title: A passion for learning Chinese?: Investigating a community-based Chinese cultural education school in Hamilton, New Zealand

authors: Akoorie, Michèle E.M.

subjects: China

abstract: Purpose – Following the Olympic Games of 2008 and the World Expo in 2010, many Westerners have increasingly begun to pay attention to China; a country which combines ancient history with modern economic achievements. As a consequence there has been renewed interest in the West in learning about Chinese language and culture. Confucius education schools have even begun to spring up round the world, with the intention of promoting interest in Chinese language and cultural influences. The purpose of this paper is to focus on a community-based Chinese culture education institution, in a provincial city in New Zealand, to understand the issues and risks of operating a cross-cultural education institution business in a foreign country which is physically distant from China and to identify barriers which need to be overcome in order to run such an institution more effectively. 
Design/methodology/approach – This research used a single site case study research design. Qualitative in-depth interviews were used to develop an understanding of the rich, complex and idiosyncratic nature of human phenomena. In total, ten interviews were conducted with the Principal, Board members, teachers, local students of Institute A, students' parents (both Chinese and New Zealand), and institutional “outsiders”. 
Findings – It was found that Institute's management team preferred the traditional Chinese educational methods which conflicted with ways used in the local (New Zealand) teaching system. It also found that the current management style conflicts with the professional style of organization management. The management team had a chaotic management and operational style, while lacking basic knowledge of the principles of effective administration concepts. 
Practical implications – Identifying the risks and issues associated with the operation of a community-based cultural education institution outside China will assist managers to understand the potential for cross-cultural clashes between their belief in the principles of traditional Chinese education systems and the fit with the local culture. The finding of this study, in identifying the specific issues in relation to operational and professional modes of management, should assist managers to put into place an administrative system which is sufficiently flexible to accommodate both perspectives. 
Originality/value – Although formerly a bi-cultural nation, New Zealand has increasingly become a multicultural society. Interest in Chinese language and culture has also been fuelled by New Zealand's shift in immigration policy from 1974 (to a skills based rather than an ethnicity policy). This study is a first attempt to evaluate the efficacy of a Chinese community-based educational institution in New Zealand.

text: A passion for learning Chinese?: Investigating a community-based Chinese cultural education school in Hamilton, New Zealand Purpose – Following the Olympic Games of 2008 and the World Expo in 2010, many Westerners have increasingly begun to pay attention to China; a country which combines ancient history with modern economic achievements. As a consequence there has been renewed interest in the West in learning about Chinese language and culture. Confucius education schools have even begun to spring up round the world, with the intention of promoting interest in Chinese language and cultural influences. The purpose of this paper is to focus on a community-based Chinese culture education institution, in a provincial city in New Zealand, to understand the issues and risks of operating a cross-cultural education institution business in a foreign country which is physically distant from China and to identify barriers which need to be overcome in order to run such an institution more effectively. 
Design/methodology/approach – This research used a single site case study research design. Qualitative in-depth interviews were used to develop an understanding of the rich, complex and idiosyncratic nature of human phenomena. In total, ten interviews were conducted with the Principal, Board members, teachers, local students of Institute A, students' parents (both Chinese and New Zealand), and institutional “outsiders”. 
Findings – It was found that Institute's management team preferred the traditional Chinese educational methods which conflicted with ways used in the local (New Zealand) teaching system. It also found that the current management style conflicts with the professional style of organization management. The management team had a chaotic management and operational style, while lacking basic knowledge of the principles of effective administration concepts. 
Practical implications – Identifying the risks and issues associated with the operation of a community-based cultural education institution outside China will assist managers to understand the potential for cross-cultural clashes between their belief in the principles of traditional Chinese education systems and the fit with the local culture. The finding of this study, in identifying the specific issues in relation to operational and professional modes of management, should assist managers to put into place an administrative system which is sufficiently flexible to accommodate both perspectives. 
Originality/value – Although formerly a bi-cultural nation, New Zealand has increasingly become a multicultural society. Interest in Chinese language and culture has also been fuelled by New Zealand's shift in immigration policy from 1974 (to a skills based rather than an ethnicity policy). This study is a first attempt to evaluate the efficacy of a Chinese community-based educational institution in New Zealand.

year: 2011

title: Agreeable semigroups

authors: Jackson, Marcel

subjects: mathematics

abstract: This paper concerns the theory of partial maps under composition and more generally, the RC-semigroups introduced by Jackson and Stokes [Semigroup Forum 62 (2001) 279–310] (semigroups with a unary operation called (right) closure). Many of the motivating examples have a natural meet-semilattice structure; the inverse semigroup of all injective partial transformations of a set and the semigroup of all binary operations under composition are two examples. We here view the semilattice meet as an additional operation, thereby obtaining a variety of algebras with one unary and two binary operations. The two non-semigroup operations are then shown to be captured by a single binary operation, via the notion of an agreeable semigroup. We look at a number of properties of these structures including their congruences (which are uniquely determined by their restriction to certain idempotents), a relationship with so-called interior semigroups, and a natural category associated with a large variety of RC-semigroups (which includes all inverse semigroups). For example, we show that the existence of equalisers in this category is intimately connected with the existence of the natural meet-semilattice structure.

text: Agreeable semigroups This paper concerns the theory of partial maps under composition and more generally, the RC-semigroups introduced by Jackson and Stokes [Semigroup Forum 62 (2001) 279–310] (semigroups with a unary operation called (right) closure). Many of the motivating examples have a natural meet-semilattice structure; the inverse semigroup of all injective partial transformations of a set and the semigroup of all binary operations under composition are two examples. We here view the semilattice meet as an additional operation, thereby obtaining a variety of algebras with one unary and two binary operations. The two non-semigroup operations are then shown to be captured by a single binary operation, via the notion of an agreeable semigroup. We look at a number of properties of these structures including their congruences (which are uniquely determined by their restriction to certain idempotents), a relationship with so-called interior semigroups, and a natural category associated with a large variety of RC-semigroups (which includes all inverse semigroups). For example, we show that the existence of equalisers in this category is intimately connected with the existence of the natural meet-semilattice structure.

year: 2003

title: Pōwhiri process in mental health research

authors: McClintock, Kahu

subjects: indigenous mental health research

abstract: Within the health research context, indigenous people globally have a commitment to provide their own solutions. Māori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa (New Zealand) value the traditional Pōwhiri process of engagement and participation in mental health research. The practices and protocols within the Pōwhiri process (use in the Doctorate of Philosophy (2010) and Auckland University) are premised on the notion of respect and positive relationships between the tangata whenua (hosts or research participants) and manuwhiri (guests or researchers). This paper briefly describes the Pōwhiri process, which may be a model applicable to research with other indigenous cultures.

text: Pōwhiri process in mental health research Within the health research context, indigenous people globally have a commitment to provide their own solutions. Māori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa (New Zealand) value the traditional Pōwhiri process of engagement and participation in mental health research. The practices and protocols within the Pōwhiri process (use in the Doctorate of Philosophy (2010) and Auckland University) are premised on the notion of respect and positive relationships between the tangata whenua (hosts or research participants) and manuwhiri (guests or researchers). This paper briefly describes the Pōwhiri process, which may be a model applicable to research with other indigenous cultures.

year: 2010