Ana Paula Marques

Políticas de saúde do Sul da Europa e desregulação das relações de trabalho: um olhar sobre Portugal

Under the Troika Memorandum (2011-2015), health policies in Portugal know a political agenda, business and organizational schedule guided by the principles of privatisation, deregulation and underfinancing of public services by the State. In this article, the authors provide a review of the literature on health systems in the countries of the Southern European countries, highlighting the Portuguese situation regarding reform processes and major health inequalities before and during the economic crisis. Complementarily, the testimonies of different professionals of the health sector (doctor, nurse, therapeutics technician, unions and heads of care units) are summoned. Based on an exploratory study, it is our purpose to discuss political-organisational transformations and their consequences in the deregulation and precariousness of labour relations in the health sector. Wage reductions, career freeze, contractual instability, professional demotivation, intensification of the work pace and disqualification of services are some of the most visible signs of a management agenda that conflicts with the missions of a universal National Health System (NHS) at the service of Portuguese society.Under the Troika Memorandum (2011-2015), health policies in Portugal know a political agenda, business and organizational schedule guided by the principles of privatisation, deregulation and underfinancing of public services by the State. In this article, the authors provide a review of the literature on health systems in the countries of the Southern European countries, highlighting the Portuguese situation regarding reform processes and major health inequalities before and during the economic crisis. Complementarily, the testimonies of different professionals of the health sector (doctor, nurse, therapeutics technician, unions and heads of care units) are summoned. Based on an exploratory study, it is our purpose to discuss political-organisational transformations and their consequences in the deregulation and precariousness of labour relations in the health sector. Wage reductions, career freeze, contractual instability, professional demotivation, intensification of the work pace and disqualification of services are some of the most visible signs of a management agenda that conflicts with the missions of a universal National Health System (NHS) at the service of Portuguese society.

Education, Employment and Gender Gap in Mena Region

Education is central to human capital capacity‐building, and major determinant of economic development, as it has long been considered as an important investment both for social and economic development. The Middle East and North African countries have been aware of the importance of education therefore considered it as a key part of their strategies and future planning; enrollments at different levels of education have improved dramatically over the past few decades. This study is an empirical investigation to the impact of different level of education attainment on employment level, labor force participation rate and gender gap of employment. For that purpose the cross section time series or panel data set consisting of 15 countries ? where the data is comparable -has been taken. Panel data regression analysis has been carried out to find out the magnitude and direction of relationship between dependent and independent variables. Further Hausman test of specification has been applied for the selection between fixed effect model and random effect model. The main finding of this study, that there is negative relationship between educational attainment and male labor participation rate, while it is positive in case of females labor force. The study found also that with the improvement of educational attainment there has been a decrease employment gender gap.

Stakeholders and cooperation in higher education institutions

In the recent years, Portuguese universities have diversified their strategies to promote entrepreneurial education among (under/post) graduates either through formal education or non-formal and informal activities. These activities are undertaken by different higher education stakeholders and key actors that may contribute to the construction of an entrepreneurial ecosystem and to raising the entrepreneurial spirit in (under/post) graduates. Therefore, it is possible to assume that the success of entrepreneurial learning can be related to the establishment of solid links and partnerships between higher education institutions, the government and the current labour market. From the ongoing project “Link.EES – Entrepreneurial Learning, Cooperation and the Labour Market: Good Practices in Higher Education” (POAT – ESF) we intend to contribute to the reflection regarding the added value of inter-organizational cooperation between the different entrepreneurial stakeholders involved in non-formal and informal learning in Portuguese Higher Education and the their impact on regional and national development.