Does specific demographic education change young people’s opinions about reproduction? The case of Serbia

Population education is one of the strategic measures to encourage giving birth in low-fertility Serbia. The expected result is that such education may have an effect on reproductive intentions and overall people behavior. This study explores the thoughts about reproduction of three different student groups from the University of Belgrade, whereas their specific knowledge about demography ranges from basic to very good. The intention was to clarify whether awareness and knowledge about demographic problems change attitudes on reproduction of future highly educated people. The study was performed via a survey that was conducted among: Demography students, who have studied demographic phenomena for at least 3 years, students who have taken only one course in demography during their studies and students who have not acquainted themselves with demographics throughout their studies. It is based on the students’ views of ideal, desired and expected family size, on an evaluation of factors that affect reproduction, on identifying other beliefs relevant for future reproduction, as well as on a discussion with Demography students. Demographic education did not show to be an essential factor of differentiating reproductive norms of students. “Collective rationality” and a reflection of the economic crisis on reproductive intentions are dominant student responses.     

Evaluations of diaries and GPS-enabled trackers to plot young peoples’ geographies – asking the participants what they think

Insights into the personal geographies of young people can be gained in many ways, but there is not always a focus on the effectiveness of the methodologies used, through a comparison of the different approaches, nor is there often an examination of how the participants in the study perceive the effectiveness of the research methods. Two methodologies are explored in this study: self-completion mobility diaries and the wearing of global positioning system-enabled tracking devices. The study focuses on the perceptions of the teenage school student respondents in the study (n?=?15) with relation to the user friendliness, the perceived accuracy, and the ease with which travel patterns can be recreated from the data. The participants were able to evaluate the two methodologies and to make judgements on the criteria provided. We argue that participants can contribute significantly to post-research methodological reflection.     

‘Talking Itself Out of a Political Future’: Education and Australian Army Engagement with Papua New Guinean Independence, 1966–72

The Australian Army, while having a long association with Papua New Guinea after the Second World War and before independence in 1975, is often conceptualized as a small player in the decolonization process, of interest to scholars because of its cost and potential threat to democratic government. This article examines the Army’s education programme and associated policies in the decade before independence to argue that the institution was acutely aware of looming decolonization, and actively sought to create a national Papua New Guinean military by repurposing policies originally designed to serve Australia’s defence needs, in particular through ‘civic’ education. It embarked on this path without direction from the Department of Territories. While the results of ‘civic’ education are difficult to determine, this article shows that the Australian Army was engaged in the profound shifts occurring around it in Papua New Guinea.     

Reforming China’s polar science and technology system

ABSTRACT

Along with its modernization process, China has developed many interests in polar ecology and has connected the significance of the Antarctic and Arctic to its national interests. We present an in-depth analysis and assessment of the state of the art of China’s polar research from following points of view, mechanism of policy making on polar affairs, science diplomacy and polar governance, on-spot research expedition management, allocation of scientific funds, forming polar scientific team, especially on the management system of CHINARE. From an integrated perspective of social and natural sciences, we present a vision for future reform and development of polar affairs of China: to establish a macro and long term policy for the polar regions, to promote and establish a government-led, diversified polar scientific management system, to establish a reasonable and rule based evaluation system, to train, stabilize and expand polar scientific research teams, and to attract and encourage talents for polar science communication.