A nine‐country survey of youth in Europe: selected findings and issues

A nine‐country survey of the life orientations, values and institutional trust of 8948 young people at the upper end of the secondary school age range was set up at the University of Würzburg in the year 2000. Key findings demonstrate that these young people value personal autonomy and are orientated to success in their professional lives and that they especially trust human rights and environmental groups. Religion is associated positively with humanitarianism and in some countries negatively with modernity. These findings provide an indication of the typical life stances of future opinion‐formers and illustrate methodological issues thrown up by international research.     

AN EXPERIENTIALLY‐BASED TRAINING PROGRAMME IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

An innovative training programme providing second year students with a real taste of civil engineering practice through the construction of full‐size structures was introduced at the Nanyang Technological Institute, Singapore. Students are divided into companies, each responsible for executing the construction project for a profit, and in accordance with contract requirements in the forms of specifications and design drawings. Each company is sub‐divided into management, office and field groups. Thus the students, through a mandatory rotation of the role play, gain valuable experience in the field, office and management functions through personal involvement in such a real‐life project. To reflect the objectives of the programme, a system of assessment was developed based on the student performance at the team, group and individual levels. Due to the short history of the programme and since a true test of the effectiveness of this type of training is through the performance of the graduates, a summative evaluation is difficult to make at the present time. However, some interim feedback from the students, staff members and industrialists on students’ performance subsequent to their second year course work suggest that the programme has served well in achieving its intended objectives.     

Demand for Stimulation in Young People with Different Levels of Creativity

The relevant literature indicates strong need for novelty, change and exploration in creative people. This study investigated the relationship between demand for stimulation in 100 high school students and their creativity in problem solving situations. A significant relationship was found between the demand for varied stimulation (adventure, novelty, risk) and cognitive flexibility and complexity, nonconformism and spontaneity, as well as tolerance for cognitive incompatibilities. The data help to explain the conditions that are particularly favourable for these people to function in their social environment.