The Expulsion of the Muslims from Portugal (1496–1497)

The expulsion of the Muslim minority from Portugal, decreed by King Manuel I in December 1496, has been one of the most overlooked aspects of the end of religious tolerance in the Iberian Peninsula at the close of the Middle Ages. Using unedited documentary sources preserved in the national Portuguese archives, this article focuses on the expulsion of the Muslims from Portugal and seeks to challenge a number of assumptions concerning this unprecedented event. Three major questions concerning this expulsion are examined. What evidence is there that the expulsion of the Muslims did take place? Where did the expelled Muslims seek refuge? What were the causes of this expulsion? This article will endeavour to present a new hypothesis relating to the causes of this expulsion, which radically differs from that advanced by modern historians.     

Collaborative learning processes in the context of a public health professional development program: a case study

The health promotion laboratory (HPL – Canada) is a public health professional development program building on a collaborative learning approach in order to support long-term practice change in local health services teams. This study aims to analyse the collaborative learning processes of two teams involved in the program during the first year of implementation. Based on a multiple case study design involving observations, interviews, and documentary sources, the study: (1) describes the learning process by which each team built a common understanding of the problem at hand and developed an intervention to address it; (2) identifies factors that facilitated or hindered these processes; and (3) proposes a cross-case explanation of the collaborative learning process in the HPL. The results demonstrate that the two teams learned by expanding their repertoire of actions, albeit experiencing different processes. Results point to the central role of shared mental models and key influencing factors, such as commitment and participation (team cohesion), team climate (psychological safety), and leadership style. Unlike previous studies on team learning that concentrated on existing teams in organisations, the current research studied purposely created teams working at transforming their practices and showed that they can successfully learn if specific conditions are achieved.     

Determinants of increasing duration of first unemployment among first degree holders in Rwanda: a logistic regression analysis

Unexpectedly, the duration of first unemployment among first degree holders has quickly increased in Rwanda after considerable loss of the skilled labour during the war and Genocide perpetrated against Tutsi in 1994. The time it takes a higher education graduate to land a first employment is a key indicator for the evaluation of and optimal investment in higher education. A long-term first unemployment has negative psychosocial and economic consequences, and is an interplay of diversified factors. Yet, these factors have not been ascertained in Rwanda, whereas their knowledge is crucial for an efficient planning of higher education and employability of the graduates. This study aimed to fill in this knowledge gap for the period 1998–2009. We fitted a binary logistic regression model to data from the 2010 Employer and Graduate Survey (n = 1007) that was conducted by the National University of Rwanda. The results showed that the duration of first unemployment was significantly associated to the graduate’s age, job search method, acquired skills, further graduate studies, monthly salary and category of employing institution. The results suggest that the higher education sector should identify and fill skills gaps in the existing curricula or its delivery with reference to the labour market requirements.     

Overeducation on the Belgian labour market: evaluation and analysis of the explanatory factors through two types of approaches

This paper examines the incidence and determinants of overeducation in the Belgian private sector. Two different approaches are used to define overeducation by means of data on characteristics of employees and employers. Using the 1995 Structure of Earnings Survey, between 22% and 24% of the workforce is found to be overeducated. Results support the idea that employers view labour market experience as a substitute for formal education. They also show that male workers and people employed in state‐owned firms are less affected by overeducation. Further results suggest that the size of the establishment has a very weak (negative) impact on overeducation.