title: I want to be employable! Constructions of employability from university students and recent graduates in New Zealand.

authors: Kwek, Chian Yow

abstract: In the 21st century, due to changes driven by neoliberal ideology, global markets, and innovations in technology, the labour market has become more competitive in most  industrialised countries, and people carry more individual responsibility for their  employment. When uncertainties in the process of gaining employment increase, young graduates are one particular group that can face greater challenges because they are often considered as “inexperienced”. From the social constructionist approach, this thesis explores how final-year university students and recent graduates in New Zealand understand the contemporary labour market and the concept of employability from their everyday life experiences.

Narratives were collected from four participants using two semi-structured interviews and photo-elicitation exercises. The narratives and images were interpreted from a case-study  approach using psycho-societal perspectives. This thesis demonstrates how participants’ experiences of family, culture, and societal constraints influence how they construct their  understandings of the social world and the ways to respond to it. As the four participants are all from  middle-class backgrounds, they have an unquestioned desire to participate in higher education in preparation for employment. They also express anxiety towards their unknown career future. When securing a job is an uncertain journey, there are two main challenges in becoming employable: (1) the constant changes in  meeting the demands of employability, and (2) the need to fulfil multiple social expectations, especially those from employers. As a result, developing a good quality support network for graduates while dealing with the anxiety raised by job-hunting is vital. The network needs to extend beyond the immediate social sphere of the individuals concerned to include governments, employers, and wider social groups. In order to raise  employers’ awareness, governments should make policies and provide subsidies, accordingly, shifting the responsibility of gaining employment from solely at an individual to a collective level.

text: I want to be employable! Constructions of employability from university students and recent graduates in New Zealand. In the 21st century, due to changes driven by neoliberal ideology, global markets, and innovations in technology, the labour market has become more competitive in most  industrialised countries, and people carry more individual responsibility for their  employment. When uncertainties in the process of gaining employment increase, young graduates are one particular group that can face greater challenges because they are often considered as “inexperienced”. From the social constructionist approach, this thesis explores how final-year university students and recent graduates in New Zealand understand the contemporary labour market and the concept of employability from their everyday life experiences.

Narratives were collected from four participants using two semi-structured interviews and photo-elicitation exercises. The narratives and images were interpreted from a case-study  approach using psycho-societal perspectives. This thesis demonstrates how participants’ experiences of family, culture, and societal constraints influence how they construct their  understandings of the social world and the ways to respond to it. As the four participants are all from  middle-class backgrounds, they have an unquestioned desire to participate in higher education in preparation for employment. They also express anxiety towards their unknown career future. When securing a job is an uncertain journey, there are two main challenges in becoming employable: (1) the constant changes in  meeting the demands of employability, and (2) the need to fulfil multiple social expectations, especially those from employers. As a result, developing a good quality support network for graduates while dealing with the anxiety raised by job-hunting is vital. The network needs to extend beyond the immediate social sphere of the individuals concerned to include governments, employers, and wider social groups. In order to raise  employers’ awareness, governments should make policies and provide subsidies, accordingly, shifting the responsibility of gaining employment from solely at an individual to a collective level.

year: 2018

title: Text categorization and similarity analysis: similarity measure, literature review

authors: Fowke, Michael

subjects: computer science

abstract: Document classification and provenance has become an important area of computer science as the amount of digital information is growing significantly. Organisations are storing documents on computers rather than in paper form. Software is now required that will show the similarities between documents (i.e. document classification) and to point out duplicates and possibly the history of each document (i.e. provenance). Poor organisation is common and leads to situations like above. There exists a number of software solutions in this area designed to make document organisation as simple as possible. I'm doing my project with Pingar who are a company based in Auckland who aim to help organise the growing amount of unstructured digital data. This reports analyses the existing literature in this area with the aim to determine what already exists and how my project will be different from existing solutions.

text: Text categorization and similarity analysis: similarity measure, literature review Document classification and provenance has become an important area of computer science as the amount of digital information is growing significantly. Organisations are storing documents on computers rather than in paper form. Software is now required that will show the similarities between documents (i.e. document classification) and to point out duplicates and possibly the history of each document (i.e. provenance). Poor organisation is common and leads to situations like above. There exists a number of software solutions in this area designed to make document organisation as simple as possible. I'm doing my project with Pingar who are a company based in Auckland who aim to help organise the growing amount of unstructured digital data. This reports analyses the existing literature in this area with the aim to determine what already exists and how my project will be different from existing solutions.

year: 2013-12

title: Media coverage of 'decades of disparity' in ethnic mortality in Aotearoa.

authors: Hodgetts, Darrin

subjects: psychology

abstract: For some time we have known that factors such as economic prosperity, community cohesion, and social justice bear on health. These societal influences are particularly pertinent to the health of indigenous groups, such as Maori, who are still responding to processes of colonization. In July 2003 the New Zealand Ministry of Health published a report entitled  Decades of Disparity , which proposed (among other things) that neoliberal policies of the last two decades impacted negatively on mortality rates for Maori and Pacific peoples, when compared with Pakeha. In this article we explore media coverage of this report through analyses of media releases, radio, television and newspaper items. It is argued that as the story evolved media increasingly challenged the importance of societal determinants of health, preferring individual level explanations. As a result coverage failed to give due emphasis to structural health concerns for Maori, which necessitate social change.

text: Media coverage of 'decades of disparity' in ethnic mortality in Aotearoa. For some time we have known that factors such as economic prosperity, community cohesion, and social justice bear on health. These societal influences are particularly pertinent to the health of indigenous groups, such as Maori, who are still responding to processes of colonization. In July 2003 the New Zealand Ministry of Health published a report entitled  Decades of Disparity , which proposed (among other things) that neoliberal policies of the last two decades impacted negatively on mortality rates for Maori and Pacific peoples, when compared with Pakeha. In this article we explore media coverage of this report through analyses of media releases, radio, television and newspaper items. It is argued that as the story evolved media increasingly challenged the importance of societal determinants of health, preferring individual level explanations. As a result coverage failed to give due emphasis to structural health concerns for Maori, which necessitate social change.

year: 2004