I Love School Essay

Sixteen years after a sixteen-year-old wrote this book, Francis Ford Coppola turned this novel into a movie. The book is a coming-of-age novel, but the movie focuses on the characters’ loss of innocence. The movie follows the story line very closely. The reader is only told that this story takes place in the southwest, but the movie places it in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the year 1966. It also changes the conflict from the East Side versus the West side to the northside versus the southside. This minor directional change was probably made due to the relative time proximity to the musical West Side Story, which won the best picture Academy Award in l961. However, as with all movies, character insight that is critical to understanding the story is lost when the format goes from the written word to the screen. Ponyboy is telling us the story, the same as in the book, but the 91-minute film only glosses over many character relationships. With the exception of Ponyboy, the viewer misses out on knowing most of the novel’s characters. Darry and Soda are relatively minor characters in the movie, and the viewer is given little insight into their lives. The same is true for the rest of the gang, even Dally. Dally’s death loses much of its impact because viewers aren’t able to get to know him. Only the reader is aware of the fact that Dally’s gun is unloaded, and the symbolic death of Dally in the spotlight is gone. Johnny’s character is also weaker in the movie than the book. Viewers don’t see the growth in his character, because they don’t know Johnny. Johnny’s appreciation for life at the end of his own is barely noted, but it has great impact on Pony in the novel. The whole point of the telling of Ponyboy’s story is to give meaning to Johnny’s death. Johnny had wanted Ponyboy to tell Dally certain truths, and given that Dally is dead, Pony writes this story down for all of the Dallys in the world: â€Å"Someone should tell their side of the story, and maybe people would understand then and wouldn’t be so quick to judge a boy by the amount of hair oil he wore.† The movie and book do begin and end with the same lines, the difference being, only readers understand the meaning behind them.

Stylistic: Public Speaking and Oratorical Style

Linguistic peculiarities of publicistic style The publicistic style is used in public speeches and printed public works which are addressed to a broad audience and devoted to important social or political events, public problems of cultural or moral character. It falls into three varieties, each having its own distinctive features. Unlike other formal styles, the publicist style has spoken varieties, in particular, the  oratorical  sub-style. The development of radio and television has brought into being a new spoken variety â€Å" the radio and television commentary. The other two are theessay  and  articles  in newspapers, journals and magazines.The general aim of the publicist style is to exert influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given by the writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article not merely by logical argumentation, but b y emotional appeal as well. 1. Explain the differences and similarities between publicistic and scientific prose style. This brain-washing function is most effective in oratory, for here the most powerful instrument of persuasion is brought into play: the human voice.Due to its characteristic combination of logical argumentation and emotional appeal, the publicistic style has features in common with the style of scientific prose or official documents, on the one hand, and that of emotive prose, on the other. Its coherent and logical syntactic structure, with an expanded system of connectives and its careful paragraphing, makes it similar to scientific prose. Its emotional appeal is generally achieved by the use of words with emotive meaning, the use of imagery and other stylistic devices as in emotive prose.The publicistic style also has some elements of emotionally coloured colloquial style as the author has no need to make their speech impersonal (as in scientific or official styl e), but, on the contrary, he or she tries to approximate the text to lively communication, as though they were talking to people in direct contact. 2. Explain the typical features of oratory and speeches. The oratorical style is the oral subdivision of the publicistic style. The most obvious purpose of oratory is persuasion, and it requires eloquence.This style is evident in speeches on political and social problems of the day, in orations and addresses on solemn occasions as public weddings, funerals and jubilees, in sermons and debates and also in the speeches of counsel and judges in courts of law. The sphere of application of oratory is confined to appeal to an audience and therefore crucial issues in such spheres as science, art, or business relations are not touched upon. Direct contact with the listeners permits the combination of the syntactical, lexical and phonetic peculiarities of both the written and spoken varieties of language.In its leading feature, however, the orato rical style belongs to the written variety of language, though it is modified by the oral form of the utterance and the use of gestures. Certain typical features of the spoken variety of speech present in this style are: a) direct address to the audience by special formulas (Ladies and Gentlemen! ; My Lords! â€Å" in the House of Lords;  Mr. Chairman! ; Honourable Members! ; Highly esteemed members of the conference! ; or, in less formal situation,  Dear Friends! ; or, with a more passionate colouring,My Friends! ).Expressions of direct address can be repeated in the course of the speech and may be expressed differently (Mark you! Mind! ). b) special formulas at the end of the speech to thank the audience for their attention (Thankyou very much; Thank you for your time). c) the use of the 1st person pronoun  we; 2nd person pronoun  you:  We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienabl e Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness ¦(Th. Jefferson,  The Declaration of Independence). ) the use of contractions  Iâ„ ¢ll; wonâ„ ¢t; havenâ„ ¢t; isnâ„ ¢t  and others:  Weâ„ ¢re talking about healing our nation. Weâ„ ¢re not talking about politics. Weâ„ ¢re all here to do everything in our power to save lives ¦ Iâ„ ¢m here to thank you for hearing that call. Actually, I shouldnâ„ ¢t be thanking you, I should be thanking a Higher Power for giving you the call  (George W. Bush). e) features of colloquial style such as asking the audience questions as the speaker attempts to reach closer contact:  Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself.Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to  govern him? (Th. Jefferson), or calling upon the audience:  Let us then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own federal and republican principles  (ibid). Like the colloquial style, oratory is usually characterized by emotional colouring and connotations, but there is a difference. The emotional colouring of the publicist style is lofty â€Å" it may be solemn, or ironic, but it cannot have the lowered connotations (jocular, rude, vulgar, or slangy) found in colloquial speech.The vocabulary of speeches is usually elaborately chosen and remains mainly in the sphere of high-flown style: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived and so dedicated in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this (A. Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address). The stylistic devices employed in the oratorical style are determined by the conditions of communication. If the desire of the speaker is to rouse the audience and to keep it in suspense, he will use various traditional stylistic devices. Stylistic devices are closely interwoven and mutually complementary thus building up an intricate pattern. For example, an antithesis is framed by parallel constructions, which, in their turn, are accompanied by repetition, while a climax can be formed by repetitions of different kinds.But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate â€Å" we cannot consecrate â€Å" we cannot hallow  this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated  here to t he unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.It is  rather for us to be dedicated  to the great task remaining before us â€Å" that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion â€Å" that we here highly resolve that these dead  shall not have died in vainâ€Å" that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom  Ã¢â‚¬Å" and that the government of the people,  by the people, for the people,  shall not perish  from the earth  (A. Lincoln). As the audience rely only on memory, the speaker often resorts to repetition to enable his listeners to follow im and retain the main points of the speech. Repetition is also resorted to in order to persuade the audience, to add weight to the speakerâ„ ¢s opinion. The following extract from the speech of the American Confederate general, A. P. Hill, on the ending of the Civil War in the U. S. A. is an exampl e of anaphoric repetition: It is high time  this people had recovered from the passions of war. It is high time  that counsel were taken from statesmen, not demagogues ¦Ã‚  It is high time  the people of the North and South understood each other and adopted means to inspire confidence in each other.A mere repetition of the same idea and in the same linguistic form may bore the audience and destroy the speaker-audience contact, therefore synonymous phrase repetition is used instead, thus filling up the speech with details and embellishing it, as in this excerpt from a speech on Robert Burns: For Burns exalted our race, he hallowed Scotland and the Scottish tongue. Before his time we had for a long period been scarcely recognized; we had been falling out of recollection of the world. From the time of the Union of the Crowns, and still more from the legislative union, Scotland had lapsed into obscurity.Except for an occasional riot, or a Jacobite rising, her existence was almos t forgotten. (All those different phrases simply repeat the idea nobody knew us, Scots, before). Repetition can be regarded as the most typical stylistic device of the English oratorical style. Almost any piece of oratory will have parallel constructions, antithesis, climax, rhetorical questions and questions-in-the-narrative. It will be no exaggeration to say that almost all typical syntactical devices can be found in English oratory. Questions are most frequent because they promote closer contact with the audience.The change of intonation breaks the monotony of the intonation pattern and revives the attention of the listeners: No? You donâ„ ¢t want to leave the U. N. to the Europeans and Russians? Then letâ„ ¢s stop bellyaching about the U. N. , and manipulating our dues, and start taking it seriously for what it is â€Å" a global forum that spends 95 percent of its energy endorsing the wars and peacekeeping missions that the U. S. wants endorsed, or taking on the thankle ss humanitarian missions that the U. S. would like done but doesnâ„ ¢t want to do itself. The U. N. actually spends only 5 percent of its time annoying the U. S.Not a bad deal! (Thomas L. Friedman. The New York Times, May 29, 2001) The desire of the speaker to convince and to rouse his audience results in the use of simile and metaphor, but these are generally traditional ones, as fresh and genuine stylistic devices may divert the attention of the listeners away from the main point of the speech. Besides, unexpected and original images are more difficult to grasp and the process takes time. In political speeches, the need for applause is paramount, and much of the distinctive rhetoric of a political speech is structured in such a way as to give the audience the maximum chance to applaud.One widely used technique is an adaptation of an ancient rhetorical structure â€Å" the three-part list: X, Y, and Z. These lists are not of course restricted to politics only:  signed, sealed and delivered; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Tom, Dick, and Harry; the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; this, that, and the other. Such lists, supported by a strong rhythm and a clear rising + falling intonation sequence, convey a sense of rhetorical power, structural control, and semantic completeness. They are widely used in formal writing.And they are especially common in political speeches, where the third item provides a climax of expression which can act as a cue for applause. In an acclaimed study of speech and body language in political speeches, using videotaped data, specialists found such instances: * Governor Wallace:  and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever. * Norman Tebbit:  Labour will spend, and borrow and borrow, and tax and tax. * Tony Ben:  and they kill it secretly, privately, without debate. History and literature provide numerous examples: * Abraham Lincoln:  Government of the people, by the people, fo r the people. Mark Anthony:  Friends, Romans, Countrymen ¦ * Winston Churchill:  This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning. And even crowds use tripartite sequences: Lone voice:  Maggie, Maggie, Maggie. Crowd:  In, in, in. Consider the prosodic pattern of a fragment of the speech delivered by Margaret Thatcher at the Conservative Party Conference in 1980. (Pauses are shown in seconds or tenth of a second; stressed words are underlined; pitch jumps are shown by arrows):  This week has demonstrated  (0,4)  that we are a  party  unitedin  ? ±Ã‚  purpose  (0,4),  strategy  (0,2) and  resolve.Audience:  Hear, hear  (8,0). (After M. Atkinson, 1984. ) In the House of Commons, as in other government chambers, the period set aside for MPs to put questions to ministers is a linguistic game  par excellence. The formal asking of a question is a chance to do several things â€Å" to focus public attention on an issue, express identity with a party political line, or cause trouble for the other sideâ„ ¢. It is a chance to get oneself noticed, settle old scores, or repay a constituency debt. Just occasionally, it is a real question, to which the questioner wishes to receive a real answer.Parliamentary questions are asked for a reason, which are often little to do with the semantic content of the question and more to do with the kind of confrontation which is taking place. Skilled politicians can resort to several techniques in order to evade an awkward question e. g. to ignore the question, to decline to answer it, or acknowledge it without answering it, etc. The questions politicians receive are rarely straightforward, but are preceded by a series of often unclear and controversial claims. This can be seen in the analysis of one question which was addressed to a cabinet minister during a radio interview.Well now â€Å" when Mr. Helistine protested at the cabinet meeting on December 12th â€Å" over the fact that Mrs. Thatcher had cancelled this meeting on December 13th â€Å" he raised a protest â€Å" which as you know â€Å" in his resignation statement he said â€Å" he said wasnâ„ ¢t recorded in the cabinet minutes â€Å" and now heâ„ ¢s gone back and said that he wants that protest recorded â€Å" can you say â€Å"as â€Å"as a bit of an expert on the constitution â€Å" probably more than a bit of an expert â€Å" can you honestly say â€Å" as a member of the cabinet â€Å" that you were happy that Mrs.Thatcher allowed proper discussion by all the cabinet in detail of this very important decision for defence? Elucidating the content of this question brought to light 20 possible issues, among them * Presuppositions for the validity of the question: There was a decision on defence. The decision was important. The cabinet did not properly discuss the decision ¦ * Assertions about others: Thatcher cancelled the cabinet dis cussion. Helistine protested the cancellation. Somebody omitted the protest from the record ¦ * Attributions about respondent: You are an expert on the constitution.You are a member of the cabinet ¦ * Propositions in question: Thatcher allowed discussion. Thatcher allowed discussion in detail ¦ * Questions to be answered: do you agree that some/all propositions are true? Can you agree that some/all propositions are true and be honest about it? * Yes * No Of course, no one would have reached cabinet minister rank who would use such one-word answers by way of reply. What the questioner will receive is better categorized as a response rather than an answer. 3. Explain the most characteristic language features of essay.This genre in English literature dates from the 16th century, and its name is taken from the short Essays (=experiments, attempts) by the French writer Montaigne, which contained his thoughts on various subjects. An essay is a literary composition of moderate length on philosophical, social or literary subjects, which preserves a clearly personal character and has no pretence to deep or strictly scientific treatment of the subject. It is rather a number of comments, without any definite conclusions.Consider an extract from Ben Johnson (16th century): Language most shows a man; speak, that I may see thee. It springs of the most retired and in most parts of us, and is the image of the parent of it, the mind. No glass renders a manâ„ ¢s form or likeness so true, as his speech, and, as we consider features and composition in a man, so words in language. Some men are tall and big, so some language is high and great. Then the words are chosen, the sound ample, the composition full, all grace, sinewy and strong.Some are little and dwarfs; so of speech, it is humble and low; the words are poor and flat; the members are periods thin and weak, without knitting or number. Nowadays an essay is usually a kind of feature article in a magazine or newspape r. Essays are written commonly by one and the same writer or journalist, who has cultivated his own individual style. Some essays, depending on the writerâ„ ¢s individuality, are written in a highly emotional manner resembling the style of emotive prose (Hail, Nickel. Mother of Murder! Blessed destroyer of human flesh! Balm of twenty-six million corpses in six years!D. Cusack), others resemble scientific prose and the terms review, memoir, or treatise are more applicable to certain more exhaustive studies:  Taking English Poetry in the common sense of the word, as a peculiar form of the language, we find that it differs from prose mainly in having a regular succession of accented syllables. In short it possesses metre as its characteristic feature ¦(S. Maugham). The essay on moral and philosophical topics in modern times has not been so popular, probably because a deeper scientific analysis and interpretation of facts is required.The essay in our days is often biographical; p eople, facts and events are taken from life. These essays differ from those of previous centuries â€Å" their vocabulary is simpler and so is their logical structure and argumentation. But they still retain all the leading features of the publicist style. The most characteristic language features of the essay, however, remain 1. brevity of expression; 2. the use of the first person singular, which justifies a personal approach to the problems treated; 3. rather expended use of connectives, which facilitates the process of grasping the correlation of ideas; 4. the abundant use of emotive words; 5. the use of similes and metaphors as one of the media for the cognitive process. In comparison with the oratorical style, the essay aims at a more lasting, hence at a slower effect. Epigrams, paradoxes and aphorisms are comparatively rare in oratory, as they require the concentrated attention of the listener. In the essay they are commoner, for the reader has an opportunity to make a caref ul and detailed study both of the content of the utterance and its form.

Malaysia Education Trend

Historical background of higher education Ever since the Federation of Malaya gained independence in 1957, theMalaysian education system has been developing so as to unify the nationstateand to promote economic growth. The Education Act of 1961,which followed educational reform efforts such as the Razak Statementof 1956 and the Rahman Talib Report of 1960, has governed the moderneducation system in Malaysia. These educational reforms correlated withsocioeconomic conditions.In the early 1970s, the New Economic Policy(NEP 1971), or Bumiputera Policy, was implemented. The NEP aimedto bring about a better balance in enrollment among the different ethnicgroups in Malaysia. 1 It resulted in a steady increase in the number ofBumiputera students in Malaysian universities. Furthermore, since theearly 1970s, the Malaysian government has sought to make more effectiveuse of the nation’s Malay human resources in the process of economicdevelopment, and the percentage of Malay students at ev ery educationallevel has increased steadily.Basically, the Malaysian education system follows a 6-3-2 structure,with six years of primary school, three years of lower secondary school,and two years of upper secondary school (see Appendix 1). Eleven yearsof basic education are provided to all citizens. However, the highereducationsystem has been limited to the elite citizens of the country. Performance in the public examination, known as the SPM (SijilPelajaranMalsyaia/Malaysia Certicate of Education), which is taken after theeleventh year of school, determines whether FormIV students can enterpost-secondary education (matriculation, or six Form).Until the mid-1990s,the Malaysian government encouraged students to study overseas in theU. K. , the U. S. , Australia, or Japan. The 1st phase of the establishment of public universities started in1969 under the Universities and University Colleges Act. During this time,UniversitiSains Malaysia (USM 1969), UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia(UKM 1970), UniversitiPertanian Malaysia (UPM 1971), and UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia (UTM 1975) were established (see Table 1).Moreover,four public universities were established during the second phase (fromThe Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) was created on 27 March 2004 to take charge of higher education in Malaysia which involves more than 900,000 students pursuing higher education in 20 public universities, 33 private universities and university colleges, 4 foreign university branch campuses, 22 polytechnics, 37 community colleges and about 500 private colleges. The MOHE’s mission is to create a higher education environment that will foster the development of academic and institutional excellence.It is in line with the vision of the government to make Malaysia a centre of educational excellence and to internationalise of Malaysian education. Higher educational reform and the roles of private universities in the mid-1990sIn the mid-1990s, four educational acts were implemen ted: the EducationAct of 1995, the 1995 Amendments to the University and UniversityColleges Act of 1971 (1995 Amendments to the UUCA 1971), the PrivateHigher Education Institutions Act of 1996 (PHEIA 1996), and the NationalCouncil on Higher Education Act of 1996 (NCHEA 1996).With theimplementation of the Private Higher Education Institutions Act of 1996,the private sector increased its involvement in providing tertiary education(Malaysia 2001). The Act allowed private institutions of higher educationand foreign universities to establish franchises and degree courses. Inparticular, private-sector universities were encouraged to offer science andtechnology courses in order to increase enrollment at higher-educationalinstitutions and to produce a greater number of highly skilled graduates(Malaysia 1998: 122).Six private universities, Malaysia Multimedia University (MMU), UniversitiTenagaNasional (Uniten), UniversitiTeknologiPertonas (UTP),UniversitiTunAdbul Razak (Unitar), Internationa l Medical University(IMU), and UniversitiIndustri Selangor (Unisel), began offering degreelevelcourses in engineering, business studies, medicine, and multimedia.Since that time, the number of private universities has increased, as seenin Table 2. IT-focused universities from both public and private sectors,such as Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia(UKM), Multimedia University, and UniversitiTenaga (Uniten), operatein the MSC (see Table 2).Their challenging cases will be examined as follows:the case studies of the Malaysia Multimedia University as the newlyestablished core university of MSC at 1st; second, the Malaysia NationalUniversity as the traditional university which might have some difficultiesin attempting the new challenges; and third, University Malaysia Sarawak(Unimas) which shows a need for distance learning because of its locationon the island of Borneo. Malaysia Multimedia University (MMU) as a pioneerMalaysia Multimedia University (MMU) was established as the core institutionof the MSC in July 996, and was the 1stst private university to begiven accreditation by the government. MMU has two campuses that offerfaculty in several fields: technology, IT, creative multimedia, and administration at the Cyberjaya Campus in the MSC; and technology, informationscience technology, business, and law at the Malacca campus. There are9,000 undergraduate and post-graduate students, including foreign studentsfrom 31 countries (e. g. , Brunei, Sudan, Bosnia, Malawi, Tanzania, India,Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Turkey, China, Thailand, and Guinea 4)enrolled in MMU. MMU uses English as the language of instruction.Knowledge-Campus (K-Campus) projects of UniversitiKebangsaan MalaysiaNot only newly established universities, but also the nine historical universities(public universities established before 1994) conduct IT-relatedprojects. All nine public universities have embarked on open- or distancelearningprograms (Siowek-Lee and Rin alia 1998). UniversitiKebangsaanMalaysia (UKM, Malaysia National University), one of the most prestigiousuniversities in Malaysia, formed a special ICT committee to implementthe blueprint of ICT projects and established the Faculty of Information.Distance learning: the case of Unimas, Sarawak University Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), which is not located on the MalayPeninsula but on the island of Borneo, established its Faculty of InformationTechnology in 1993. By July 1994, the faculty offered undergraduateprograms in software engineering, information systems, internetworkingtechnologies, computational science, and interactive multimedia. Therewere 34 students at the undergraduate level and a few at the post-graduatelevel in 1994; by July 1995, the 1st Master’s students in IT graduatedfrom Unimas.The computational science program was introduced duringthe 1995-96 academic year; the joint program in cognitive science, offeredby the Faculty of Cognitive Science and Human Developmen t and theFaculty of Information Technology, began in 1996. Unimas, in collaboration with KolejLatihan Telekom (Telekom TrainingCollege), has begun offering diploma programs in multimedia (businessand computing) and in multimedia technology, which have been accreditedby the LembagaAkreditasi Negara (National Accreditation Board) (1 March2000).Moreover, the Network Multimedia Education System (NMES) waslaunched in October 2002. In the process of achieving a developed nation status by the year 2020, one of the challenges facing thegovernment is how to provide higher education for all levels of society. One solution is to use technology as anenabler to make available education to the masses. Universities are taking up the challenge by updating thecontent of their programmes but more importantly,utilising the latest technologies to improve the deliverysystems.One of the most talked about emerging delivery systems is Open and Distance Learning that isfast becoming a viable alternative in providing education to the masses. Open University Malaysia wasestablished on 10 August 2000 in response to the government’s call for the democratisation ofeducation. Although it has the status of a private university, OUM is owned by 11 public universities inthe country.As an open learning institution, OUM subscribes to the following principles:Flexible entry requirements to provide moreopportunities for all members of the society to pursue tertiary education; A learner-friendly flexible academic system wherethe constraints and needs of working adults are well understood; and Adoption of the blended pedagogy mode toenrich learning experiences. Malaysian higher education reform is progressing rapidly because thegovernment needs to develop highly skilled human resources locally toenable the nation to move toward a knowledge society, in the era ofICT.Malaysian public universities had been traditionally restricted to theelite; however, they began to be corporatized in the mid-19 90s. Privateuniversities have taken on more important roles in expanding enrollmentand maintaining the quality of higher education in science and technologyrelated to ICT. First, higher education reforms toward a knowledge society are affectingaccess and social selection with respect to ethnic and gender equality. Educational policy implemented since 1969 has provided educationalopportunities to a less privileged population, the Bumiputera.Governmentpolicy can have an effect on aspirations and, thus, the demand forhigher education. This has clearly been the case in Malaysia, which isboth an Islamic and a multicultural country made up of the Malays,Chinese, Indians, and indigenous peoples. The implementation of the NewEconomic Policy (NEP) in 1971, or Bumiputera Policy, attempts to bringabout a better balance in enrolment among the various ethnic groupsand has led to a steady increase in Bumiputera students in Malaysianuniversities.The government of Malaysia has encouraged Bumiputera studentsto pursue science courses in particular. According to the National EconomicRecovery Plan, in addition to maintaining the Bumiputera/non-Bumiputera ratio of 55:45, the Ministry of Education (MOE) is to ensurethat at least 55 percent of Bumiputera students are enrolled in scienceand technology ? elds of study at institutions of higher learning (Malaysia1998:123). This mandate is in response to the growing need for highlyskilled human resources, both to encourage economic growth and to unifythe nation, following its independence in 1957.Female Malaysian students earn better grades, in general, than do maleMalaysian students. Yet, female Malaysian students have experienced difficulties in obtaining higher education in the past. Structural and attitudinalbarriers to the equitable participation of women at the highest educationallevels have existed during the last few decades (Aminah 1998:25). Hence,their past underrepresentation was not a result of their inability but ratherthei r cultural backgrounds.As some scholars (Jamilah 1992; Aminah 1994;Fatimah and Aminah 1994; Jamilah 1994; Kamogawa 2003b) have noted,the stereotypical Malaysian way of thinking is that arts and teaching fieldsare suitable for women and that science and technology fields are suitablefor men. Consequently, Malaysian female students have had a tendency tochoose art and educational courses. Higher Education has generated RM 2. 1 billion through 70,259 international students for the year 2008. Ministry of Higher Education came out with the target: 80,000 foreign students by 2010.As at 15 January 2009, 210 out of 434 private higher educational institutions (PHEIs) and all 20 public universities have been licensed to recruit international students. Most of the international students in public universities pursue post graduate degree courses while those in PHEIs pursue both graduate and post graduate degree courses. In 2005, there were 41,559 international students, of which 7,656 were in p ublic universities and 33,903 in PHEIs. The population of international students made up 6. 4% of the total number of students in institutions of higher education.The different divisions under the Department of Higher Education will concentrate on their respective areas in improving the quality of education services and ensuring that programmes offered by the public and private higher educational institutions in Malaysia are of high quality and international standards. In their endeavour to achieve these goals, they have established promotional offices in Dubai, Jakarta, Ho-Chi Minh City and Beijing. A Technical Committee has also been formed to make Malaysia a Centre of Excellence. This committee is chaired by the Minister of Higher Education.A Technical Committee on ‘Edu-Tourism’ was also formed. Other marketing strategies include incentives offered to institutions promoting education overseas; recognition of Malaysian degrees by foreign countries and the establishmen t of the new national quality agency for both private and public higher educational institutions, i. e. Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). The ultimate aim of all these strategies is to make Malaysia a ‘favoured’ destination for international and local students to pursue their tertiary education besides making education an important export commodity that will generate foreign exchange for the country.

The generation of green energy and its distribution in London Essay

The generation of green energy and its distribution in London - Essay Example This body consists of the mayor, directly elected by members, 25 members, who carry out inspection duties, and stuff consisting of about 700 persons (Greater London Authority, 2010). GLA draws its powers from two main acts: the Greater London Authority Acts, 1999 and 2007. GLA enjoys jurisdiction in areas such as policing, fire planning, environment, economic development, emergency and transport. In order for the body to carry out its duties effectively, it was thought wise to institute four bodies to assist in the management of the aforementioned services. These bodies include the London Fire and Emergency planning authority, Metropolitan Police Authority, London Development Agency and Transport for London (Greater London Authority 2010). The UK government funds GLA although some of its financial resources are received from direct taxes collected from the area. Responsibilities of the Greater London Authority In order to assure the welfare of its residents is prioritized, the UK gov ernment gave GLA, under the leadership of the mayor, certain responsibilities to make sure everything is done in accordance with the laid down rules for the betterment of London. In this regard, GLA has strategic administration responsibilities for the whole London city. To ensure this is done, it is responsible for coordination of the local authorities of the Greater London. ... The second responsibility is that as the mayor of the city, he is responsible for preparation of the budgets, which are presented to the congress for debate and possible adoption. Thirdly, he is given powers to make appointments to bodies under his leadership as well as pan-London bodies. Finally, the Mayor of London is responsible for representing London city both internationally and at home, especially in matters pertaining to the city (Greater London Authority, 2010). Recent Environmental Policies and Strategies Introduced The Mayor of London notes that London seeks to be among the leading cities in the world in terms of environmental management and conservation. He notes that for this to be achieved, a bold step must be taken towards reducing pollution, consuming fewer resources, dealing with issues of climate change, and decreasing the level of carbon. Achieving this dream is not easy when people just talk about them but fail to implement. As such, the mayor came up with several strategies to be instituted in London in respect of the environment. The first proposal pertains to the lowering of air pollution in London. Dow (2009, p.12-28) notes that over 70% of the global energy is consumed by large towns, resulting in about 80% of greenhouse gas emissions. London is among the cities of the world with a high level of greenhouse gas emissions and the greatest emitter of greenhouse gases in UK – about 80%, which is approximated at about 44 million tons of carbon dioxide. Environmentalists argue that these emissions are likely to increase in London, considering that the town has been witnessing high population growth and economic development. It is for

Cultural Immersion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cultural Immersion - Essay Example As I grew up, I realized there were increasing numbers of adverts and campaigns to assist these people. On one night show by a Fox News presenter, I heard the news anchor commenting, â€Å"Something needs to be done regarding homelessness. I believe it is high time the government made extra efforts and offered proper solutions instead of leaving it to non-governmental organizations† (Todd 2006, p. 23). This made me to take a keen interest and try to find out more about the homeless. As a resident of San Diego, I made attempts to inquire about the homeless. One day, I asked my dad, â€Å"Are you aware of where the homeless live? Can you walk me there?† My dad laughed and said, â€Å"I will take you there.† That Saturday morning, my dad and I proceeded to San Diego streets, as I joyfully carried some old clothes of mine and some dollar coins I had earlier saved in my piggy bank. In my past years, I had always enjoyed coming to the city since my father took us to ma ny fancy places by his car. That day, my father took another path as we walked to the city. I heard my father saying, â€Å"Welcome to Downtown. I am happy that you made a wise choice to visit these people. You will learn a lot†. As we entered Downtown Street, we met a lady that had carried a child and she had sat on the cold floor with tattered clothes, looking emaciated and shivering from the cold chilly morning. They had no pullovers and next to them was a card board house that was about to crumple. The baby’s mouth had dried and it kept crying as flies were all over it. On seeing that sight, I asked my dad â€Å"Is she homeless?† My dad looked straight into my eyes as we approached them and only nodded his head in agreement. As we approached the mother, she turned to our side and I saw a grimace developing on her face, and she started to look around in her cardboard hut for a mug. She later dashed to where we were, leaving the baby on the floor as she scream ed, â€Å"Mr. Can you please spare some change. I am homeless and I have not eaten for days.† Staring at her grotesque figure and emaciated baby, I was touched with great sorrow as to what she had to undergo while being homeless. As she spoke, every word cut across my heart as I wondered, â€Å"Why God? Why her? Why this child?† My dad went calmly by her side and gave her some coins which he had. He then instructed me to donate the clothes which I had to help warm her child. I was moved by that act as I witnessed the mother turn happy (Todd 2006, p. 55). I was happy helping the needy. After a while, we continued with our journey and arrived at a homeless shelter. The conditions in the homeless shelter were messy as it was full beyond capacity. From what the patron told us, the population meant for the place was 120, but instead it housed 500 people. Some people were forced to sleep on the bare floor (Todd 2006, p. 113). From the look of things, I realized that the sani tation around that place was not good. In addition, I also saw some homeless people squabbling for food. I had never imagined people could do that. I had always watched in movies, but that was my first time witnessing such a sad moment. I was touched and realized that for many years I had been ignoring this minority group in the society. I regretted always enjoying Christmas while someone else was out there freezing in the cold. At around 2 p.m. my dad and I left that place, and I realized how I had been neglecting the homeless for a

Editorial essay Argument vs Description Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Editorial Argument vs Description - Essay Example Another argument is the chemical company’s (BASF) purchasing petroleum products allegedly stolen from Pemex by a Mexican cartel but the source was never acknowledged to be known. This is also an argument because the facts are not verifiable and the chemical company is arguing that their claim that they do not know the source of the petroleum is questionable given the amount of sale ($2 million) involved. The description in the editorial provides objective information as indicated in the portion where it was stipulated that â€Å"legalization would deliver a significant short-term hit to the cartels — if drug trafficking were the only activity they were engaged in. But cartels derive a growing slice of their income from other illegal activities† (Longmire par. 5). The details of succeeding illegal activities are likewise description of the kind and types (of illegal activities) that cartels are delving into to fuel their economic endeavors. Longmire actually argues that legalization of marijuana would not kill the cartels and actually aver that â€Å"legalization would move that trade into the open market, driving down the price and undermining the cartels’ power and influence† (Longmire par. 1). I agree to her contention that legalization of marijuana would not significantly impact or lessen the source of income for cartels as she described other illegal activities that the cartels have actually pursued. However, her supporting statements to validate the initial argument were weak in terms of focusing on other illegal activities as the source of other income for the cartels without expounding on the implications of how legalization of marijuana would not kill the cartels. The writer is commended for initially determining the percentage of cartels’ profits being generated from the sale of marijuana, revealed at

Answers question based on case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Answers question based on - Case Study Example Card is done using digital signatures that accurately verifies whether a certain user has an existing electronic document (Farhoomand & McCauley, 2008, p. 6). TradeCard is very strict never to disclose private information, confidential transaction data, or business details to external parties without permission from the users. Members’ personal identifiable information and confidential transaction data are only shared with other participating business partners and with TradeCard’s coalition partners. TradeCard uses a Global secure site that ensures the client browsers are highly confidential. The server certificates in this site have a strong (a 128-bit) encryption on all transactions between a client’s browser and TradeCard system servers (Farhoomand & McCauley, 2008, p. 7). Data integrity in any transaction is very important to people involved. That is the reason TradeCard system provides a high-level of assurance that unauthorized person cannot alter any data in a transaction. Digital signatures protect integrity of user’s documents in the system. The Global site system can prove the integrity of a document in future by passing the document information and public key into a digital signature verification algorithm. In case of any type of data manipulation, the verification process will be unsuccessful (Farhoomand & McCauley, 2008, p. 11). In its effort to provide secure means of conducting global transactions, beside from the strict application procedures and verifications followed via Thomas Cook and Coface, TradeCard has created a complex security system. The architecture of the system has three built levels of security; these are, 2-factor user authentication, server authentication, and digital signatures The Global Secure Site Certificate secures TradeCard system, where by the Secure site ID ensures the user’s browser is encrypted with the communications encryption of 128 bit for US web browser and 40 bit for an exportable Web browser. Each

The Health & Safety of Migrant workers within the UK Construction Essay

The Health & Safety of Migrant workers within the UK Construction Industry - Essay Example The migrant workers on the other hand, have responded on the extreme reflecting their over anxiety, thus to some extent distorting the reality. The Health and Safety management in the construction industry has become more important than ever with the number of construction projects continuing to grow at a rapid pace both for new build and refurbishments. The labour profile also keeps changing as more and more workers enter the industry. Accidents resulting in fatalities and injuries to the workforce continue unabated and in fact, are on the increase with the result, the Government is very concerned and the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) works with the Government on an ongoing basis. An action framework has been agreed to between the Government, the HSE, employers and the trade unions (Hughes and Ferrett.2008, p 143). Occupational health and safety are of concern in all the branches of industry, business and even information technology companies. It is all the more important for the construction industry. It is necessary to examine the foundations of the health and safety management systems. Occupational health and safety is important in all kinds of work. If it is a low hazard occupation, the organization may have a single competent manager to supervise the health and safety of the workers. On other hand, in a high hazard industry, there is a health and safety practitioner assisted by the engineers of different branches such as civil etc, lawyers, medical doctors, nurses, trainers, work planners and supervisors (Hughes and Ferrett .2008, p 1). The Construction industry contributes 8 % to the GDP of UK, making itself the largest industry in the country. 10 % of the working population is engaged in the construction industry having an annual turnover of  £ 250 billion. Although the U.K. construct ion industry is world renowned, it is one of the most

Research Paper (Based on Literature Reviews) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

(Based on Literature Reviews) - Research Paper Example Currently in legislation is the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act of 2009, which would equalize penalties for crack and powder cocaine, thus correcting the injustice. The previous seven bills similar to the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act of 2009 have not been approved. Congress and the President need to review and pass this bill and make it a reality. The main objective of this paper is to examine the facts or statements of truth that can be examined in the context of racial discrimination in the sentencing of drug offenders and to arrive at conclusions accordingly. It is known that disparities in sentencing are arbitrary for a number of reasons. Before the introduction of the federal compulsory minimum sentencing in 1986 for drugs related violations, the federal drug sentencing in the case of African Americans was higher by 11 percent as compared to whites. After four years this average was higher by 49 percent. In 2000 the proportion of African American people lodged in jails was much more than those in higher education. On the basis of such facts, leading analysts concluded that the country’s crime policy was a significant contributing factor in disrupting African American families. The impact of the compulsory minimum imprisonment for drug offenses contributed in leading to unreasonably high rate of incarceration and a lso separated family members from each other on account of minor crimes amongst their children. Such practices not only created large scale disfranchisement amongst those that were convicted of felony but also prohibited people that were incarcerated earlier, from getting appropriate social services in improving their families (Russel, 2005). These statements will be examined in the light of available sources and efforts will be made to determine the strength in such assertions. As reported recently by the Sentencing Commission, there is a strong need to revise the

Evaluating the course Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Evaluating the course - Essay Example Moreover, punctuations play an important role of ensuring that the intended information is communicated to the audience. Misuse or omission of punctuation marks could distort the intended communication. From â€Å"A Writer’s Reference,† I learnt the uses of various punctuation marks and can now use them appropriately. Even with the understanding of these rules, this course further provided knowledge on coherence in writing so as to give a flowing piece of work that arouses and sustains the reader’s interest. Generally, effective writing begins with an introduction into the topic which gives the thesis or objective of the writing. It would then be followed by subsequent paragraphs or sentences making up the body which give details to support the thesis. External credible sources provide the required information. Finally, the important points would be summarised in the conclusion where the writer gives personal perspectives and recommendations. Having successfully completed this course, my writing has greatly improved. I now give easily understandable and coherent pieces of writing and have greatly minimised my grammatical

Poetry Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Poetry Analysis - Essay Example ‘Your absence distributed itself†¦ When I sat down in the armchair The silent memories of the departed soul have made a strong impression on the poet who was pregnant at that time. She has expertly used the imagery in the text to capture the soul stirring emotional gap that is evident in the place and time that was once inhabited by him. ‘Friends and relatives kept coming, trying to fill up the house†¦ the green hanger swang empty/ and the head of the table/ demanded a plate’. People and acquaintances come voluntarily to visit the place and pay homage to a person who is so patently loved and who is present despite his physical absence. The poet’s use of the figurative speech, has correctly reflected the acute sense of loss one and all. Another very important feature of the poet’s text is that she has beautifully associated the death with the beginning of life that is growing inside her body. According to her, the inevitability of the death and inconsolable loss has brought for the ultimate truth of the universe. Death is final and one is totally helpless in front of it. The poet has compared this feeling of helplessness to that of the child who is still growing inside the womb of the mother and is totally dependent on her for his survival. Indeed the allegory of death and life is the philosophical reminder that it is a cycle that must be encountered by all. ‘I lay down in the cool waters/ of my own womb/ and became the child/ inside, innocuous/ as a button, helplessly growing’. The stark realities of the life are beyond our control and the poet has succeeded in expressing this ideological philosophy through the simple words by ending the poem with ‘I slept because it was the only/ thing I could do. I even dreamed/ I couldnt stop myself’. ‘Those Winter Days’ by Robert Hayden, is a poem that shows that death has a strange way of acknowledging love that

Social Contract Essay Example for Free

Social Contract Essay Is the aim of the social contract to establish freedom, equality or merely ‘peace’? How far is it successful, and at what cost? (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau) The Social Contract is a theory that originated during the Enlightenment, which addresses the questions of the origin of society and the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Social contract arguments typically posit that individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the ruler or the decision of a majority, in exchange for protection of their remaining rights. Its main proponents were Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. However, while they all advocated a social contract their formulations and ideas about it do differ to some extent. This essay will attempt to argue that Hobbes hoped his social contract would establish peace, amongst naturally competitive men; whilst Rousseau valued securing freedom and Locke wanted it to secure rights for people and stop them living in fear. However, all of these do come at some price, namely the cost of some liberties, however, as Locke agreed what was important was that relative to the state of nature, man now lived in a better, freer, more equal and peaceful society. The first modern philosopher to articulate a detailed contract theory was Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679). According to Hobbes, the lives of individuals in the state of nature were ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’ (Leviathan. Ch13. p89), a state in which self-interest and the absence of rights prevented the social, or society. Life was anarchic, without leadership or the concept of a sovereign. Individuals in the state of nature were apolitical and asocial. Thus for Hobbes the state of nature is necessarily followed by the social contract. He believed the social contract would involve individuals ceding some of their individual rights so that others would cede theirs. This resulted in the establishment of the state, a sovereign entity like the individuals now under its rule used to be, which would create laws to regulate social interactions, in the hope that human life would no longer be ‘a war of all against all. ’ (Leviathan. Ch13. p89). Thus Hobbes attempts to prove the necessity of the Leviathan for preserving peace and preventing civil war, thus he is most concerned with securing a safe, protected state for man. This is necessary because Hobbes has a negative view of man. He claims we are merely motivated by what he calls ‘aversion’ and ‘appetite. ’ (Leviathan. Ch6. p38) due to his belief that humans are all ‘self-seeking individuals, with no pre-disposition to cooperate with others or help them unless it is within their own interests. ’ (Trigg. 1988. ) Thus the ‘general inclination of all mankind (is) a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death’ (Leviathan. Ch11. p70) and that ‘men are continually in competition for honour and dignity. (Leviathan. Ch17. p119) Thus the social contract becomes necessary as a way of reducing such competition and securing peace. Furthermore, Hobbes believes it is possible to mitigate this competition with reference to his laws of nature. The first that we ‘seek peace, and follow it’ (Leviathan. Ch14. p92) as it would clearly never be advantageous for us to reside in an insecure society, where we constantly feared being destroyed and competed with, as Hobbes writes, ‘that every man, ought to endeavour peace, as far as he has hope of obtaining it. ’ (Leviathan. Ch14. 92) This is successful and Hobbes has a strong point here, we can agree that we are stronger as a group and that it is prudent to ‘confer all power and strength upon one man, or upon one assembly of men, that may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices into one will’ (Leviathan. Ch17. p126) This is clear in the modern day, we elect those people we wish to represent our will, we do not all feel a need to self-govern. So although we are defined by our power and competitiveness in the state of nature, we will value peace and security so necessarily opt for this contract. Furthermore Hobbes second fundamental law of nature is ‘that a man be willing, when others are so too, as far as for peace and defence of himself he shall think it necessary, to lay down this right to all things; and be contented with so much liberty against other men as he would allow other men against himself’ (Leviathan. Ch14. p92). This idea of mutual contracts concords with the ideas of Locke’s and Rousseau’s social contracts, that people would choose to live in society to maintain or create freedom and uphold natural values. However, for Hobbes, men cannot know good and evil, and in consequence can only live in peace together by subjection to the absolute power of a common master, thus a cost of Hobbes’ social contract is that man is now subjected to absolute rule and appears to lose more of his freedoms than either Locke or Rousseau deemed necessary, yet for Hobbes this is the only way to ensure peace, despite it seeming that such controlled rule would only engender disagreement and revolt. Hobbes theory has implications and his work emphasises some important aims of humanity, especially that peace is worth having at any cost, ‘a view Hobbes wants us to adopt after his reasoning in Leviathan. ’ It is common sense that without the base instinct of survival and survival itself, nothing else would be truly possible. (Bagby. 2009. p47) Furthermore Hobbes discusses fear as the basis of the existence of the state and although our world is a very different context to the world Hobbes experienced, Professor Ginzburg ‘does not see any change in the fear factor that sustains authority. (Kumar. 2007) However, John Locke, although another social contract theorist, his conception differed from Hobbes in several fundamental ways, retaining only the central notion that persons in a state of nature would willingly come together to form a state. Locke believed that individuals in a state of nature would be bound morally, by the Law of Nature, not to harm each other in their lives or possession, but without government to defend them against those seeking to injure or enslave them; people would have no security in their rights and would live in fear, rather like Hobbes suggested. Locke argued that individuals would agree to form a state that would provide a ‘neutral judge’ (Locke. 2003) acting to protect the lives, liberty, and property of those who lived within it. While Hobbes argued for near-absolute authority, Locke argued for inviolate freedom under law in his Second Treatise of Government. Locke argued that governments legitimacy comes from the citizens delegation to the government of their right of self-defence of ‘self-preservation; (Locke. 2003). The government thus acts as an impartial, objective agent of that self-defence, rather than each man acting as his own judge, jury, and executioner, the condition in the state of nature. In this view, government derives its ‘just powers from the consent (delegation) of the governed. ’ (Locke. 2003) Furthermore, for Locke peace is the norm, and should be the norm. We can and should live together in peace by refraining from molesting each other’s property and persons, and for the most part we do. Yet it is clear in Hobbes that he believes man is naturally self-interest and will compete for resources. Locke’s fundamental target is political absolutism, understood as the exercise of power unconstrained by law or by any procedures for settling disputes between rulers and ruled. (Boucher. 2003. p. 184) Where Hobbes argued that absolute power was necessary to keep the peace between humans; instead Locke insists the point of political institutions is ‘to avoid, and remedy those inconveniences of the State of Nature, which necessarily follow from every Man’s being judge in his own case. (Locke. SecondTreatise. 2003) as Locke believed humans were born free and that by nature human beings are one another’s equals, so should not be dominated or restrained to the extent of Hobbes. These inconveniences, such as a social atmosphere of miserable uncertainty are not solved by subjecting all but one person in society to the rule of law. Thus Locke believed that peo ple would be worse off under absolute power than they would in the uncertain mercy of other’s judgement, so he did not advocate this. Locke’s contract aims to benefit individuals, it is an individualised functionalism. Thus for Locke an institution that is detrimental to individuals, relative to what they might secure on their own without government, is illegitimate, as ‘no rational creature can be supposed to change his condition with an intention to be worse. ’ (Locke. Second Treatise. 2003) Furthermore, Rousseau (1712–1778), in his influential 1762 treatise The Social Contract, outlined a different version of social contract theory. Rousseau’s social contract can be summarised as, ‘each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will; and in a body we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole. ’ (Rousseau. Social Contract. 2002). For Rousseau the fundamental aim of the social contract is to establish freedom, believing that liberty was possible only where there was direct rule by the people as a whole in law making, where popular sovereignty was indivisible and inalienable. However, people also desire the advantages of living in a society, because it is only as a citizen that man can fulfil himself and become virtuous. ‘Man was born free, but he is everywhere in chains. ’ (Social Contract. p. 141). Thus Rousseau aimed to create a political and social order where this contradiction would be resolved, the key purpose being ‘to find a form of association that defends and protects with all common forces the person and goods of each associate, and by means of uniting with all, nevertheless obeys only himself, and remains as free as before. (Social Contract. p. 148). For Rousseau the answer lay in the social contract. Thus everyone entering into civil association must give up his rights to the whole community; this is the ‘cost’ for Rousseau. Yet there are benefits too, as Rousseau argued ‘this passage from the state of nature to the civil state produces quite a remarkable change in man, for it substitutes justice for instinct in his behaviour and gives his actions a moral quality they previously lacked. ’ (Social Contract. p. 150). This is successful because the whole citizen body is the sovereign, thus is cannot have interests contrary to the individuals who comprise it (Boucher. 2003. p. 247) as ‘the sovereign need give no guarantee to the citizens ‘the sovereign by the mere fact it exists, is always all that is should be. ’ (Social Contract. p. 150). Additionally, Rousseau rejected Hobbes’ view that man is self-seeking and competitive by nature. (Boucher. 2003. p. 240) However his notion does have similarities with Hobbes. For Rousseau, in contrast with Locke, the state of nature is neither a social nor moral condition (Boucher. 2003. p. 241) and in fact nature gives us no sanction for legitimate authority, rather it is the condition where no one has a right to rule over another. There is no justice or injustice, man is merely solitary and self-sufficient. Furthermore Rousseau is hoping to diminish the dependence of man, however this cannot be done in its entirety; rather one form of dependence can be substituted for another. Boucher. 2003. p. 251) Rousseaus political theory differs in important ways from that of Locke and Hobbes. Rousseaus collectivism is most evident in his development of the ‘luminous conception’ (which he credited to Diderot) of the general will. Rousseau argues a citizen cannot pursue his true interest by being an egoist but must instead subordinate himself to the law created by the citizenry acting as a collective. Rousseaus striking phrase that man must be forced to be free’ (Social Contract) reveals that the indivisible and inalienable popular sovereignty decides what is good for the whole, then if an individual lapses back into his ordinary egoism and disobeys the leadership, he will be forced to listen to what they decided as a member of the collective, as citizens. Thus, the law, in as much as it is created by the people acting as a body, is not a limitation of individual freedom, but its expression. Moreover, Rousseau believed that the laws that govern a people helped to mould their character, so law is a civilizing force. Laws represent the restraints of civil freedom; they represent the leap made from humans in the state of nature into civil society. Thus enforcement of law, which may seem a ‘cost’ in his contract theory, is actually not a restriction on individual liberty, as the individual, as a citizen, explicitly agreed to be constrained. Ultimately the social contracts of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau are successful for the conception of man in the state of nature that each held; however due to this they all had varying aims. For Hobbes, man begins as necessarily competitive and unsocial, thus his contract must aim to establish peace and thus requires absolute rule. However, for Locke, man is by nature a social animal and not purely self-interested, thus securing peace primarily is less important, rather man here retains the right to life and liberty, and gains the right to just, impartial protection of their property, as this is more prudent than each trying to protect their own and living in constant fear. Yet for Rousseau the fundamental aim of the social contract was to establish freedom, as man was naturally free, but was restrained and this freedom needed realising and maintaining. Overall, the social contract of the three thinkers is markedly different, however each is justifiable given their different views of the state of nature and man’s inherent nature, nonetheless there are costs to man’s total freedom as he must give up rights to the rulers and follow new laws, to varying degrees. Fundamentally, the society posited by all three is seen to be an improvement on the state of nature in terms of its freedom, equality and peacefulness.

SUCCESSFUL MENTORS DEVELOP RELATIONSHIPS FOSTER GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

SUCCESSFUL MENTORS DEVELOP RELATIONSHIPS FOSTER GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT The aim of this essay is to explore the attributes and qualities that impacted upon my effectiveness as a mentor and also explore the characteristics that influenced my successful mentoring of a second year student nurse. My area of clinical practice is a medical/surgical ward which is a positive environment conducive and appropriate to learning. According to Gopee (2008), a Mentor is a designated person who takes time out to help people to learn during their developmental years, to progress towards maturity and establish their identity. Mentoring is a very important aspect of nurses role which has to do with teaching, educating and supporting students which make them become competent in their practice, confident through experience, thereby, enhancing their skills and knowledge. According to Gopee (2008) there are many characteristics of an effective mentor which to mention a few are: patient, good communication skills, teaching skills, good role models ,trusting, confident and ability to build positive working relationship. For the purpose of this essay, three of these characteristics will be discussed. These are ability to build a positive working relationship, role modelling and teaching skills. Able to Build Positive Working Relationship At this initial stage, our past experiences and achievements were shared to establish good understanding and rapport. Personal issues that may affect her learning were also discussed such as the need to promptly overcome a serious family problem that could have adverse effect on her concentration. I informed her of the start and finish times of shifts, break times, sickness reporting and being part of the team, although supernumerary in status. It was important that we were on good terms and understanding because the relationship between a mentor and mentee is very important to facilitate effective learning and good working relationship. According to Rogers (1994), cited by West, S. et al (2007), the mentor-student relationship is based on: Genuineness (the ability to be seen as a real person and acting ones self in the presence of the mentee), Trust (belief in the mentee and the ability to respect her as a person), Acceptance (not being judgemental about my mentee regardless of her backgrounds or ethics) and Emphatic Understanding (placing myself in her position). For anyone, a new environment can create nervousness with the concern of not fitting into the clinical area. These feelings of anxiety can overwhelm students and affect their ability to do well (Welsh and Swann 2002). She was accepted without condition (having a professional relationship with her independent of personal feelings) by me and other team members thereby meeting her need for affection, one of the needs in Maslows hierarchy of needs. I respected her views and objectives in all situations not undermining her as a student but by allowing her to participate and contribute in assessments, planning, implementation and evaluation of care of patients under supervision. I commended her actions and corrections were also made when necessary. These made her think critically and research more about situations before taking decisions. She confided in me by the second meeting and that she liked the way other team members and I have accepted her as one of us, answering her questions and allowing her to participate in patient care plans, involvement in their general care, emphasizing that all th ese were not so in her former placement. I explained to her that I used to have very little experience just like her but through determination to learn, positive attitude and perseverance, I had acquired skills and knowledge. Benner (1984). At busy times on the ward, I was there to give her tasks relevant to her learning needs and ensuring she was not terrified by the situation which would otherwise lead to a bad experience, which might make her lose interest in Clinical Nursing. I always reassured and encouraged her continuously. Her progress was reviewed halfway, areas of concern were documented and a final meeting for her self-assessment was carried out. Role Model Bandura (1977), cited by Gopee (2010: 23) defined a role model as a feature of social learning theory which states that substantial learning occurs through observation of appropriate professionals. Thus, a deliberate practice of nursing duties to a very high standard with best conducts would motivate the learner to admire, value and emulate. She was warmly welcome into the ward by me and fully orientated into the hospital environment. Throughout her placement period, I made sure that nursing duties like : washing of hands before and after procedures, using strict aseptic techniques where applicable, making sure the right medication is given to the right patient at the right time, using the right route of administration and ensuring that patients take their medications in our presence, gaining of informed consent from patients before procedures and respecting their wishes, to mention a few, were done properly and competently according to hospital protocols and Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) guidelines and the rationale behind them were explained to her. I modelled myself in all areas especially by being punctual, flexible, ensuring proper documentation, good telephone manners, confidentiality of patient records and being accountable for my actions. My learner was happy, very proud of me and she started to emulate me. She told me before the completion of her placement that I have been able to bring her theory into practice. According to Schon (1983), much of the learning which takes place in professional education happens in the practice setting. Research has shown that students look up to respect and admire mentors when mentors consistently demonstrate up to date knowledge and skill in all aspect of practice. Teaching Skills At the first meeting, I identified my learner, her learning needs and our learning styles to help me in teaching strategies to use for her. As an adult, I used the theory and approach of Malcolm Knowles (1990) who developed Andragogy, based on the assumption that adult learners have different ways of obtaining skills and knowledge when compared with children. She was keen to learn, ambitious, career minded and focused. Knowing the learning needs and objectives of the student learner helps in drawing an action plan to evaluate the progress of her learning and giving feedback on my performance as a mentor to the student (Quinn 2007). Kolb (1984) says four forces shape the learning styles of an individual namely: early educational experiences, educational specialisation, professional career choice and current job role. Using the Honey and Mumford (1992) questionnaire, my learner was a Reflector and I, an Activist . I was always happy to demonstrate procedures while she was happy to watch and learn. She watched my actions and explanations of all procedures and tasks undertaken were given including answering her questions. Research through the internet, books and opinions from colleagues were also useful. I gave her assignments to increase her knowledge, motivate her to learn and material resources were also provided for her. To make her learning needs achievable, the SMART tool inspired by Bloom (1998) meaning Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-appropriate was also used. She was able to demonstrate wound dressing aseptically (one of her learning needs) competently within the stipulated time giving her a sense of accomplishment. According to Maslow each individual has needs which they want to achieve. This is a motivating force and if not met, may de-motivate the learner (Quinn 2007). Her efforts were praised and encouraged (a behaviourist approach to learning by Skinner as described by Atkinson et al (1996) as shaping behaviour). Regular formative feedbacks were given which made her feel recognised, valued, respected and thus increasing her self-esteem. She attended teaching sessions arranged for her in areas of her needs. Conclusion This experience has helped me to see myself as an effective mentor who saw it as a challenge initially, but through determination, good support from colleagues and having a keen and focused student, was able to go through it successfully. I have been able to mentor my student from the initiation phase, through the working phase and the termination phase. The ability to build positive working relationship with my student made her feel trusted as an individual, respected and all anxiety removed because she was accepted by other team members and I who willingly helped her in my absence. As a good role model setting standards both in clinical and non clinical matters, I have been able to bring her theory into practice and she has started to emulate my actions. My teaching skills made her feel valued, respected and her self-esteem was high as she had been able to achieve her goal in the placement of performing wound dressing aseptically within the stipulated time. Apart from fulfilling the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) criteria that nurses should be mentoring students, I have been able to develop myself through research on the internet, books, advice and opinions from colleagues and putting into use previous acquired skills and experiences so as to be able to give her the best and not to fail as a mentor. It also made me to continuously reflect, analyse, assess and evaluate my actions, to promote my understanding and skills, (Hull Redfern 1996).

Understanding Young Adult Footwear Shoppers in India

Understanding Young Adult Footwear Shoppers in India Executive Summary ‘A man can be judged by the shoes he wears. Footwear today is much more than just an integral part of ones attire; it helps the modern day consumer make his or her unique lifestyle statement. This study was done to understand the footwear preferences was various categories of footwear and to understand the footwear shopping behaviour. The objective of the study was to segment young adult footwear shoppers into unique footwear shopping orientation groups and to develop a profile for each segment with respect to footwear benefits sought, importance of store attributes, patronage behavior and demographics. To start with, a secondary research was done to gain a broad understanding of the footwear industry in India, in particular footwear retail, and the modern Indian consumer. In-depth interviews of 10 young adults from metros, both males and females, were conducted to arrive at the parameters used in the evaluation of footwear, footwear retail stores and also to understand general footwear usage and buying behavior. This understanding and the parameters arrived at were then used in formulating a questionnaire consisting of 60 line items which was administered through online surveys. A total of 100 responses were achieved of which 85 were complete responses. The data of the complete responses was then analyzed through frequency distributions, factor analysis and cluster analysis. Factor analysis helped to reduce the number of variables to 8 factors. On the basis of these 8 factors, the 85 respondents were classified into 3 clusters with unique shopping orientations. The result of this study can be helpful to footwear retailers in customizing their merchandising, display, and other store attributes like space and availability of mirrors to gain maximum store loyalty and patronage. Introduction Footwear is much more than just an integral part of ones attire: while on the one extreme, it helps the modern day consumer make his or her unique lifestyle statement, it also helps enhances the performance of athletes and sportsmen at the other extreme. A brief history of footwear One of the first things made by our primitive ancestors was foot covering. It was primarily used to protect themselves from burning sand, rocks and rugged terrain. Records show that different civilizations like Egyptian, Chinese and other early civilizations, all contained reference to shoes. It is also mentioned in the Bible. The Hebrews also used it in binding a bargain (Shoe History, 2009). The first form of shoe consisted of a simple piece of plaited grass or rawhide which was strapped to the feet. During early times, sandals were the most common type of footwear. In Mesopotamia, during 1600 1200 BC, a particular type of shoes were used. They were soft and made of wraparound leather. Up to almost 1850, the method of making shoes was the same as that in 14th century B.C. in Egypt. Hand tools were used. Shoes were absolutely straight. There was no difference between the right and left shoe (Shoe History, 2009). In 1845, the first machine that found a permanent place in the shoe manufacturing industry was invented- the Rolling machine. In 1846, a sewing machine was invented. In 1875, a machine was developed which later came to be known the Goodyear Welt Sewing Machine (Shoe History, 2009). Rubber heels for shoes were patented in on January 24, 1895 by Humphrey OSullivan. These rubber heels on shoes outlasted the leather heels then in use (The History of Shoes, 2009). Keds were first mass-marketed in 1917 (The History of Shoes, 2009). They were positioned as canvas-top sneakers. These were officially the first sneakers. The word sneaker was coined by Henry Nelson McKinney, an advertising agent. This was because the rubber sole made the shoe stealthy. All other shoes, barring a few exceptions like moccasins, made noise when a person walked. Hence you could ‘sneak on anyone wearing Keds. Since the mid-20th century, the type of shoes being created has changed considerably compared to the traditional crafting techniques. This is due to advances in plastics, rubber, synthetic cloth, plastics and industrial adhesives. Leather, even though is still used in expensive dress shoes is no longer really used in athletic shoes. Soles, which were once hand stitched, are now machine stitched or simply glued on. A century ago, if a lot of effort was put in, a person might have been able to produce a few pairs of shoes. Today, automatic Toe Laster for Goodyear Welt shoes can produce 1200 pairs in an 8-hour day (Shoe History, 2009). Footwear industry in India Industry overview The Indian footwear and leather industry is amongst the top-10 foreign exchange earners. It is also amongst the top-12 focus manufacturing sectors in the country if we consider it in terms of competitiveness and untapped potential. The worlds largest footwear manufacturer is China. Next is India. India producs 16 billion pairs accounting for 13% of global footwear production. India produces 2065 million pairs of different categories of footwear (leather shoe uppers 100 million pairs, non-leather footwear 1056 million pairs and leather footwear 909 million pairs). India exports just 115 million pairs of footwear. Almost 95% of the production goes into meeting the domestic demand. Nearly 15 percent of Europes leading brands outsource their footwear, apparel and fashion accessories purchases from India. Indias domestic footwear market is better than others around the world primarily because of abundant raw materials, low cost of production and a huge consumption market. Indias major importers for Indian leather products: Country Share (%) Germany 14.12 Italy 12.82 UK 11.48 USA 9.98 Hong Kong 6.61 Spain 6.09 France 6.14 Netherlands 4.13 UAE 2.38 Australia 1.55 Total 75.30 The 10 countries mentioned above account for nearly 75.30% of Indias total leather products export. More than half of the Indian footwear market comprises of gents footwear. This is contrary to the world wide trend. The worlds major production is in ladies footwear. Hence, in India there is immense scope in the womens segment. In the unorganized sector, more than 80 percent of the sales happen in the mens segment. However this is might change soon. The footwear industry is extremely labor intensive- 90% of its production comes from SMEs (small and medium enterprises). There are in excess of 42,000 such SME units, there are primarily concentrated in two provinces in Uttar Pradesh up north and in Tamil Nadu down south. They are also present in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Punjab. Agra, Ranipet, Kanpur, Ambur, Jodhpur and Kolhapur are also traditionally renowned centers of excellence in the production of leather and footwear. In the last five years, footwear production in the country has increased by nearly 60%. Out of this, the rural areas consume 75% of the footwear production. It has become a necessity product there since till now, they have been majorly deprived of its usage. The Footwear sector has now been de-licensed and de-reserved. This has paved the way for expansion of capacities on modern lines using state-of-the-art machinery. In order to assist this process further, the Government has permitted 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through automatic route for footwear sector. Categorization or classification of footwear The Indian footwear market, in terms of quality offerings, has four main segments: 1. The super premium end- comprises the best of global luxury brands 2. The high-end or premium 3. The mid/economy ranges- comprises of formals, functional, casuals and party wear 4. The low-priced mass range- includes leather and plastic strapped slippers, as utility wear Apart from this, the genuine active sportswear segment with different price ranges also exists. The volume share of the economy/mid range has reduced. It was 61% in 2006-07. It has come down to 53%. The active sports-wear segment has increased its share from 7% to 9.6%. Premium leather and premium non-leather segments have both seen a rise from 7% and 3% in 2006-07 to 7.3% and 3.5% respectively in 2007-08. The super premium luxury segment has a 0.08% market share. In terms of sales value, this is a very significant number. Also there are four major categories of footwear: 1. Sports footwear 2. Semi-formal or casual footwear 3. Formalwear 4. Utility footwear The Indian footwear market mainly consists of casual wear. It occupies nearly two-thirds of the total footwear retail market. The other sub-segment that is doing well is the branded sportswear segment. It is estimated to be about Rs. 1,000 crore. The main players in this space consist of reebok, Adidas and Lotto. Compared to other segments, this segment is growing fast in terms of the number of outlets. Apart from footwear, these outlets also sell apparel. Major players in Indian footwear industry The top domestic and premium brands in India consist of: 1. Action It has a pan Indian presence. It consists of multiple branded outlets (MBOs), 135 exclusive branded outlets (EBOs). It commands a total of 175,000 square feet retail space. 2. Bata It is a household name in India. It was the brand that made branded footwear popular. Bata India Limited manufactures and markets various types of footwear, leather and footwear components. Apart from these, the company markets products related to footwear, garments, accessories, sports goods and other merchandise. Batas sub-brands consist of Dr Scholls, Hush puppies, Bubblegummer and Power. Till the first quarter of 2009, Bata India had 1,293 outlets. Bata India is currently looking to expand towards Tier I Tier II cities. 3. Khadims Currently, it has over 329 outlets. The area under it is approximately 148,000 square feet retail space. It is present in 22 cities across India. 4. Liberty After Bata, it is arguably the most popular domestic brand. It is the only Indian company among the worlds top 5 leather footwear manufacturers. It has EBOs as Revolutions and Liberty. Revolutions provides footwear, travel accessories, watches, leather accessories, sun-glasses and jewellery Its sub-brands consist of Footfun, Force 10, Senorita, Gliders, Tiptopp, Windsor, Coolers, June, Warrior and Perfect. Liberty has 360 EBOs, 40 Shop-in-shops and 150 distributors. It services 6000 MBOs. The total retail space under it is 1.26 million square feet. 5. Metro, Mochi These are two brands from Metro Shoes Ltd. They were launched in 1977 and 2000 respectively. It consists of over 85 EBOs and 76 MBOs. The retail space under it is 131,000 square feet. It is present in 32 cities. 6. Pavers England It stated in India in early 2008. It was launched in Reliance stores. It is a Chennai based brand. It operates 40 MBOs. 7. Red Tape This brand belongs to Mirza International. It was launched in 1996 in the domestic market. It started its exclusive retail operations in 2006. By end-2008 it had 10 company-owned EBOs, 50 franchise-owned EBOs and also 135 Shops-in-shops. 8. Sreeleathers It was established in 1950. It is a very strong brand in Easten India. It has 5 company-owned EBOs and 28 franchise-owned EBOs. 9. Woodland It is looking to enter the junior and kidswear segment. It is also looking at apparels business very optimistically. It hopes that this business will contribute to half of its total sales in India. It operates 250 EBOs in India. 10. Lilliput It is a leading brand in kids footwear. By the end of 2008, it had 250 EBOs and also 100 shop-in shops. 11. MB Footwear It has 2 in-house brands, viz ID and Mercell. It has been operating for more than 21 years. It has tie-ups with brands like Lee Cooper. By the end of 2008, it had 32 EBOs and also 11 shop-in-shops. International brands in India 1. Adidas It is one of the biggest companies in the sports goods category. This nramd has acquired Reebok. It now consists of 3 brand divisions: Adidas, Taylormade-Adidas golf and Reebok. Adidas brand focuses on sports. It offers footwear, apparel and hardware in three divisions which include sport heritage, sport performance, and sport style. The sport performance division focuses on the hardcore sports player. The sport heritage division focuses on the casual sports man. The sport style division focuses the fashion-conscious consumers. The Reebok brand focuses more on style. Adidas entered India in 1977. It operates more than 450 EBOs. It has 340,000 square feet retail space. It claims a 20% market share in the active sports segment. 2. Lotto It currently has 10 flagship EBOs in India. It has plans to increase it to 100 by the end of 2010. It is present in 30 Indian cities. 3. Nike It has 107 EBOs in India 4. Guess (Premium) It was launched in 2005 by Planet Retail in India. It operates 19 EBOs and one shop-in-shop. 5. Carlton London (Premium) It currently operates 10 EBOs. It has 50,000 square feet retail space in India. It is concentrated in North India. It has plans to open up new stores in metros and in Tier I cities. MBO Retailers 1. Planet Sports It has 39 outlets and a retail space of 73,000 square feet. It is present in 21 cities across India. 2. Provogue It was launched in 2005. It consists of 55 EBOs and also 15 shop-in-shops. 3. Reliance Footprints It is a division of Reliance Retail Ltd. It started its operations in 2007. It currently operates 14 MBOs. It offers global brands like Ecco, Geox, Josef Siebel, Rockport, Florsheim, Hush Puppies, Lee Cooper and Clarks, Piccadilly, Dr. Scholls, Levis, Crocs, Disney among others. Apart from these, it sells handbags as well as accessories. 4. Shoe Factory It is a value format. It offers huge variety of footwear for a wide age groups. It started its operations in Ahmedabad in 2006. It is present in 16 locations and has a retails space of 48,000 square feet across 8 cities. 5. The Blues It is an exclusive licensee of major global brands like Corneliani (2006), Versace Collection (2005), VJC Versace Jeans Couture (2008), Cadini (2005), Versace (2008). By the end of 2008, it had 6 franchised EBOs, 3 shop-in-shops and also one MBO. Emergence of modern Indian retail Introduction In 2007, the Indian retail sector stood at $350 billion. It was predicted to increase to $427 billion by 2010 and $635 billion by 2015 (Morierty, 2007). Many Indian business houses are entering or have already entered this sector. The food and grocery sector is turning out to be a major contributer to this field. Even though it started slowly, it is now growing at a feverish pace. The other forms of retail have also evolved consistently. With the huge business houses entering into this business, the field has become extremely competitive between them. This is one sector that is looking to explode in the near future. Today, mega Indian business houses and corporate like the Future Group of Kishore Biyani (Food Bazaar), Reliance Group of Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Fresh Reliance Hyper), ITC Ltd (Choupal Fresh Choupal Saagar), Wadhawan Holdings (Spinach), RPG Group (Spencers Retail), the Aditya Birla Group (More), Subhiksha, the Godrej group (Natures Basket Godrej Aadhar), J Raheja group (Hypercity), etc. are driving the forays into retail through different models like single-format, multi-format or integrated urban-rural model. (Sengupta, 2007) However, the growth of the Indian retail space has been a long and ardous journey. Let us have a brief look at how the sector as a whole has evolved over the years. History It is popularly assumed that with the opening of the Indian economy in the early 1990s, the retail sector started opening up. This is when all the supermarkets and hypermarkets came into existence. However, the types of retail formats have existed in India since 1970s. In 1971, Nilgiris was set up in Bangalore. It was what one could popularly refer to as the ‘face of modern Indian retail. It was a supermarket. Since then, a lot of other business houses/ entrepreneurs have entered this sector. A few went national while a majority of them were restricted to a local scale. Popular among them were Trinetra from Hyderabad (now part of the Aditya Birla Group), Foodworld from Chennai, Margin Free from Kerala among others. A few others like Stop Shop from the TVS group in South India and Nanz in North India have shut down. In 1947, when India got independence, the per capita income was very low. People could not really afford any type of luxuries. Majority of them managed to live by getting their basic necessities. The main type of retail format prominent during those days was the mom-and-pop (kirana stores). They were run by individuals. The other format was the Bazaar. This trend continued up to the 1960s. Even post that, when supermarkets like Nilgiris opened up, the trend continued (Sengupta, 2007). It was during the 1990s and 2000s that this trend gradually changed. The growth story of the modern retail format in India is the early part of this millennium can be divided into 4 phases. Phase 1: This phase is characterised between 2002 and 2004. Lots of new entrants into the market were driving the top line growth. Phase 2: This phase is characterised between 2004 and 2006. The consumers were getting more and more aware of the possibilities that this retail growth could mean for them. They started demanding more and more variety in the organized retail formats. Phase 3: Post 2006, the retailers realized that in order to distinguish themselves, they would have to strengthen their back-end activities. The front end of almost all retail outlets were more or less the same. The thing that distinguished them from the rest were activities like inventory control, turnover time etc. Phase 4: This phase has been in progress since 2007. The retail players are in the process of consolidating their operations. (Srivastava, 2009) Organized retail is moving from being a ‘novel experiment to an expected back-end innovation and scale build up (Srivastava, 2009). Indian retail story First some facts (Srivastava, 2009): * The retail industry employs almost 21 million people * The Kearney study undertaken in 2006, ranked India 5th among 30 developing countries in the Global Retail Development Index * The study projects that India will overtake Russia and China to become the number one destination for foreign direct investment in retail India has over 12 million retail outlets. Out of this, about 95% of the outlets are less than 500 square feet (Srivastava, 2009). If we compare Indian retail with other countries, we see that the number of traditional retail outlets is still very huge. In 2005, US had about 15% traditional retail outlets and 85% organized retail outlets. India had 97% traditional outlets and only 3% organized retail outlets (Srivastava, 2009). (Srivastava, 2009) The organized retail in India is still at a very nascent stage. The opportunity for growth is enormous. Even though speciality stores in India are gaining prominence, almost 90% of all future retail development is predicted to be malls. The Indian consumer wants everything in the same place. One more trend that is being seeing is the marriage of retail and entertainment. Lots of multiplexes are opening up at malls. In fact, this seems to be the future trend. Sand alone places might not attract the crowd that such mergers could. Also, facilities like book stores, coffee shops, food courts etc. are being developed at these places. The major distinguishing factor of malls in India is that they have a mix of high-value items as well as mass branded items at the same place. In comparison, other countries have speciality malls. They either are of the high-value kind boutiques or the mass category. India has the highest shop density in the world. It has about 11 shops per 1000 people. This adds to one shop per 20-25 families (Srivastava, 2009). However in cities, this density is much higher. If we look at the money spent on various facilities, the urban-rural difference becomes very evident. About 33% of entertainment spends come from rural areas as opposed to 67% from urban areas. As opposed to this, when we talk about more basic necessities like food, clothing and footwear, over 60% comes from rural areas. (Srivastava, 2009) If we look at the share of the various things that are sold in the organized retail, we find that apparels and accessories is the maximum at 38%, footwear is at 9%, while others like mobile phones, books etc. are at 3% each (Srivastava, 2009). (Srivastava, 2009) Retail formats Both traditional as well regional retails constitute footwear retail market space. Along with these, new players like The Loft and factory outlets also constitute this space. These are category killers. The Loft offers over 130 brands, all under the same roof. It has completely revolutionarized the industry. In Mumbai, The Loft store has an area of 18,000 sq feet and also offers other services to the customers enhancing their experience. Factory outlets have also changed the industry. Pantaloon Retails Brand Factory, Reliance Footprints, Max Retail of the Landmark Group, and The Loot, are all offering a multiple footwear brands. 1) Hypermarket This format of stores has seen a huge growth in India. Most of the stores in this format are making money. The costumers find it very comfortable as they can get almost all their daily necessities like food, clothing, shoes, utensils, home appliances, durables etc. under one roof. It is like a one stop shop for all necessities. 2) Departmental Store Similar to hypermarkets, these shops also offer all the requirements under one roof. The difference is that these outlets have a more luxurious setting. The Indian consumer likes the idea of shopping in a better way with entertainment, novelty, variety and an international setting, all under one roof. 3) Single brand/ Stand Alone Outlet As the name suggests, these outlets consist of only one brand. They are generally run by the brand itself or are run as franchisee. The consumers do not have much choice here in terms of the number of brands but, generally, most of the variety of items, even the rare ones, of the brand are present here. 4) Multi-Branded Outlet A huge variety of brands are present here. The consumer has a wide array of brands to choose from. The only drawback of such outlets is that only the popular items of a brand are present here. So if a consumer has a very specific requirement, he/ she might not be able to find the item here. 5) Factory Outlet A factory outlet is a retail store where the manufacturer sells his brand directly to the customer. The store might have a warehouse attached to it. The biggest advantage of such stores is that there are no middle men. Hence the end customers get the brands at a very low cost. They are also called ‘Best Saving Outlets. Footwear retail AT Kearneys eigth annual GRDI (Global Retail Development Index) in 2009 ranked the Indian retail sector as the ‘most attractive emerging market for investment. Indian retail market is the fifth largest retail destination globally. In the footwear retail market, only 5.9 percent of Indias total retail market is organized. This comes to Rs. 13,300 billion. The total footwear retail market stands at Rs. 160 billion. Out of this, 48.4% of the footwear retail market is organized and is dominated by brands. The Indian Retail report of the year 2009 maps the growth of the organized retail since 2004. The findings indicate that compared to the other retail categories, footwear category has grown at a much faster pace. In 2004-05, only 25% of the footwear retail sector was organized. In 2009, it grew to 48.4%. The overall retail market share in the organized sector has only increased from 3% to 5.9% in the corresponding time frame. Emerging trends The performance of the footwear market is forecasted to accelerate with an anticipated CAGR of 10.2% for the five-year period 2008-2013. This is expected to drive the market to a value of $5,791.4 million by the end of 2013. Comparatively, the Chinese market will increase with a CAGR of 8.3%. (Singh, 2009) The organized retail sector is also seeing many changes. This sector occupies about 5% of Indian retail market. Large format stores and branded retail stores are coming up. This trend was first seen in South India and now in North India, West India and East India in the next couple of years. The retail sector is also opening its operations in Tier II cities like Gurgaon, Noida, Kochi etc. A market research report ‘Booming Retail Sector in India predicts that Indian organoized retail sector will reach US$ 50 billion by 2011. This study was carried out by RNCOS. The number of shopping malls is also set to increase between 2007 and 2015 by a CAGR of 18.9%. The Indian consumer On the World Map, India is placed 5th in the list of consumer markets of the world. Improved communication systems and the exposure to popular international brands has brought about a huge difference in the cities. People have become more indulgent. They want to acquire more and have also become very ambitious. According to a McKinsey report, the size of the Indian consumer market is expected to grow 4 times by 2025. This report is aptly titled ‘The rise of Indian Consumer Market. The youth population in India is huge. 33% are below 15 years of age. The consumer spending has increased as the disposable income among the youth has increased. The consumer spending in India has increased by 75% in the last 4 years. The share of wallet for products like footwear, clothes, transport, entertainment, education, medical services, housing and renting etc. has increased significantly. In fact, the Indian middle class has also started consuming luxury goods like air-conditioners and cars. The Indian demographic profile is changing rapidly. The upper class is growing much quicker than the lower class. The ‘deprived class is shrinking. The middle class is expected to touch 28 million by 2010. One third of the total middle class population will be from the rural areas. Lifestyle category goods are expected to be the future. With the increasing number of working women and fashion conscious males, they will look for a better quality of life. The Nielsen Retail Index 2007 reveled that consumers are switching to branded products. Also due to impulse buying by young consumers with disposable income, brands like Reebok and Adidas saw their semi-urban and rural sales increase by more than 70%. According to Kishore Biyani (Biyani, 2007), the typical Indian consumer can be classified as follows: The serving class consists of 55% of the population. This indicates that the retail outlets should target this group as well instead of mainly targeting the consumer class, which consists of only 14% of the population, as it currently does (Tripathi). Literature Review Indian footwear consumer The basic understanding of fashion and change in consumer perceptions has given a huge boost to the footwear industry. There is more exposure for Indians due to global travel and media penetration. The new retailing formats and distribution systems have capitalized on this. Branded footwear from overseas has become popular. Of course, the cost for the consumer is still a concern, due to which even the international brands have had to bring down their prices drastically in order to achieve break-even sales. Comfort is very essential for the Indian footwear consumer. The branded and organized sector has taken advantage of this. However, the awareness about more specialized products like performance enhancing and fitness assisting is still very low in India compared to other South East Asian countries. This could increase with time. Also, the young working population is seeing a shift in preference to international trends and lifestyles. One more fact is that women buyers buy more frequently compared to their male counterparts. About 29% women go shopping at least once every quarter. Men account for about 19% of the total purchases of that segment (Indian Retail Report, 2009). As per a study on how consumers divide their wallet spends, about 44% of the urban Nupscale (short for Nielsen Upscale, based on the usage of 12 consumer durable products by the consumers households) buy mens footwear. 41% buy womens footwear. The average annual spend on the products is Rs. 2318 and Rs. 1336 respectively. This study was conducted by Images- AC Neilsen. Women had a role to play in the purchase of mens footwear (26% women to 56% men). Men had a bigger role to play in purchase of womens footwear (34% males to 51% females). Men spent more lavishly on footwear irrespective of whether they were buying for themselves or others or gifting. Males spend on an average Rs 2,459 in a typical year on purchase of mens footwear and Rs 1,428 on purchase of womens footwear. Comparatively, women spend on an average Rs 1,875 on mens footwear and Rs 1,265 on womens footwear in a typical year (Indian Retail Report, 2009). Research articles ‘Shopping Orientation in the Evolving Indian Market, a research article by Piyush Kumar Sinha, attempted to understand shoppers from their disposition towards shopping. This was very useful because it has been noted that the differences between retailers are not really significant in terms of the value they deliver. The study managed to bring out the shopping orientation of the Indian shoppers. It said that emotional value matters more than the functional value while shopping. They are also more oriented towards the entertainment value. Based on this orientation, 300 shoppers were divided into 2 segments: Fun shoppers and Work shoppers. These two segments had different demographic and behavioral profile. This orientation was primarily affected by the frequency of buying, type of store, and to some extent by the SEC (socio-economic classification). These findings were finally used in order to draw implications for store format, merchandising and pricing (Sinha, 2003). ‘A Typology of Apparel Shopping Orientation Segments among Female Consumers, segmented female apparel shoppers into unique apparel shopping orientation groups. It then developed a profile for each segment by taking into consideration the information sources, lifestyle activities, importance of store attributes, demographics and patronage behavior. Then by using cluster analysis of apparel shopping orientation factors, three groups were identified: 1) Highly Involved Apparel Shopper 2) Apathetic Apparel Shopper 3) Convenience-Oriented Catalog Shopper They were further compared through MANOVA (multivariate analysis of variance) and chi-square statistics. The results indicated that shopping orientations are a base for segmenting female apparel shoppers. These groups are unique in consumer buying characteristics. They include: * 3 factors of information sources (Fashion Publications, Store Fashion Service/Promotion and Mass Media) * 5 factors of importance of store attrib