be a significant difference between managerial and non‐managerial levels in their satisfaction with different aspects of the programme.

Factor analysis generated six factors, namely clarity of trainer, other facilities, venue of the programme, food served, practical application, and communication of trainer. The t‐test run on these factors shows a significant difference in means for only one factor, namely communication of trainer, which implies that managers could relate better to the trainer, given their intellectual superiority.

A larger sample size covering more units of the organisation would help in generalising the findings.

The findings could help in developing an induction programme customised to meeting the needs of managers and non‐managers.

Practitioners may use this paper to plan a common orientation programme for the healthy integration of managers and non‐managers and to ensure that there is a minimal gap between the satisfaction levels of the two groups.