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This chapter explores the experiences of four virtual interns working with organizations tackling social issues in Ecuador, Morocco, South Africa, and Vietnam. These internships provided a unique opportunity to develop and apply the social, emotional, and academic development (SEAD) competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Schlossberg's transition theory provides a framework for transitioning to another culture and cultural mapping is used as a tool to identify, plan, and mitigate differences in cultural orientations between interns and colleagues in their host countries. The chapter draws upon student narratives and reflections, and supervisor feedback to capture what they learned and the challenges they faced as they completed their virtual internships. The results contribute to the literature related to the development of SEAD competencies through virtual internships for high school and college students.

The close relationship between environmental degradation and the occurrence and severity of disaster events has in recent years raised the profile of environmental assessment (EA) in the disaster management field. EA has been identified as a potentially supportive tool in the global effort to reduce disaster risk. As a component of this, attention has been brought specifically to the importance of the application of EA in the aftermath of disaster events in order to help prevent recurrence and promote sustainability. At the same time, however, it has also been recognised that post-disaster environments may be unfavourable to such practices. Looking at the practice of environmental impact assessment (EIA), this paper reports on a study which sought to identify more specifically the factors which can both support and hinder such practice following disaster events in a developing country context. Analysing the situation in Aceh Province, Indonesia, after the impact of two tsunamigenic earthquakes in late 2004 and early 2005, it is concluded that if EIA is to have a central role in the post-disaster period, pre-disaster preparation could be a key.

This paper aims to clarify the potential benefits and challenges of integrating environmental assessment (EA) and disaster management considerations, and current research gaps. In this context, the discussion is provided from three perspectives: (1) the consideration of disaster risk in EA; (2) the development of accelerated EA for post-disaster situations; and (3) the integration of EA into pre-disaster response and recovery planning. For this, a Japanese JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)/UK ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) financed UK-Japan project on the integration of environmental assessment (EA) and disaster management was conducted in 2012. It was concluded that whilst EA can be beneficial for disaster management, there are a number of potential pitfalls and an evident lack of research in the area.

These views epitomise the problem of industrial relations, collective bargaining and wage determination in the UK. They are not new. Indeed, they have occupied the economic stage since 1946. And it is unlikely they will wither away, as Marx predicted the capitalist system would, so long as the capitalist mixed economy exists. The reconciliation of the public interest, as defined by the Government, with the level of pay settlements negotiated by employers and trade unions is one fraught with considerable difficulty. The Government is technically an intruder to the processes of collective bargaining when it imposes guidelines for wage bargaining. Wage bargaining in such circumstances is not free since, if observed, it may not serve the interests of the immediate parties to an agreement.

The recent wave of strikes, official and unofficial, in all kinds of economic and public activity, affecting all kinds of persons from children to pensioners, occasioning suffering, misery and harm to the community in general, has caused January 1979 to be called ‘Black January’. Yet ten years ago, in January 1969 a White Paper entitled ‘In Place of Strife’ [Cmnd 3888] was published. The White Paper set out a policy for Industrial Relations. It was the policy of a Labour Government and had been designed in the light of the report of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers Associations which had been published in June 1968 [Cmnd 3623]. The main recommendations of the Report [called the Donovan Report] were embodied in the proposals for an Industrial Relations Act which is Appendix I in the White Paper. That paper, following Donovan, boldly states in para 2

Higher education demands considerable expenditure. In 1976–77 the recurrent expenditure alone in Great Britain was roughly £1 336 millions, which included maintenance grants of £362 millions to students pursuing advanced courses in the institutions concerned with them. The expenditure represents about 18 per cent of all recurrent expenditure in 1976–77 by the Department of Education and Science, the Scottish Education Department and the Welsh Office. Capital expenditure on higher education in 1976–77 was around £154 millions. These large sums of expenditure are basically determined by the size of the eighteen year old age group and those in this group who qualify for higher education by acquiring the required ‘A’ levels and who wish to pursue it. The age participation rate (APR) is crucial to any analysis of future developments.

The demand of the trade unions and the TUC in September 1978 for an orderly return to responsible free collective bargaining was translated into action by the unfettered use of the strike weapon. It was exercised by the stop stewards at local levels to support demands for wage increases ranging from ten to fifty per cent. It belied order and responsibility. It belied economic sense in a climate when inflation had been reduced to single figures but productivity was around two per cent. The disruption to national life and the economic loss sustained by the country caused the Government and the TUC to pose the question, what is to be done? Since the TUC has no powers of control over its member unions, although it can exercise exhortation, it seemed the time was ripe for a joint declaration. This was issued in Feb. 1979 and considered by the General Council of the TUC. The nineteen page document is inelegantly called ‘The Economy, the Government and Trade Union Responsibilities’. As might be expected, it is a mixture of general observations, particular advice to the trade unions, and a powerful belief in the efficacy of the close and constructive partnership of the TUC and the Government.

THE HUDSON INSTITUTE EUROPE, IN ITS RECENT REPORT, THE UNITED KINGDOM IN 1980, has taken the pulse of the so‐called ‘sick man of Europe’ and has reached a sombre conclusion. The real economic condition of Britain is one of declining competitiveness, deteriorating balance of payments and declining standards of living. In 1974 for the first time in the post war era, it is stated, Britain's individual wealth registered an absolute decline and this is likely to translate itself into a long range absolute decline unless great efforts are made on a national scale to prevent it. The loss of real income and shrinking personal welfare may lead to serious internal political and social strains.

The reform of 16+ education has been discussed for a decade. Agreement about its future profile has still to be achieved. Yet the urgency of taking a decision about it can hardly be challenged. Any proposed new system will take five to ten years to implement. In the interim the quality of the human resources needed by the UK for the next three decades to contribute to the standard of life and to strengthen democratic and social institutions depends largely on the tertiary system of education. And the present arrangements are unsatisfactory. Objectives and the methods of meeting them are seriously misconceived, muddled and costly.

The Swedish Employers' Federation (SAF), which reached its 75th birthday in September 1977, today operates in a highly developed economy. In 1902 Sweden was relatively a poor country, where 55 per cent of the working population was employed in agriculture and forestry, and only 27 per cent in industry and mining. Today, six per cent of the working population is concerned with agriculture and forestry, whilst industry, mining and construction account for 36 per cent. And there are 30 per cent in public administration and other services and fifteen per cent in trade. The rise of this industrial economy in some seventy years has been achieved largely by private enterprise and initiative, inventive genius, the development of foreign trade, and a sound system of industrial relations. Some forty per cent of the industrial production is exported which is equivalent to twenty‐four per cent of the total production of goods and services measured in monetary terms. The recent devaluation of the Krona has been designed to boost exports in order to overcome the balance of payments deficit which has increased considerably in the past year. Sweden, like Britain, has been affected by the slow economic recovery of Europe and other areas in the world.

The Technician Education Council has recently issued its first Report and Consultative Document. It is now clearly in business assuming responsibility for the rationalisation of the grand assortment of qualifications which lead to the creation of technicians. Technicians are those whose job responsibilities lie between the technologist and the skilled craftsman. They must have specialist skills and specialist knowledge. But they must know, too, the theory behind the skills and have the capacity to exercise technical judgment. Present day needs of industry suggested to the Haslegrave Committee concerned with the Education and Training of Technicians (1969) that technicians should have a recognised national status and a national award understood by all.

One of the major features of the trade union movement in Sweden is its educational effort. The ideological powerhouse of LO (the TUC) has provided, since the thirties, a wide range of ideas on the place of the trade unions in the economy. Their approach to full employment, centralised wage bargaining and differentials, the improvement of the working environment, wage earners' investment funds, works councils and the recent law on Co‐determination in Decision Making (MBL) was outlined in the April issue. But ideas have to be debated and discussed in a democratic movement. Their translation to deeds requires an informed trade union membership and leaders in the workplaces trained to inform, to persuade and to lead. The means for achieving these objectives have been through centralised and de‐centralised methods of education and training.

One of the last actions of the Social Democratic Government in Sweden, before its 44 year rule ended in September 1976, was to place a new industrial law on the statute book. It is called Medbestämmandelagen or MBL for short, which gives employees in Sweden — private and public — new rights of participation in decision making. It came into force on January 1st 1977. The recent publication of the Bullock Report, calling for legislation to put trade unionists on company boards affords an opportunity to examine the new Swedish law and to update the situation outlined in my article on this subject in this journal in December 1973.

Economists have long been aware of the importance of human resource development. It is probably at least one aspect of the so called ‘dismal’ science they can agree about. Adam Smith, the founding father, in his famous book, The Wealth of Nations, first published in 1776 and still being issued, stressed the significance of education to the nation several times. Since then a wide range of literature is available dealing purely with the economics of education. Some of it links education with economic growth.

In July 1973, when the international monetary situation was displaying its usual chaotic movement, the Swedes were informed in their daily newspapers they were the richest people on earth in terms of per capita incomes. The news came from a responsible American survey. True or false, Sweden has a sound trade surplus, great foreign exchange reserves and steady economic growth. Consumption volume is expected to grow at 4.4 per cent per year between 1973–77. 500 000 Swedes out of eight million have a summer home in addition to a house or flat in town. All workers have at least four weeks' statutory holiday a year and around 18 days for what we call Bank Holidays. 70 years ago Sweden was a peasant economy. Why and how has this remarkable transition taken place?

The entry of the UK into EEC creates a community of some 250 million people. In order that they can be welded together, freedom of movement for the professions is necessary and desirable. The Rome Treaty recognises this. There is, however, a difficulty. Member countries have yet to recognise the professional qualifications of each other's nationals. Movement or, as it is termed in the Treaty, freedom of establishment, is not possible without this recognition. Recognition depends on the professional qualifications being harmonised between several countries. For 12 years the Six have grappled with the problem, largely unsuccessfully. The entry of the UK requires a new look at the 40 draft Directives issued by the Commission for the mutual recognition of qualifications. The problems which must be faced, however, are several.

The dissolution of the colleges of education now appears inevitable. The James Report on the education and training of teachers, discussed in this journal in May 1972, revealed that the present academic schemes for teacher training were not adequate for the needs of the seventies. It recommended drastic changes in the form and content of the curricula for training. The White Paper EDUCATION: A FRAMEWORK FOR EXPANSION (1973) forecast the reduction of the demand for training places by 1981 at around 40–50 000. It presaged the need for major organisational changes. These twin reports are the scenario for a reorganisation which cannot be long delayed. It will have a lasting impact on the quality and quantity of teacher training in the future and on the institutional arrangements of higher education.

Local Government is in the process of dynamic change. In April, May and June 1973 new County Councils, new metropolitan district councils and non metropolitan district councils will be elected. On 1 April 1974 the present local authorities will be liquidated and their functions transferred to the new councils and to the health and water authorities. Currently the central government departments are in consultation with local authorities about the provisions for the constitution of the new authorities and the transfer of staff and properties. Joint Committees have already been formed by constituent authorities to plan for the many changes which will require new management structures, the redeployment of staff, the preparation of detailed stablishment, the determination of training needs, accommodation needs and the recreation of the web of communication that keeps a big complex in good heart.

Sweden is an advanced technological society with probably the second highest living standard in the world. In a recent report of the OECD on the power to use productive capacity between 1955–72, Sweden took the top place of the member nations surveyed. 99.2 per cent of the capacity was utilised. Furthermore, its working population, 16–64 years, had the lowest unemployment. But Sweden has a problem. What should be the shape of its higher education in the next decade? The answer to this question will partly determine the maintenance of its competitive power and its living standards in the future. U68 gives the answer in 800 pages. The message is that higher education in the future needs to be career orientated.

Planning five years ahead is a hazardous exercise in education. The White Paper — A Framework for Expansion — CMND 5174, takes a decade as the perspective. But it hedges much of its planning by saying there is room for flexibility and many points still remain for decision (Para 8). As the paper points out, resources are limited but the appropriate direction of their use is broadly drawn. How economically and effectively they are used is the vital issue.