Download up to 20 articles from ScienceDirect at the same time!

ScienceDirect has a brand new function!

It's called Document Download Manager and enables you to download up to 20 full text articles at a time whilst still doing normal searching and working in ScienceDirect.

Download Manager enables researchers to automatically name downloaded full-text articles according to their own naming convention and pre-select a preferred destination for downloads. This helps reduce the irritation factor of lost files, and makes the process much more intuitive. .

Confused?

Here is how it works: (Click on the images to enlarge them)

Step 1: Do a search on ScienceDirect

When you get the list of results you will see a new button just above the results (on the image marked in black) - Download Pdf's. This button allows the downloading of more than 1 full text article at a time.

You can either mark certain articles and then click on Download Pdf's - or you can click on it without marking any items. (If no items have been marked you will get a pop-up stating that the first 20 articles will be downloaded.)

Step 2: Make sure the pop-ups are not blocked

Step 3: Click on the Download Pdf's link

Step 4: Choose the name of the file as well as where you want the pdf's to be downloaded to (e.g. flash drive, specific folder etc)





You can give your own naming convention to the list:


Once you are down naming the file and choosing a place for the pdf's you can see the status of the files as they are being downloaded



Once the download is complete you will see an icon of the pdf:


If you go to where you've saved the files you will see all of them are there:


I think this will save a great deal of time for researchers since you can still go on with the searching in ScienceDirect, while your files are being downloaded in the background.

USA's Higher Education's inflation index released

Copyright yirsh

The Higher Education Price Index (HEPI) is an inflation index designed specifically to track the main cost drivers in higher education in the USA.

It is an essential planning tool for educational managers, enabling schools to project the future budget and funding increases required to maintain real purchasing power and investment. HEPI is issued annually by Commonfund Institute and is distributed free of charge to educational institutions.

HEPI is a more accurate indicator of changes in costs for colleges and universities than the more familiar Consumer Price Index. It measures the average relative level of prices in a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by colleges and universities each year through current fund educational and general expenditures, excluding research.

HEPI is compiled from data reported and published by government and economic agencies. The eight categories cover current operational costs of colleges and universities. These include salaries for faculty, administrative employees, clerical employees, and service employees, fringe benefits, utilities, supplies and materials, and miscellaneous services.

HEPI has been calculated every year since 1983 and includes inflation data going back to 1961. Since fiscal year 2002, HEPI has been based on a regression formula. In 2005, Commonfund Institute assumed responsibility for maintaining HEPI and calculating its annual rate of change.

Links to publishers for new books

Copyright david_ming

Time is almost running out to order new books for 2009 - and the Faculty still has about 38% of the book budget left.

Remember you will lose what you do not spend.

To help you choose new relevant titles, here is a list of publishers with links to their economic/accounting/finance books:

Blackwells:
Economics, finance, accounting

Cambridge
Economics, finance & accounting

Elsevier
Accounting
Economics

Institute of Economic Affairs
2008/9 catalogue

MIT Press
Economic, Finance & Business

Oxford University Press
Economics & Finance Catalogue 2008/9

Springer
Economics

Taylor & Francis
Economics
Accounting & Finance
Reference

Palgrave
Banking & Finance
Economics
Reference

Wiley
Economics, Finance & Accounting

New information on SARB website

The following publication has been added to the -South African Reserve Bank website:

• Quarterly Bulletin No 249 - September 2008
• Statement on the Governor's term of office Issued by Mr T T Mboweni, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank

Credit cards usage on the up in emerging markets

Copyright LotusHead

According to a new Forbes article, credit card usage is on the rise in the emerging economies of the world:

" The growth of credit card use in Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe signals continuing financial development in these markets. However, the experience of South Korea in 2003 demonstrates that excessive growth in this type of consumer credit has the potential to threaten economic stability. In recent years, the credit card industry in emerging-market economies has expanded rapidly: --Between 2004-07, the number of credit cards in Brazil and Mexico more than doubled, while the number of cards in circulation in Poland tripled. --Russia has also seen major growth. --Outstanding credit card debt in India tripled over the same period. --In China, growth in the number of outstanding credit cards averaged just over 23% from 2004-07. It surged to nearly 93% in the first half of 2008. " For more on the article, click here.

For scholarly articles discussing credit cards and emerging markets click:

• here for articles from EbscoHost
• here for articles from ProQuest
• here for articles from ScienceDirect

Top 50 CEO's in Asia

Forbes Business just released a list of CEO's of the Top 50 companies operating in Asia:

Council for Medical Schemes releases 2007/8 annual report

Copyright by miqueias

The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) released their Annual Report for 2007/2008 yesterday.
As the regulatory authority responsible for overseeing medical schemes in South Africa (SA), the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS or Council) administers and enforces the Medical Schemes Act 131 of 1998 (MSA or Act).
The CMS is an autonomous public agency funded through levies charged to medical schemes and is accountable to the Minister responsible for national health matters.

The report itself is quite long (177 pages), but the key goals of the CMS, taken from the report, are:

Goal 1: We monitor the impact of the Medical Schemes Act 131 of 1998 and recommend improvements.

Goal 2: Secure adequate protection for beneficiaries by approving the manner in which medical schemes carry out business and by monitoring their financial performance.

Goal 3: Support the work of trustees and promote public understanding of the way in which medical schemes function.

Goal 4: Take fair and timely enforcement actions when required.

Goal 5: Investigate and resolve complaints of beneficiaries.

Goal 6: Foster the development of the CMS as an attractive workplace and an employer of choice.

Goal 7: Develop strategic alliances with counterpart regulators and others.

Jacob Zuma @ UJ

Copyright David Sandison

Jacob Zuma, the president of the ANC, will address a public lecture here at the University with the theme of his talk being: Access to justice in a democratic South Africa.

Date: 9th September (this Tuesday)
Time: 14:30 for 15:00
Venue: UJ Sanlam Auditorium (E-Ring) here on the APK Campus
RSVP: Barenice van Reenen (x6662)

Sasol Inzalo attracts 300 000 shareholders

The Sasol Inzalo Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) offering has attracted a total of 300 000 new shareholders, Sasol Chief Executive Officer Pat Davies said on Tuesday.

This had exceeded the target of 200 000 new shareholders."Sasol has met the objectives of delivering a transaction that will help make broad-based black economic empowerment tangible and a practical reality in the lives of the previously disadvantaged communities.
"We are proud that as Sasol we have met our objectives and we are able to initiate a dialogue with our 300 000 new shareholders," he said.

The Sasol Inzalo Black Public Invitations was opened in June this year and was closed on 9 July.Mr Davies said the vast majority of the successful applicants were individuals seeking 200 shares or less. Read more at BuaNews

Dual career academic couples - what you need to know

Meeting the needs and expectations of dual-career academic couples— while still ensuring the high quality of university faculty—is the next great challenge facing universities. This according to Standford University's report: Dual-Career Academic Couples: What Universities Need to Know (August 2008)

Academic couples comprise 36 percent of the American professoriate—representing a deep pool of talent. The proportion of academic couples (i.e., couples in which both partners are academics) at four-year institutions nationally has not changed since 1989.

What has changed is the rate at which universities are hiring couples. Academic couple hiring has increased from 3 percent in the 1970s to 13 percent since 2000.

And universities in the US are being to take notice and devoting attention to dual-career issues. In recent years, a number of conferences and collaborative efforts have sprung up, and university hiring practices are evolving to keep pace.

There are three key reasons for taking a new look at couple hiring:
Excellence.
The study suggests that couples more and more vote with their feet, leaving or not considering universities that do not support them. Support for dual careers opens another avenue by which universities can compete for the best and brightest.

Diversity
The new generation of academics is more diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity than ever before. With greater diversity comes the need for new hiring practices - and one of these practices is couple hiring.

Quality of Life
Faculty today are a new breed determined more than ever to strike a sustainable balance between working and private lives. Couple hiring is part of a deeper institutional restructuring around quality-of-life issues. To enhance competitive excellence, universities are increasingly supporting faculty needs, such as housing, child care, schools, and elder care, in addition to partner hiring.

University news from Africa

AFRICA: New head for African universities association/Karen MacGregor The new Secretary General of the Association of African Universities, Professor Goolam Mohamedbhai, took up his post this month. His priorities include growing the AAU's membership, strengthening its secretariat and collaborating with continental development bodies to drive a revival of African universities. This is no easy job - but one for which the former president of the International Association of Universities and University of Mauritius vice-chancellor is exceptionally well qualified.

ZIMBABWE: Unqualified Mugabe supporters access HE/Clemence Manyukwe Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party is forcing the admission of young supporters into higher education institutions even though they do not meet entry requirements. Students claim the party is using them to destabilise the student union movement by reporting on its activities.

Mugabe scraps student elections/Clemence Manyukwe Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe is tightening his grip on the country's institutions of higher learning by scrapping elections to choose student leaders.

EGYPT: Universities must open during holy month/Ashraf Khaled Egyptian Minister of Education, Hany Helal, has caused a stir by opposing a suggestion that the new academic year be postponed until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Insisting that studies at universities and other education institutions begin on 20 September, Helal was quoted in the press as saying: "Postponing the academic year until the end of the [lunar] month of Ramadan would give a bad impression in the West that Muslims are lazy."


NIGERIA: Controversy over university entrance system/Tunde Fatunde University teachers and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) are once again at loggerheads over Nigeria's reformed higher education admission policy. The board, which operates a competitive national entrance examination, is unhappy about universities being allowed to conduct their own admission exams - and has accused some of using the tests to make money.


TUNISIA: New agency to promote research and innovation A new national agency to promote research and innovation in Tunisia was established in August, under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education.


SENEGAL: University students reluctant to leave campus Students remaining at Senegal's biggest university, Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, have finally left the campus after water and electricity supplies were cut off last week. They had been refusing to leave their accommodation at the end of an extended academic year, protesting that they had not received their grants.