Business Financial Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Business Financial Analysis - Assignment Example Insurance industry has become one of the most fundamental sectors in the performance of any economy. Businesses, private organizations, and individuals all insure their products and property to shield them from recording significant losses and potential threats to going concern problem.The choice of state farm insurance has been propelled by the better ranking and the immense interests that investors have on the insurance segment of the economy. Any economic sector that fails to develop robust insurance firms and businesses are bound to record losses that arise due to the uncertain nature of operations.This paper therefore analyze the financial performance of state farm insurance, its performance in the industry, products, and leadership styles that have been pursued by the company to achieve the core objectives. State farm insurance was founded with the core object of providing insurance to the automotives of farmers before it later ventured into other services provision and increas ed its products range. The company recorded significant growth in the lifetime and is one of the top ranked companies according to the Fortune 500 Company ranking. Companies that operate in highly competitive industry must ensure continuous monitoring of their financial performance and satisfaction of the interests of their stakeholders for them to be going concern. It is for this purpose that potential investors and trhose who wish to engage in trade in the stock market will value the analysis. The use of financial ratios and other financial techniques will be involved in the analysis of the business. INTRODUCTION Insurance industry has become one of the most fundamental sectors in the performance of any economy. Businesses, private organizations, and individuals all insure their products and property to shield them from recording significant losses and potential threats to going concern problem. The choice of state farm insurance has been propelled by the better ranking and the im mense interests that investors have on the insurance segment of the economy. Any economic sector that fails to develop robust insurance firms and businesses are bound to record losses that arise due to the uncertain nature of operations. State farm insurance growth in business and operation also makes it suitable for analysis and consideration. COMPANY BACKGROUND State farm insurance was formed in 1922 by its policyholders to insure automobiles. At the early stages, the company was entirely engaged in the insurance of auto of farmers before extending their operations to cover the insurance of banking services, financial services, and life insurance (Mundy 16). George Mecherle who was a retired farmer and was interested in improving the welfare of the members founded it. The company has recorded tremendous growth of both employees and the number of company agents. State farm insurance has expanded its operations in other countries like Canada and has operations in most of the states in America (Mundy 18). State farm insurance was heavily hit by the recession in the financial sector since many policy holders were unable to pay for their insurance. The company has since recorded growth in their base and has policyholders of about 80 million people. MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE Management is the act of planning the future now. An organization that is aimed at surviving in the dynamic and competitive market must have a strong management and visionary leadership. Rust ensured that state farm mutual insurance had a well-educated staff. He believed that through training and knowledge, the employees input, and efficiency will be increased. State farm therefore incurred large amounts of money in taking their employees for further training and education. Better leadership ensured that the future could be forecasted and that risks inherent in the business were absorbed by the business. Management of state farm also motivated their staffs by giving out better packages to their emp loyees and investing heavily on talents (Millenson 45). Rust, the chairperson of the board has thus succeeded in the winning of the confidence and trust of their employees. FINANCIAL ANALYSIS State farm insurance recorded a decline in their revenue and earnings in the financial year 2011. This was attributed to the increased number claims. Moreover, the large portfolio of

Information technology for pims pumps Essay Example for Free

Information technology for pims pumps Essay Analysis section 1 Background/to identification of problem Pims Pumps are an industrial pumping company which are involved in the distribution, installation and maintenance of industrial pumping units. The company has a large fleet of vans and many specialised tools and lots of equipment. Currently all of the equipment is logged in and out of the workshop and vans and this information is stored on paper. Analysis section 2 identification of the prospective user(s) The prospective users are the managers of the business all of whom are computer literate and are already using a computer system for other aspects of the business. The company have a small network of computers installed and all involved are competent in opening and using Microsoft access 2000 Analysis section 3 identification of user needs and acceptable limitations The system needs to be able to store large amounts of data about the whereabouts of equipment, it must be able to search through the data for any specified criteria, it must be able to be edited, it must be secure and user friendly. Interview Example documents from user Observation The proposed system can only be tested to a certain extent on being able to store large amounts of data. Analysis section 4 realistic appraisal of the feasibility of potential solutions. Analysis section 5 justification of chosen solution I have chosen to use this system because Analysis section 6 description of current system data sources and destinations The current system involves the user logging in and out equipment to vans and back into the warehouse. The user must enter his/her name, the date and time, the registration of the vehicle they are taking it to, the name of the piece of equipment and the serial number of the piece of equipment. At the end of each week the logbook except for the most recent page is taken to the admin office and stored in a filing cabinet in date order. When a piece of equipment is missing, needed of has been damaged the user can then refer back to the log book to find out who if anyone still has the piece of equipment and who else has used it recently. This can be very time consuming, as the user has to visually scan through the logbooks until he comes to the entry, which could be anything up to 15 pages. This could easily result in human error and is a big waste of time Analysis section 8 data flow diagram of current system. At current there is no flow of data as the information is simply logged and referred to if needed in the future. Analysis section 7 objectives of the project Input tasks (Data entry / Modification / View) The system will provide a user-friendly simple interface with the initial user allowing them to enter the same information as they usually do just on a keyboard. This should avoid all complications. The user interface for the initial user will be very secure to try and prevent accidental damage to the system however the management features will be able to be accessed by the management team through a password. There will be a user guide and a trouble shooting section to try and solve any potential problems. The system will be presented in form view with a main menu and various forms for different functions Output tasks (Reports) The system will be able to produce a report showing the location of any piece of equipment, or all the equipment one member of staff has recently used or all the equipment currently in a particular van. The system must be able to search through all the records for any criteria and produce a report for each one Processing tasks. The system must be able to process the information and sort it into any order that the user wishes. Quantitative performance considerations The system is going to be run over a long period of time and so will need to be able to store a very large amount of data. This s one thing I will not be able to test to its full extent however I can estimate through hardware performance whether the system is adequate or not. Qualitative evaluation criteria Data security of the new system The system will have security passwords and all obvious features that would allow the user to enter restricted areas of the system would be disabled. The system will prompt the user to save changes or automatically save changes on exit anyway. Analysis section 9 Data flow diagram of new system Analysis section 10 E-R Model Project stage 2 : design Design section 1 Overall system design The system will involve a series of tables, queries, reports and forms all linked together to provide a user-friendly system capable of all of the system requirements. I will have tables for vans, equipment, warehouse and users and will link these together and display them on one form. There will be a menu form giving the user options and security passwords for management to access and edit existing data or to view existing data. All of the data entry will be validated and the tables will be set to certain data types to try and ensure the user is entering the correct information. There will be four main tables related to bookings, employees, equipment and vehicles. There will also be four forms based upon these tables and then a main menu form for easy navigation of my database system Design section 2 Description of modular structure of system. The system will be based around 4 main tables. These are TblEmployees, which contains information about the employees that work at the company. TblEquipment, which lists equipment, details about it, its current location and a list of who has recently used it. TblVehicles will contain a list of all of the vans that Pims Pumps use and contain a list of all the equipment that is currently in each van. TblBookings will record all the bookings in an out that a piece of equipment makes and records the equipment and employee ID numbers. These tables will all be linked together in an entity relationship diagram. Design section 3 Definition of data requirements The database will have to store relevant information about the employees using the booking system information about the companys vehicles and equipment information. The fields I will store in my equipment table are as follows: 1. Equipment ID A unique number assigned to each piece of equipment. 2. Description a brief description of the piece of equipment 3. Service interval The next date when the piece of equipment is due to be serviced The fields I will store in my employee table are as follows: 1. Employee name full name of the employee 2. Employee ID a unique number assigned to each employee The fields I will store in my vehicles table are as follows: 1. Registration The registration number of my vehicle 2. Vehicle ID A unique number assigned to each vehicle I will also have a bookings table, which will store the employee and equipment ID for each booking of equipment, and the date on which the booking was made. This will enable me to run a query to find out for example what equipment any employee has used or what equipment is currently in a certain van etc. Design section 4 Identification of storage requirements and media Development hardware I can design my system on any hardware running Microsoft Windows 95 or later and that is capable of running Microsoft Access at speed. I do not require any additional specific hardware for designing my database. End-user hardware The end user already has hardware capable of running my database and all the staff are familiar with Microsoft based programs. Development software I will design the database in Microsoft Access as this is very flexible and powerful enough to undertake all or the required tasks End-user software The end user will also have to use Microsoft Access as that is the only program that my database will run on I will design the database to be user friendly and limit access to all of its functions to try and prevent accidental damage to the system. Design section 5 Identification of suitable algorithms for data transformation Queries Macros Visual basic code Design section 6 identification of any validation required I have several input masks throughout my tables however no validations are needed. The input masks that ii have used are simply in place to ensure that the user is entering the correct information or at least information that is in the correct format. Design section 7 overall user interface design Here is a plan of the layout of my main menu; Design section 8 Sample of planned data capture and entry (e. g. forms Design section 9 sample of planned data validation Design section 8 Description of record/database structure normalisation Normalisation Tables design Design section 11 Sample of planned valid output (e. g. reports). I will produce reports based on queries related to different things however the format will remain the same. Below is an example of what a report would look like if the user queried for what equipment an employee has recently used: Design section 12 Database design including relations, foreign keys, and primary keys. Entity-relationship diagram List and describe all relations separately 1. There is a one to many relationship from Equipment ID in the Equipment table to Equipment ID in the booking table. This enables there to be many pieces of equipment logged in the bookings table. 2. There is a one to many relationship from Employee ID in the Employees table to Employee ID in the Bookings table. This enables there to be many employees listed in the bookings table of that one employee can have many bookings. Indicate all primary and foreign keys for each table TblEquipments primary key is Equipment ID and it contains no foreign keys TblBookings primary key is Booking ID and it contains Equipment ID and Employee ID as foreign keys TblVehicles primary key is Vehicle ID and it contains no foreign keys TblEmployees primary key is Employee ID and it contains no foreign keys Design section 13 Planned measures for security and integrity of data Design section 14 Planned measures for systems security Design section 15 Overall test strategy Project stage 3 : Technical solution Project stage 4 : System testing Test section 1- Design of test plan strategy Test section 2 Minimal test data Test section 3 Expected results for typical test data Test section 4 Erroneous data (Check forms reject invalid data) Test section 5 Expected results for extreme data. Check that data just within range is accepted and stored Check that calculations using extreme data works Test section 6 Hard copy of representative samples of test runs Project stage 5 : Maintenance Maintenance section 1 System overview Maintenance section 2 Summary of features used Maintenance section 3 -Sample of detailed algorithm design using a recognised methodology Maintenance section 4 Annotated listings of program code, macro code tailoring Maintenance section 5 Screenshots (Mainly from design view) Table screenshots. Reports screenshots Query screenshots Macros screenshots Visual basic code Maintenance section 6 List/description of package items developed Project stage 6 : User manual User manual Brief introduction User manual Samples of actual screen displays in situ User manual Samples of error messages and/or error recovery procedures Project stage 7 : Appraisal Appraisal section 1 Comparison of project performance against objectives Evaluation of end-user requirements Evaluation of the qualitative criteria Evaluation of the quantitative criteria.

The Human Mating Game :: essays research papers

Human Mating Game   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It's a dance as old as the human race. At cocktail lounges and church socials, during office coffee breaks and dinner parties-- most blatantly, perhaps, in the personal ads in newspapers and magazines-- men and women participate in a ritual that has been embedded in our existence since the dawn of man. Beginning at young ages, humans start learning to master the art of attracting someone of the opposite sex, one day hoping to find the perfect mate. Whether it was the physical aspect, personality aspect, or the chemical aspect of attraction, there is something that attracts mankind to members of the other sex. The question is, 'How do you interpret these signals and how do you respond to them?';   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Researchers and educators are beginning to observe that the age that children start to take notice of the opposite sex. As early as the pre-teen years children start 'going out.'; Many parents fear that their kids are being pushed into adulthood too quickly. Yet, they recognize that pre-teen relationships often resemble child's play more than teenage romance. Pre-teens pair up to impress their friends. Within a group of pre-teens, they might constantly trade boyfriends and girlfriends because it doesn't really matter as long as each other has someone. These couples traditionally would not go out for more than a month and they may do little more than talk a few times on the phone. Fortunately, pre-teens take break-ups in stride which later prepares one for the possibility of hurting and being hurt by someone in one's future teenage and adult years (Hoose 56-63).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The early teenage years are when young adolescents begin to learn the basics of the 'Flirting Game,' especially the girls. There are 52 different nonverbal courtship behaviors used by women. 31 of these 52 flirtations were exhibited by 13-16 year old girls in a study that included going to shopping malls, ice skating rinks, and other places that adolescents congregate. The only signals missing were those at the more overt end of the spectrum, such as actual caressing. Not only were some of the signs missing, but the teens' gestures looked less natural than ones that would be made by more mature females; They laughed much louder, stared more obviously, and their moves were overall much sloppier. If there was a leader among the group, the followers usually modeled their behavior on the leader of the pack.

Internet Critique Essay

Internet is an incredible and enormous source of information and, thereby, information searched on Internet must be evaluated for credibility to effectively serve the variety of users. This paper provides a critique of the website â€Å"Healthline†, according to the criteria of Thede and Sewell (2010). Healthline is one of the popular website among Internet users, that offers users to search for health topic and medical advise online (http://www.healthline.com). The users can find different treatment options available for a diagnosis as well as information about the drugs. It also allows the users to search for a specialist depending on their residential area. The criteria illustrated by Thede and Sewell (2010) is important in guiding users to differentiate between reliable and unreliable information. By using this criteria users become knowledgeable about evaluating the credibility of a website. The questions posed in the checklist prompt critical thinking process, and leads us to find the underlying intent of the website. The criteria assist users to check the validity of information by finding if the information is peer-reviewed or verified by qualified editor. Only if the found health information were from a valid scholarly source then it would be trusted. If the user’s intent is to validate the information then this criteria should be applied to any other website regardless of the underlying intent. For instance, commercial website’s sole intent is to sale their products. The Internet users now can search on the web for other websites that offer peer reviews on that product. Source Healthline runs by a company Healthline Networks Inc. Originally founded in 1999 but re-launched in 2005 with current name. Detailed description is given about the company’s motto, board of directors and management team in company-info section. A search for a specific disease results in a choice to go to different websites or choose the articles that are listed. If the editorial team does the article then no author name is specified, but it’s reviewed by a qualified MD with or without their credentials specified. But if the article is from an encyclopedia or another publisher, there is only author name is given with their affiliation and article’s published date but no author’s credentials. The last review date of an article is shown at the bottom of the page. The publisher name is shown as well with the copyright information. If author name is displayed, there is no link to contact the author. The link is available if the article is licensed from another publisher. There is no link available to contact the article reviewer. Funding Healthline is found to be a commercial site, generating its revenue mainly from the advertisement. It’s a free website for users. The home page is attractive and shows the advertisement at top and bottom of the page. There is also video advertisement with no audio, resulting in less distraction. The advertisements are clearly labeled and don’t spoil the user experience, therefore making the navigation easier. Validity and Quality The home page of Healthline shows the accessed date on top of the page and copyright information at the bottom. The last reviewed date is displayed at the bottom of each individual article. New articles are shown at the home page with the name of the editorial team member on top. But if user is looking for something specific then some of the articles searched are almost two years old. User has to thoroughly search for up to date information. There are appeared to be no content and typing errors. Information appears to be non-bias. The language used is comprehensible to a general user and lacks the jargon terms. If user navigates to the company info, the purpose of the website is clearly stated. Some of the articles are written by the editorial team and reviewed by an MD with published date but no credentials, while other articles are sourced from a third party publisher with some links functioning. The website claims that articles that are done by Healthline editorial teams are reviewed by the board of certified physicians and medical editors. Detailed information about Healthline medical advisory board and their editorial team is also available on the website, including the name of each member with brief summary of their credentials. Healthline acknowledges licensing the medical and health content from third parties for publication, with clear depiction of their name and a valid link. Some of their third party publisher reference partner include A.D.A.M., GALE Cengage Learning, Gold Standard, NBC Universal, StayWell, Harvard Health Publications, Reed Elsevier and more. Privacy Healthline privacy policy is well outlined in the company-info section. They clearly state what information they are collecting from users and with whom they share this information with. They gave a detailed overview of what type of anonymous information they are collecting. Anonymous information includes the type of queries done on the website by a user, but doesn’t include any personal information such as, name email-address or phone number. User can choose not to pass-on this anonymous information by disabling the cookies. Healthline pledges not to share any personal information of registered users to the third parties. In comparison to the recognized privacy policy statement of HON (Health on The Net Foundation, 2011) website, the personal information collected is also not shared with any third party. However, HON also gathers â€Å"non-personal† information using their web-server. HON’s privacy statement is short and lacks the details about the non-personal information. On the other hand, Healthline company-info section not only clarifies in detail to the users what are the â€Å"Cookies† and â€Å"Web Beacons†, but also specifies the privacy policy for the children under thirteen. Summary To summarize, the criteria by Thede and Sewell helps user develop a sense to evaluate the sources and credibility of information, based on author’s qualifications and credentials, source of publication, website’s purpose, and website’s privacy policy. All of the criteria are found to be of most importance in helping user to evaluate a website for credibility, especially if user is searching information about their health. The healthline doesn’t meet some of those criteria. The criterion of source is not met because of the lack of consistency in providing author’s name and credentials. Healthline needs to develop a consistency in displaying author’s name, credentials, affiliation, link to contact the author, article’s last reviewed date, and link to contact the article reviewer. The validity and quality criterion is also partially met. The third party publisher’s validity is verifiable in some case where links are functioning. Healthline needs to specify credentials of the article reviewers as well as the name of their editorial team’s member who wrote the article. Also the health information needs to be up to date. Healthline meets the criteria of funding and privacy policy. It clearly expresses its purpose, and acknowledges generating revenues form advertisement. Its privacy policy gives user a detailed view about the anonymous and personal information and how it is used, gaining user’s trust.

High School Experience

When you start a new school or start a new grade you have all these emotions that run threw your head that may stress you out. When I started high school I had some problems along the way one of the problems I had was getting to school and class on time. Another thing that I had a problem with was all the homework and projects. The last thing that I worried about was making friends. After my first year at Brien McMahon high school I moved across town and went to another school called Norwalk High School. My first year of high school it was really fun and stressful at some points. One of my problems were getting to school and class on time. It was really stressful because the bus would come very early and I would have trouble waking up in the morning. Every first period I was late or missed class it was hurting my grade really bad so I asked my mom if she could bring me to school in the morning. With her bringing me to school it was easier to wake up and get ready for school. My attendance had improved by doing that as well. During the school year I had big problems keeping up with my homework and bringing projects on time. One day I really was tired of getting bad grades so I decided to stay after school and get some extra help for my homework and it help me understand the work a lot better it also help me do better on test and quizzes. When I had a project I would stay after school and get an idea or advice for my project. Staying after school gave me a boost of cofidence in me and my work. After my first year at Brien McMahon I had moved to another school called Norwalk High school. The first week was terrible I didn’t know anybody there which made class very boring. The next week I was in gym class when a group of kids that used to play on my basketball team saw me and made me feel welcomed to the school. I started to sit with them at lunch as the year went by sitting with them I made lots of friends my first year and it ended up being very fun. I graduated at Norwalk high knowing so much people and having a lot of friends when I look back to it im glad I went there and I wouldn’t change it for nothing. When you start a new school or start a new grade you have all these emotions that run threw your head that may stress you out. If you just think about the positive In school you will have a lot of fun and learn a lot. One good reason you should stay in school is because you need a education it will help you in the long run.

How to Write an Autobiography Essay

How to Write an Autobiography Essay How to Write an Autobiography Essay You will be asked to write an autobiographical essay at some point of your academic life. Usually, an autobiographical essay is required when applying for a scholarship. For some students writing this type of essay is a threatening and an impossible task; for others, it comes naturally. If you fall under the first category, here are some useful tips on writing an autobiography essay. How to write an autobiography essay? First and the most essential thing about writing an autobiography essay is that you should chronologically list the events of your life. For example: â€Å"I was born in 1987 and I went to kindergarten in my hometown. I studied in Coyote High School and etc.† Yes, an autobiographical essay is about you but you must pick a topic about yourself that will show who you are, what drives you and what makes you special. It is true that not all of us have the most amazing childhood in the world. It would be good if we could start our autobiographical essay with how we went to South Africa and helped on a voluntary project but not many of us have that kind of experience. Do not worry about that though. When writing an autobiographical essay focus on your life, your family, the region you are born in, etc. There is so much about you, your family and culture that you accept it as everyday boring events but actually, it can be of great interest to the person reading your essay. The purpose of the essay is to highlight the best in you. So brainstorm on your culture, your holidays, and your lifestyle. Have you grown up in the countryside or in a big town? Do you enjoy hiking, surfing, skiing, horse riding, etc.? Gather all interesting moments and aspects of your life and turn them into an engaging essay. Pick up positive moments and experiences or a specific story that will grab the audience’s attention. Structure and body of an autobiographical essay The structure and body of an autobiographical essay are the same as any other kind of the essay. You start with an introduction. The purpose of the introduction in an autobiographical essay is to describe your strongest qualities which you believe will help you get the scholarship by telling a specific story or by summarizing more than one. The introduction has to be strong and captivating. You may start with a line like At the moment I was falling from the tree I have realized †¦Ã¢â‚¬  or â€Å"The first day my mother/father made me †¦Ã¢â‚¬  or â€Å"There is nothing more worse than a dream come true and I realized that when †¦Ã¢â‚¬  See, it grabbed your attention so it will also interest the attention of others. One of the ways to understand whether you are writing a good autobiographical essay is to give it to someone to read; in fact, show it to more than one person. After that continue with the body of the essay. Its purpose is to strengthen the initial impression about you that was created in the introduction. In an autobiography essay things are strictly individual. Use supporting details on what you have stated in the introduction, do not overwrite or include irrelevant information. The best advice here may be to keep it straightforward and simple. Use your own words, experience and thoughts. In an autobiography essay emotions are important but do not rely only on them, keep the essay logical and organized. Be optimistic and positive; it will create a good impression. End up with a good conclusion. The purpose of the conclusion is to create a sense of positivism and hope. The most important thing here is not to restate a single argument or story, but to create a whole positive picture about you and your future, and to create that kind of closure in the audience. Proofread your autobiography essay. Make sure your essay is free from grammatical and spelling mistakes. Also, ensure it is written in a positive, logical and well organized manner. Ask for professional opinion before turning it it. Write intelligently with a positive outlook. Make sure your essay flows.

Condensation Reaction Definition in Chemistry

Condensation Reaction Definition in Chemistry A condensation reaction is a chemical reaction between two compounds where one of the products is water, ethanol, acetic acid,  hydrogen sulfide, or ammonia. A condensation reaction is also known as a  dehydration reaction. This type of reaction forms an addition product and water in the presence of a catalyst or under acidic or basic conditions. The opposite of a condensation reaction is a hydrolysis reaction. Condensation Reaction Examples Reactions that produce acid anhydrides are condensation reactions. For example: acetic acid (CH3COOH) forms acetic anhydride ((CH3CO)2O) and water by the condensation reaction2 CH3COOH → (CH3CO)2O H2OCondensation reactions are also involved in the production of many polymers. In organisms, biosynthesis reactions form peptide bonds between amino acids and are involved in fatty acid formation. Examples of named condensation reactions include aldol condensation, Dieckman condensation, Clasien condensation, and Knoevenagel condensation reactions. Sources Bruckner, Reinhard (2002). Advanced Organic Chemistry (First ed.). San Diego, California: Harcourt Academic Press. pp. 414–427. ISBN 0-12-138110-2.Condensation Reaction. IUPAC Copendium of Chemical Terminology (Gold Book). IUPAC.Voet, Donald; Voet, Judith; Pratt, Chriss (2008). Fundamentals of Biochemistry. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons, Inc. p. 88. ISBN 978-0470-12930-2.

Windsurfing History

Windsurfing History Windsurfing or boardsailing is a sport that combines sailing and surfing. It uses a one-person craft called a sailboard thats comprised of a board and a rig. The Inventors of the Board The sailboard had its humble beginnings in 1948 when Newman Darby first conceived of using a handheld sail and rig mounted on a universal joint to control a small catamaran. While Darby did not file for a patent for his design, he is generally recognized as the inventor of the first sailboard.  Darby did eventually file for and receive a design patent for a one-person sailboat in the 1980s. His design was called the Darby 8 SS sidestep hull. But by then other inventors had patented designs for a sailboard. The first patent for a sailboard was awarded to sailor and engineer Jim Drake and surfer and skier Hoyle Schweitzer  in 1970 (filed 1968 - reissued 1983).  They called their design a Windsurfer, which measured 12 feet (3.5 m) long and weighed 60 pounds (27 kg). Drake and Schweitzer based the Windsurfer on Darbys original ideas and fully credited him with its invention. According to the official Windsurfing website: The heart of the invention (and patent) was mounting a sail on a universal joint, requiring the sailor to support the rig, and allowing the rig to be tilted in any direction. This tilting of the rig fore and aft allows the board to be steered without the use of a rudder - the only sail craft able to do so. In a patent abstract, Drake  and Schweitzer describe their invention as a ...wind-propelled apparatus in which a mast is universally mounted on a craft and supports a boom and sail. Specifically, a pair of curved booms are accurately connected athwart the mast and secure the sail there between the position of the mast and sail being controllable by the user but being substantially free from pivotal restraint in the absence of such control. Schweitzer began mass-producing polyethylene sailboards (Windsurfer design) in the early 1970s. The sport became very popular in Europe.  The first world championship of windsurfing was held in 1973  and, by the late 70s, windsurfing fever had Europe firmly in its grasp with one in every three households having a sailboard. Windsurfing would go on to become an Olympic sport in 1984 for men and 1992 for women. The First Woman on the Board Newmans wife  Naomi Darby  is generally considered the first woman windsurfer and helped her husband build and design the first sailboard. Together, Newman and Naomi Darby described their invention in their article The Birth of Windsurfing: Newman Darby found he could steer a conventional 3 meter sailboat by tipping it fore and aft enough to make turns even without a rudder. This is when (late 1940s) Newman got interested in steering a boat without a rudder. Several sailboats and 2 1/2 decades later (1964) he designed the first universal joint to go along with a flat bottom sailing scow. This sailboard was fitted with a universal joint mast, a centerboard, tail fin and kite shaped free sail and thus windsurfing was born.

Law and the Constitution in Canada Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Law and the Constitution in Canada - Essay Example Legal reasoning is essential in explaining the inherent difference between partisan and impartial legal decisions. Legal reasoning remains indispensable in arbitration of varied beliefs and values of the Canadian society towards acceptance of legal decisions2. Moreover, legal reasoning is domineering in harmonizing Canadian society perspectives about legal integrity. Furthermore, it enables the Canadian society to comply with SCC legal decisions over varied cases even though they may seem to disagree. Similarly, legal scholarship has had notable contributions to realization of a more acceptable Canadian legal system through establishment of doctrinal scholarship and creation of linkage with other disciplines. Through legal scholarship, legal scholars established a doctrinal analysis system that explains, criticizes, and analyses Canadian judicial decisions. In addition, legal scholars have created brilliant doctrinal scholarship proposals methods of decision making within judicial systems especially in constitutional law. Besides doctrinal analysis, legal scholarship has ensured incorporation of other discipline concepts such as economics, philosophy, and literary theory in making legal decisions3 (Bourne 2011). Due to the aforementioned concepts and functions of legal reasoning and scholarship, the Canadian society have accepted Aboriginals rights and title as outlined in section 35 (1). SCC have the legal rights to interpret s35 (1) to the Canadian society, a responsibility that they have achieved through legal reasoning (Turner 2006). In addition, legal scholarship and reasoning remains imperative in explaining the inherent judicial process in making decision relating to acceptance of aboriginals rights. Acceptance and affirmation of aboriginal rights required doctrinal scholarship analysis and legal reasoning of several cases including the Delgamuukw

FNB Lunch Evaluation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

FNB Lunch Evaluation - Assignment Example I would say that the greeting of guests met expectations. I say this because the staff certainly did their job in making everyone feel welcome, but they did not go above and beyond that which was expected. In addition, I did feel as if much of the greeting activity was much too rehearsed. It seems to me that guests should feel truly valued and that the staff sincerely appreciates their presence. This can be accomplished by more individualized greetings, rather than memorized and rehearsed innuendos. The individual that greeting me certainly smiled and had a happy demeanor, but not much eye contact was maintained. That being said, I certainly cannot flaw their performance as I certainly felt welcome and well received, just not enough to warrant a score of ‘exceeding expectations’. When considering the seating of guests, I would certainly comment that this activity exuded expectations. While the process was also a bit rehearsed, that is exactly what it should have been like in this situation. Servers walked each guest to their table, pulled customer chairs out in a respectable manner, and allowed the guess to be comfortably seated before presenting them with a menu. Once each guest, myself certainly included, had the menu then the server informed everyone of what the next step in the process should be. Since all of the steps were expected of them according to the rubric, I would certainly comment that the seating of guests exceeded expectations. After getting settled and having had a moment to hear the process for ordering, a service person asked for our drink orders. For this category, I would have to give the rating of ‘approaching expectations’ as only 2 of the 4 suggested activities was completed during this stage of the ordering process. While there were no children at the table, the server did ask the ladies what drinks they wanted first. They also effectively utilized a pivot point.

Role of Agricultural extension in rural development strategies of Sub Research Proposal

Role of Agricultural extension in rural development strategies of Sub Saharan Africa - Research Proposal Example Tourism has been the major industry for more than two decades but the farmers of Zanzibar are not benefitting from the estimated 1.2 million tourists that visit the island annually. Once known for its spice plantations, large percent of Zanzibar’s land remain uncultivated and they import more than 70 % of vegetables and fruits (Nyang and Webo, 2012: 154). This paper proposes the use of farmer field schools in Zanzibar to help smallholder farmers make decisions, solve problems and obtain new techniques and skills. Farmers can reap a lot of benefits if they can apply what they will be taught in these schools. The farmers will also increase their productivity and profits through sharing knowledge with neighbors. There is a great need for field schools because: smallholder farmers in Zanzibar have very little knowledge on modern farming methods, many of them didn’t attend school and they only use conventional farming practices on their farm. Arable land in Zanzibar could be increased a great deal with introduction of these schools. Improving quality and productivity through group access to production, extension and training services and reduce cost of production through purchasing of farm inputs (including fertilizers, seeds and other equipment) in large volumes. The use of farmer field schools approach as an analytical framework began in South-East Asia in the 1980s and has played a big role in the farming sector. Farmer field schools approach has changed dramatically. The impact of rapid and sustained agricultural productivity in farming practices of Zanzibar is highlighted in literature. As put by Dixon et al, (2001: 108), factors that determine the growth potential of a farming system include: favorable access to services and infrastructure and appropriate resource endowments. This research is based on the assumptions that smallholder farmers of Zanzibar have little or no knowledge

Architecture Good Practices on Project Management Research Paper

Architecture Good Practices on Project Management - Research Paper Example Project managers make use of various tools to achieve organizational goals. â€Å"I Opt† is one such tool that facilitates the process of teambuilding (Kliem and Anderson). Project managers in the contemporary organizational environment use this tool to process information and make decisions that influence teambuilding. Success of a project fundamentally depends upon the skills of people as they are â€Å"the most critical project management resource† (Nauman and Khan 1). There is a lot of variation in the types of skills a project manager is expected to exhibit. The planning and management processes are much different from other processes like issuance of customer invoices both in nature and scope (Cooke-Davies and Arzymanow 172). In order to gain customers’ satisfaction, the project manager needs to exhibit both good business and technical skills. Such an integrated framework is shown in the figure below: Integrated framework (Angelides 79). Likewise, effective project communication is a fundamental part of good project management practice. â€Å"Project communications management is required to ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage, and ultimate disposition of project information† (Peltoniemi and Jokinen). Works cited: Angelides, Demos C.

The Role of New Media Technologies in the Promotion Research Proposal

The Role of New Media Technologies in the Promotion - Research Proposal Example It is the evolutionary break between the world before the internet and the world that has emerged since its proliferation. The way in which humans now communicate has had an elementary shift. Communication is accomplished through writing, verbalizing or through interpretation of imagery. Communication is codified with signals that indicate the context for the content. The impersonal nature of internet communication has been compensated for by the development of social languages that are in many ways kinder and friendlier than in previous forms of more formal communication. Therefore, the nature of how emotion is indicated in written language has become symbolized through pictorials, shortened references such as lol, meaning laugh out loud, and the use of capital letters or small letters. Furthermore, because of the heavy use of advertising, the way in which movement of digital imagery and impact of color usage has been defined has changed elements of the way in which humans respond t o what they see (Lievrouw and Livingstone 2006, p. 37).  It is the evolutionary break between the world before the internet and the world that has emerged since its proliferation. The way in which humans now communicate has had an elementary shift. Communication is accomplished through writing, verbalizing or through interpretation of imagery. Communication is codified with signals that indicate the context for the content. The impersonal nature of internet communication has been compensated for by the development of social languages that are in many ways kinder and friendlier than in previous forms of more formal communication. Therefore, the nature of how emotion is indicated in written language has become symbolized through pictorials, shortened references such as lol, meaning laugh out loud, and the use of capital letters or small letters. Furthermore, because of the heavy use of advertising, the way in which movement of digital imagery and impact of color usage has been defin ed has changed elements of the way in which humans respond to what they see (Lievrouw and Livingstone 2006, p. 37).   The use of a window display is the first step of VM (visual marketing). In creating a window that has an allure to the shopper, the shop is creating a marketing dialogue with the potential buyer. The window, through the use of the media of interior design, art, and visual communication, sustains a communication with the consumer in providing information about seasonal changes and the point of view of the collection within the store. The use of strategic communication addresses the brand of the store while the tactical communication is defined by the changes of seasons as interpreted by the collection and the promotions that are time specific (Bhalla, Swati, and Anuraag 2010, p. 145). Through the use of a well-designed window, a shop can help a shopper understand what to expect once inside the door as well as attract them into the outlet.  

The Software Development Lifecycle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Software Development Lifecycle - Essay Example The company established various departments including marketing & sales, manufacturing, customer services, research and development, administration, and human resource and so on to handle different operations and products. The structure of the company is complicated due to its global operations and products diversification. Apple Inc has a lower level managers and middle level mangers based in different parts of the world and dealing with different issues. This complexity has posed major challenges in disseminating information across various supervisors at different levels. System Analysis The use of information system in organizations like Apple enables them to screen and obtain data from the surroundings, capture data from business operations, separate, control, select and disseminate information to the supervisors more frequently as required for decision making (Whitman & Mattord 2011, p.53). Availability of information to the managers of Apple Inc is vital for effective operation s of the company. Therefore, information system enables Apple Company to increase its competence by coordinating the activities of all the workers in various departments and in different locations to ensure they pursue common objectives of the organization (Mark 2006). Training information system enables Apple Company to achieve its objectives through standardized information. Approaches used by Apple Inc to acquire information from the employees The system analyst will have to enquire from the employees on challenges they face with the present system in the organization (Whitman & Mattord 2011, p.574). The employees will provide details of their encounters and give suggestions on what they want like to be changed in the current system (Taylor 2004, p.38). In order to achieve this, the analyst may utilize either one or a combination of approaches that will enable them to get that information from the employees and other system users (Barry & Lang 2009, pp.289). These approaches incl ude interviews, questionnaires or employees diaries. The analyst will enquire from the system users on what they think is best in the current system and require no change and what they think is not doing well as expected and need some change (Whitman & Mattord 2011, p.83). The analyst should also examine the knowledge employees have regarding the system operation and the availability of expertise either internally or externally to offer the required knowledge about the new system after it has been developed and adopted in the company (Beynon 2009, p.14). During the interview, the system users will be required to explain how they acquired training and the name of the trainer including whether they were internal or sourced from outside the organization (Shelly & Vermaat 2009, p.141). During the interviewing process, the analyst may use phone calls, video, social media or face to face interviewing in order to reach different users located in various places (Song 2011, p. 83). The use o f interview method to acquire information about the current system in Apple organization is quite expensive due to diversity of the employees and size of the organization (Whitman & Mattord 2011, p.92). Furthermore, some employees may not be open to give all their experiences or may not be able to recall all the essential details. However, this can be

The Role of New Media Technologies in the Promotion Research Proposal

The Role of New Media Technologies in the Promotion - Research Proposal Example It is the evolutionary break between the world before the internet and the world that has emerged since its proliferation. The way in which humans now communicate has had an elementary shift. Communication is accomplished through writing, verbalizing or through interpretation of imagery. Communication is codified with signals that indicate the context for the content. The impersonal nature of internet communication has been compensated for by the development of social languages that are in many ways kinder and friendlier than in previous forms of more formal communication. Therefore, the nature of how emotion is indicated in written language has become symbolized through pictorials, shortened references such as lol, meaning laugh out loud, and the use of capital letters or small letters. Furthermore, because of the heavy use of advertising, the way in which movement of digital imagery and impact of color usage has been defined has changed elements of the way in which humans respond t o what they see (Lievrouw and Livingstone 2006, p. 37).  It is the evolutionary break between the world before the internet and the world that has emerged since its proliferation. The way in which humans now communicate has had an elementary shift. Communication is accomplished through writing, verbalizing or through interpretation of imagery. Communication is codified with signals that indicate the context for the content. The impersonal nature of internet communication has been compensated for by the development of social languages that are in many ways kinder and friendlier than in previous forms of more formal communication. Therefore, the nature of how emotion is indicated in written language has become symbolized through pictorials, shortened references such as lol, meaning laugh out loud, and the use of capital letters or small letters. Furthermore, because of the heavy use of advertising, the way in which movement of digital imagery and impact of color usage has been defin ed has changed elements of the way in which humans respond to what they see (Lievrouw and Livingstone 2006, p. 37).   The use of a window display is the first step of VM (visual marketing). In creating a window that has an allure to the shopper, the shop is creating a marketing dialogue with the potential buyer. The window, through the use of the media of interior design, art, and visual communication, sustains a communication with the consumer in providing information about seasonal changes and the point of view of the collection within the store. The use of strategic communication addresses the brand of the store while the tactical communication is defined by the changes of seasons as interpreted by the collection and the promotions that are time specific (Bhalla, Swati, and Anuraag 2010, p. 145). Through the use of a well-designed window, a shop can help a shopper understand what to expect once inside the door as well as attract them into the outlet.  

Sheet Pile Design Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sheet Pile Design - Coursework Example The latter is caused by earth pressures reaching the limiting state on both side of a considered retaining structure, which thereafter moves towards the excavated area until the full-zone failure is reached. As movement can occur on the bottom part of the wall, the analysis of the structure will be taken as a free body. Thus there will be modified free earth support method (The free earth support revised method) and fixed earth support method. It is worth mentioning that both methods have assumed that active stress condition have been fully developed behind the retaining wall while the passive stress is right in front of the structure. This will allow for calculation using coulomb or Boussinesq theories that consider the actual stress distribution. 1. Modified free earth support method of analysis According to Clayton et al (1993, pp213-214), this method often gives the most economical design for retaining walls. For structure such as cantilever wall, the soil at the lower part of th e pile should be strong enough to resist overturning moments. As shown in the above figure, the passive zone should be adequate in order to prevent lateral deflection and rotation at the lower end of the wall. However, the main principle behind the modified free earth support method of analysis is the assumption that the embedment of the wall is allowed to move and this will be to a certain distance under the action of the applied lateral earth pressure; this will cause the occurrence of negative bending moments at the considered location. This results in a statically determinate structure, only stable under certain conditions. Therefore, if a cantilever wall is to be designed based on this analysis, only the external passive and active forces will be considered. For the fact that the former will not be sufficient to cancel out the latter, in case of large and tall retaining structures no equilibrium will be meet. This will be because no fixity has been assumed at the bottom of the pile, as a consequence the structure will be under mechanism. When the structure has a height greater than 3m, this will not be the ideal design as the negative moment at the bottom of the file will increase with respect to height (increase of the active stress). As a consequence, to achieve equilibrium, strut or anchor must be added in the design. The addition will placed at the top of the structure, as shown in the picture below, to cancel out the negative moment at the base. Hence, the number of anchor will be directly proportional to the height of the wall. (Delattre, 2001,p3) When anchor or tie is added, the bending moment diagram of the wall will be as shown in the picture below. It can be seen that when moment is created by the anchorage at the top, at the bottom of the pile, the negative moment has been cancelled out; this will be only if both are equal or the former is greater than the overturning moment. As a consequence equilibrium has been satisfied; a moment created by the tie is balanced by the active earth pressure above it. Lancellotta (1995, pp305) explained: â€Å"the failure mechanism envisaged in this case involves a rotation about the anchor†. Here, the rotation of moment at C (shown in the above picture) will enable for calculating the depth by which the pile has to be embedded to satisfy equilibrium against rotation; in other words, the shear strength of the soil is mobilised with respect to the depth of embedment. The equilibrium of horizontal translation gives then the force of the anchor as a high anchorage force will result in movement of the pile

Artemis Temple Essay Example for Free

Artemis Temple Essay She presided over the transition of a woman from virgin (parthenos) to married woman (gyne) and protected the virginity of those who were unmarried or wished to remain virgins (2). Artemis also oversaw marriage, childbirth and assisted with child-rearing (3). Virginity was especially emphasized in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: only virgins and men were allowed access and married or sexually active women were excluded under penalty of death. Artemis is commonly regarded as a fertility goddess, mostly because of the multitude of ‘breasts’ that cover her cult image (4). This essay will discuss three aspects of the Ancient Temple of Artemis, the style, the restoration of its architecture and its importance. The temple of Artemis was built around 550 BC and was the first temple to be entirely of marble and the largest temple ever built. The temple was financed by the wealthy king of Lydia and was designed by the Greek architect Chersiphron. Marshy ground was selected for the building site as a precaution against future earthquakes. The foundation was laid on a bed of packed charcoal and sheepskins, the column drums and architraves moved from the quarry, relates Vitruvius, by fitting them with large wheels and then, like rolling axles, having them pulled by oxen (5). It resembles the classical Greek temple: a stoic rectangular structure with mighty columns (6). The temple measured 350 by 180 feet and from the outside, its most striking feature was its more than 100 marble columns. Since it was built in the Ionic architectural style, the columns were decorated with sculptural reliefs at their bases and rosettes in their capitals (7). There were two rows of columns stretched across the front of the temple, standing about 21 feet apart and extending from the front to the back of the temple at 17 feet apart. The door in the pediment along with two windows was intended for Artemis own use (8). Inside the temple was the statue of Artemis herself, which was built from gold, silver, ebony and other stones. The temple brought in merchants, kings, and sightseers, many of donated jewellery and other treasures to Artemis and her temple. Its splendor also attracted many worshipers and pilgrims, strengthening the cult of Artemis (9). Since she was an influential figure, her fame went higher as soon as her temple was built. The Temple of Artemis was a very famous and attracted visitor from far and near. Its purpose was both a religious institution and market place. The market place itself had small models of the temple and its goddess Artemis for the fellow tourists as souvenirs to take with them. The columns at the front were decorated with intricate sculptures. It was built to honor Artemis as inside the temple was an inner room called the sanctuary that housed  a magnificent statue of the goddess. The temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times, each time it was built more impressively than the time before it. The first time it was destroyed was on the night of July 21, 356 BC, a man named Herostratus set fire to the temple in an attempt to immortalize his name (10). It caused the roof to cave in, the columns collapsed, and the statue of the goddess crashed to the ground. After the town created a law stating whoever mentioned his name would be put to death immediately. In the following two decades the temple was restored with the help of Alexander the Great. But then again in 262 AD, the temple was destroyed by the Goths and later swamped by floods, but still the residents of Ephesus vowed to rebuild it (11). However this time it was not rebuilt due to the high construction costs. A little later the temple began to lose its importance and many people were switching to Christianity and the town was completely isolated. There were attempts made to reconstruct the temple, but so far only a couple columns have been erected upon the remaining foundation.

Internationalisation of Public Relations Education

Internationalisation of Public Relations Education Introduction The main theme of the dissertation is internationalisation of public relations education. It is quite a broad topic and can be reviewed and discussed from different points of view. In this regard the selected literature first examines international public relations concepts and secondly an impact it has on public relations education. Therefore, literature review has been divided into the following major themes: International public relations (IPR) and International public relations education (IPRE). The chapter will begin by presenting the main debates about international public relations and its concepts alongside with a brief overview of factors influencing it. It will be followed by a section presenting state of research on IPR. The discussion will then move to section two international public relations education, exploring the requisites and challenges for internationalisation. Finally the chapter will summarise the key themes and points identified. The major part of the literature review focuses on contemporary research, defined as 1989-2009. International PR A growing number of publications document the development and challenges of the public relations in every major continent and region of the world (Nally, 1991, Moss et al., 1997, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003b, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Freitag and Stokes, 2009). This research refers term global PR to globalisation of the profession, which is being practises and recognised in more countries throughout the globe, while International PR refers to the planning and implementation of programmes and campaigns carried out abroad or for international audience. Hence international PR education refers to the process of adopting professional training to International PR concepts and demand. Public relations is still relatively new concern for management, even though its modern origins can be traced to the end of the last century (White, 1991). According to (Cutlip, 1994), a key researcher in the history of public relations in the U.S., the first international public relations agency The Hamilton Wright Organization was founded in 1908. International communities of professionals and scholars are increasingly interested in transferring knowledge, experiences, and best practices from national to transnational scenarios. This advancement is generated by the increasing role of public relations which is driven largely by the influence of new information technologies and globalisation (Flodin, 2003). Drawing upon this, DiStaso et al. (2009) discussed the effects of globalisation, that began with the Maastricht Treaty and NAFTAA in 1992, the WTO in 1994 and claiming it had great impact on the public relations industry. According to Szondis (2009, p.115) International public relations is the planned communication activity of a (multinational) organisation, a supra- or international institution or government through interactions in the target country which facilitates the organisation (or government) to achieve its policy or business objectives without harming the interests of the publics. There have been papers which presented international PR to be simply about how to overcome barriers that are created by other cultures, including language, laws or cultural issues, which are often indentified as problems (Wilcox et al., 2001), rather than opportunities or the manifestation of diversity. The most frequently referenced paper which stands against IPR has been Angell (1990) asserted that the variance between local countries was so great as to preclude any possibility of globalisation. A much different study, also highly referenced, has been provided by Pavlik (1987), who as early as the 1980s considered IPR one of the most rapidly growing areas of the profession, and one of the least understood. The problem with defining difference between domestically and internationally done public relations is that there is not enough research or critical assessment. While basic principles do not change, the way they are carried out from culture to culture and country to country, and the attitudes and values embedded within those different cultures or countries, are different (Wakefield, 2007b). A similar study was conducted by Botan (1992, p. 157), who argued that international public relations is always intercultural. The existing public relations body of knowledge, and public relations curricula around the world, have a U.S. bias (Sriramesh, 2002). U.S. paradigm, however, strikes with the idea of that European or non-U.S. perceptions of public relations become more of value in the twenty first century. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield (2007b), who have been practicing and researching in the area of IPR for almost two decades, believes that principles and practices of PR in Europe, emphasising social role of public relations, are more promising for effective PR in the multinational than the American-based PR-as-marketing-tool approach. He, alongside the majority of new PR schools, supports paradigms of PR incoming out of places other than the U.S. Therefore, need and call for the elsewhere theories and concepts was also a factor for a research in international/global PR. Ovaitt (1988, p.5) made an interesting suggestion saying that it was not a popular idea with marketing and advertising experts when they started thinking about internationalisation decades ago and it was not popular with public relations practitioners back to late 1980s. The idea is that what these professionals do for a living might be done on a global basis global in the sense of achieving some significant level of standardisation, not only of what is offered to customers, but also how it is presented and promoted. Public relations as a profession is not necessarily understood and practised in the same manner all around the world. This is not news per se, as several scholars (Sharpe, 1992, Vercic et al., 1996, Taylor, 2000, Rhee, 2002, Valentini, 2007) for many years have underlined that public relations requires a global understanding of cultural differences. Different studies (Kent and Taylor, 1999, Lee, 2005) show that public relations practitioners are increasingly required to be able to communicate with different international publics, no matter the size of the organisation they are working for, or whether it is private or public, including non-profit organisations. After the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Excellence Study yielded a review of normative principles (Grunig, 1992), Vercic et al. (1996) explained the importance of identifying five contextual variables that influence the practice of the normative principles. Vercic, Grunig, and Grunig (Vercic et al., 1996) proposed a global theory of public relations that was elaborated by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003a, 2003b, 2009) in their Global Public Relations Handbook and by Sriramesh (2009) in a special issue of PRism. Their global public relations theory attempted to answer the question of whether public relations theory and practice should be unique to each country or culture or whether it should be practiced in the same way everywhere. Authors answered this question by theorising that global public relations should fall in the middle between standardisation and individualisation (Grunig, 2009). The theoretical framework of Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) has been used to assess the status of public relations in countries around the world. Contextualised studies are the core component of the global public relations concept. As Vercic (2009) reported, international PR practices should represent the best practices anywhere because of their necessary complexities and reach. Global theory is not a positive theory, which describes a type of public relations that currently is practiced everywhere in the world. Research, such as that reported in Sriramesh and Vercic (2003, 2009), does show that there are many idiosyncrasies in public relations practice around the world that reflect cultural differences. It also shows that the one worldwide universal in public relations practice is what is J. Grunig have called the press agentry/publicity model (Grunig et al., 1995)-the least effective of the models. Rather, their global theory is a normative theory that argues that public relations will be most effective throughout most parts of the world (Grunig, 2009, p.2). Emphasising cross-cultural effects on reputation in multinational organizations Wakefield (2007b, 2008) argues that there still is an important distinction between global and domestic public relations practices, and that understanding those differences will contribute to better global practice. More specifically, recent research has also called into questions of need to understand how culture affects public relations. There are numbers of key researches (Grunig et al., 1995) who have written papers specifically on the subject. A similar study was conducted by Neff (1991), who has indicated that economic development is leading public relations firms down a path requiring knowledge of culture and language in addition to public relations. Perhaps one of the most influential recent publications on multiculturalism in public relations education was produced by Sriramesh (Sriramesh, 2002, Sriramesh, 2003). He has also reported that public relations education has not kept pace with the rapi d globalisation that has occurred since 1992 (Sriramesh, 2002). Sriramesh (2009) called for a need for a more thoughtful representation of many of the generic principles of public relations practice to suit the local environment, so that the body of knowledge is more holistic and relevant to global demands. However, there still is a room for an assumption that not all the practitioners require international training and international perspective. RESEARCH / CRITICS: Since the advent of the Internet, it is even more tempting to view PR practice as the same anywhere, and therefore it decreases attempts to produce research or principles that need to view à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“cross-border PR as different (Wakefield, 2007a). Despite the numerous calls for research, reviewed works and studies on global (national) public relations released in the 2000s (see table 1) (Portugal, United States see table) have recorded that this area of research is underrepresented. Despite global trends underlining increased internationalisation, these results can be interpreted to indicate that Researchers have not paid enough attention to the international perspective. An important indicator is the place international public relations occupy in the list of priority research topics. One recent example is a Study of the Priorities for Public Relations Research conducted by Deputy Dean of Media School of Bournemouth University (UK) Tom Watson (Watson, 2008, Watson, 2007)  [1 ]  .He sent 26 public relations topics to a Delphi study panel and the Top Ten PR research topics were identified, however, international perspective was excluded from the list. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield responded critically to Watsons Delphi study: First, I was surprised in finding that the topic fell all the way out of the top ten. After all, arent PR issues and challenges, along with its overall scope of practice, becoming more international with each passing year?(2007a, p. 6) Nonetheless he added: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There really are no more studies being done on international public relations now than have been done over the course of the last three decades. Those that are being published are increasingly making such statements as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“there is no such thing as local PR anymore, or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“today, everything is global. Well, if this represents what academics and practitioners are thinking, then it would stand to reason that no real different research needs to be done-that ANY PR principles, even if they are all traditionally domestic in nature, would suffice for research or practice anywhere in the world (2007a, p.7). The seminal critique in this area is also by Sriramesh (2009, p.6), who argues: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“When scholars think of, and discuss, public relations, the global perspective is often overlooked. Srirameshs (2009) critique of Mackey (Mackey, 2003), who claimed to introduce the various contemporary theories of public relations in the inaugural issue of Prism is also indicative: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The author attempted to review à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the changing vistas in public relations theory, there was not a single mention of any advances in global public relations theorising in that piece even though by 2003/that time there were several advances worth reporting'(2009, p.8). Another example is Distasso (2009). Authors surveyed 312 public relations executives and educators to examine how well practitioners and instructors perceive public relations students to be prepared for the practice, the content and value of public relations curricula and, the future of public relations education in the United States. Even though scholar mentioned globalisation as a factor increasingly influencing public relations practice he had not included it in the questionnaires or research questions. Somewhat it contrast are papers from the annual International Public Relations Research Symposium Bledcom, which reflect the diverse and up-to-date research traditions amongst scholars working in the field of public relations both within the USA and Europe (Moss et al., 1997, Newman and Vercic, 2002, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003a, Sriramesh, 2004, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Van Ruler et al., 2008, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2009). These are scholars, who systematically examines the priorities for PR research and determine international agenda These differences in research agenda are reflected/explained, to some degree, in the/by Scholars like Sriramesh, Vercic, Wakefield and others highlighted the important point that an issue of international public relations is not reflected enough in the research questions. International public relations education (IPRE) As a corollary to the process of globalisation has been the recognition of the need to make public relations education more internationally focused and future public relations professionals more internationally and interculturally competent (Lane DiStephano, 1992) / Huthcings et al., 2002 There have been numbers of calls for new public relations curricula aimed at educating staffs that can understand and meet increasing international social, economic and political complexities and challenges. (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, p. 13). The International Association of Universities (1998) supported the need for business schools to be more international in their strategy, claiming higher education must integrate an intercultural dimension into its teaching and research, if it is to fulfil its role and maintain excellence. (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 58). Another rationale for an international public relations course is the accelerating pace of societal and technological change today. These cha nges call for adaptations in academic curricula and professional development programs. There were written dozen papers on justification of international public relations education based on research in the different areas. Some went radical claiming that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“any curriculum that excludes international public relations courses is ineffective in addressing student and practitioner needs, particularly in the next century (21 century).(Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994) p.9 Factors what influence the development of IPRE are mostly the same, however they have different interpretations. The need for international courses in public relations is demonstrated further by the growing global recognition of public relations degree programs and education, a phenomenon that Cantor (1984) predicted more than twenty years ago. And indeed, previous investigation has established that the call for internationalisation of public relations education has been there for a long time and comes from both industry and academia sectors (Neff, 1991, Cottone et al., 1985). However, disagreements between practitioners and educators on a blueprint for international public relations education have also been documented (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994). A decade old survey of U.S. public relations educators and practitioners that explored the state of curricula and content in public relations education found that both practitioners and educators perceive need to incorporate courses and cont ent that will prepare future practitioners for the global landscape (Neff et al., 1999). A Public relations is a multidisciplinary area of study and practice that must change as rapidly as the context and society in which it exists (Baskin, 1989, p. 35). As public relations continues to be a globalised profession, curriculum should be updated to reflect the practice. Ten years later similar study has recorded, that having a global perspective and experience with a variety of cultures are necessary but lacking skills for advanced level practitioners (DiStaso et al., 2009, p.269). An important consideration in providing students with some skills in achieving cross-cultural understanding is the recognition that, as future business professionals and leaders, they will live in a society increasingly characterised by international labour mobility and multiculturalism. The international manager or employee will be an individual who will spend their working lives in several distinct job areas working for several organisations as well as making several sojourns to various international postings. This means that the new style employee will need to be cosmopolitan, multilingual, multifaceted and what Schneider Barsoux (1997, p. 157) refer to as a capacity to operate à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“across national borders somewhat like James Bond. Public relations education at all levels and in both communication and MBA programmes should educate students to practise public relations globally (Grunig and Grunig, 2002). However, not only do students need to be trained and prepared for this mobility, but even those who do not move to another nation face the recognition that the domestic work environment also requires some responsiveness to differing cultures (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 69). Sriramesh (2009, p.6) makes a reasonable argument that even textbooks in the US and the UK should contain more global cases and interpretations so as to give their own students a more international and holistic education, thus broadening their horizons. It is indicated that authors of universitys level public relations textbooks have not yet realised the growing importance of international public relations and thus deal marginally with it. The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) has drawn on its international membership to research and recommend standards for public relations education and has established the results of its work in two Gold papers in 1982 and 1990 (IPRA (1982) Gold paper No. 4, A Model for Public Relations Education for Professional Practice, and (1990) Gold Paper No.7, Public Relations Education Recommendations and Standards). (White, 1991) p.184-185 Not much has changed since that time. WAYS: Number of general papers were designed in response to the need for public relations education to produce well-trained, culturally sensitive practitioners (Miller, 1992, Ekachai and Komolsevin, 1998, Burbules and Torres, 2000, Bardhan, 2003, Dickerson, 2005, Tuleja, 2008). With the increasing importance of international communication, some educators had considered creating a course dedicated to international public relations (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, Taylor, 2001). In a special edition of Public Relations Review on developing teaching related materials, Taylor (2001) offered guidance to public relations educators on how to develop an international public relations curriculum because: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“New communication technologies and global communication processes create more frequent international communication (Taylor, 2001, p.2). Nevertheless, some of the Taylors conclusions sounded far too decisive: The most comprehensive way to internationalize the public relations curriculum is to offer a course dedicated to international public relations (p. 74). Creedon and Al-Khaja (2005) analysed how adding cultural competency to the list of skills and competencies required in educational programs presents an opportunity to educate a generation that will accept difference and value a global culture separate from national identity. Then again the study was rather limited the authors conducted a survey of accredited programs to determine whether or not a history course was required of their majors. Another empirical-based study argued that just talking about the importance if IPR in the classroom is not sufficient, students have to be able to live international public relations in order to understand its relevance (Bardhan, 1999, p. 19). An important portion of literature on international public relations education suggests the necessity for students to learn about other countries through immersion. According to Porth (Porth, 1997, Tuleja, 2008) the international study tour course may be a legitimate answer to critics of education who urge business schools to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“go global and to create stronger ties with the international business and academic communities. More specifically, recent research has also called into question the assumption of studying internationally. For instance, Hutchings et al. (2002, p. 58)suggests that the challenge for the education is how to devise a short-term study program that is effective in exposing international concepts to the student. Yet, foreign travel alone is not the panacea for internationalising PR education because it is difficult to manage even if having resources. Hutchings study is focused on going abroad, even so it may make some contribution to understanding of glo bal consciousness characterised as moving towards a recognition and appreciation of increasingly global diversity and interdependence. Arguments about which is the best approach to international public relations education, courses and its numbers, or changing the context with its live experience and observations, largely missed the important point that methods have to be fit for their purposes. For some purposes, this is the best, and in other cases the choice will be this and that. Furthermore, although those approaches rest on very different use of resources and possibilities, they can be complementary in the hands of future research and need to be incompatible. Many studies would benefit from mindfully using each approach for different purposes at different stages of the internationalisation. Fuller discussions of this are to be found in some public relations papers, including (Neff, 1991, Dibrova and Kabanova, 2004, Peterson and Mak, 2006, Chung, 2007/8, Dolby and Rahman, 2008). CHALLENGES/BARRIERS: Authors such as Kalupa and Carroll Bateman (1980) have suggested that public relations educators have failed maintain the currency of the teaching in relation to the practice. On the other hand, Holbrook (1985, 1995) has been one of the most prominent critics of the idea of selecting research topics based on what is of interest to practitioners. He has argued that such an orientation tarnishes the purity of the academic endeavour. Amongst other challenges Bardhan (1999) recorded that educators feel unprepared at present to handle the task effectively and lack of interest among students. Falb (1991, 1992) has claimed that because of putting public relations curriculums in either Mass Communications or Journalism public relations has been inhibited in its growth in academic and professional areas. Similar study was conducted by (Pincus et al., 1994), who argued that communication topics do not rate high in MBA programs: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of public relations topics in MBA programs, the profession will never realize entry to the highest levels of corporate decision making (1994: p.55) . Making an analogy, this statement might be extended by claiming that If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of international public relations concepts in Postgraduate programs, the profession will lack behind present state of research and practice. This statement finds a reflection in recent research as well. Papers like Sriramesh (2002) claim that it is time for educators to integrate experiences from other continents into the PR body of knowledge, thereby building PR curricula that contribute to training truly multicultural PR professionals. CONCLUSION: Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) underlined the compelling need for a text describing and explaining public relations practices and body of knowledge in different parts of the world. Their call for research has been taken up and largely because it proposed a framework, which made it easier to facilitate global research. Thereby, by critically examining the framework scholars in different countries enrich international public relations body of knowledge and provides prove or counter-arguments to the Global theory. Nonetheless, it might be argued that among those five factors, which have been put forward by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003), one is missing professional PR training. In this regard it can be concluded the following. Firstly, such indicator as level of professional training can be considered as a sixth factor influencing practicing public relations in country. Secondly, on the basis of a global concept can be developed a similar concept and subsequently applied to the study of inte rnational public relations education. Thirdly, basing on data provided from the five factors, it allowed to determine the degree of standardization vs. localization of IPR programs and courses and to identify barriers and obstacles. Achieving internationalisation of public relations education is concluded to be important for three reasons. First, because many graduating students will be finding employment internationally and benefit from having been educated to be effective in differing cultural settings. Second, because rapid changes in national immigration policies have meant that many more nations are considerably more multicultural than they have been in the past and citizens need to be more conscious of diversity in their national and organisational surroundings. Third, because the pace of changes in the international political economy necessitates that people must be responsive to international economic and business forces. Thus, students who receive an internationally focused public relations education should be more culturally and socially aware and prepared to cope with the demands of rapid international economic, political and social change (Hutchings et al., 2002). Professional education and training are one of the major issues in every country in which public relations is practised. Even the US, where there are hundreds of public relations education are frequently expressed, and senior practitioners rise questions about the value of existing public relations education programmes (White, 1991, p. 184). Sommerness and Beaman (1994) found only few offerings of university courses emphasising international public relations across the United States at that time. However, most recent study has shown that some authors (Hatzitos and Lariscy, 2008) report an increased interest in scholarly research in international public relations and an effort to internationalise the public relations curricula at many U.S. universities. Despite the fact that significant gaps were found between desired outcomes and those actually found in the opinions of both practitioner and educators, certain surveys (Neff et al., 1999) have revealed strong agreement between educator s and practitioners regarding the training, experience and expertise outcomes needed for career development in public relations. Thus, while the goals of public relations education to certain extent seem clear, the means of achieving those goals, including curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, may not be as clear. However, studies such as examining perception, asking whether or not IPR should be emphasised doesnt really contribute anymore as the concept have solidly grounded. There have been dozen papers reporting that call for a development. What more valuable for this particular research is the fact that international public relations education requires to be integrated into global PR perspective. International experiences, approaches and cases must be studied and shared between international academic societies. The literature review recorded a substantial gap in international public relations education research elsewhere than U.S. Therefore there is a need in further researching and describing development in IPRE globally. This particular study will explore perceptions and state of IPR education in two countries the United Kingdom and Russia. Internationalisation of Public Relations Education Internationalisation of Public Relations Education Introduction The main theme of the dissertation is internationalisation of public relations education. It is quite a broad topic and can be reviewed and discussed from different points of view. In this regard the selected literature first examines international public relations concepts and secondly an impact it has on public relations education. Therefore, literature review has been divided into the following major themes: International public relations (IPR) and International public relations education (IPRE). The chapter will begin by presenting the main debates about international public relations and its concepts alongside with a brief overview of factors influencing it. It will be followed by a section presenting state of research on IPR. The discussion will then move to section two international public relations education, exploring the requisites and challenges for internationalisation. Finally the chapter will summarise the key themes and points identified. The major part of the literature review focuses on contemporary research, defined as 1989-2009. International PR A growing number of publications document the development and challenges of the public relations in every major continent and region of the world (Nally, 1991, Moss et al., 1997, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003b, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Freitag and Stokes, 2009). This research refers term global PR to globalisation of the profession, which is being practises and recognised in more countries throughout the globe, while International PR refers to the planning and implementation of programmes and campaigns carried out abroad or for international audience. Hence international PR education refers to the process of adopting professional training to International PR concepts and demand. Public relations is still relatively new concern for management, even though its modern origins can be traced to the end of the last century (White, 1991). According to (Cutlip, 1994), a key researcher in the history of public relations in the U.S., the first international public relations agency The Hamilton Wright Organization was founded in 1908. International communities of professionals and scholars are increasingly interested in transferring knowledge, experiences, and best practices from national to transnational scenarios. This advancement is generated by the increasing role of public relations which is driven largely by the influence of new information technologies and globalisation (Flodin, 2003). Drawing upon this, DiStaso et al. (2009) discussed the effects of globalisation, that began with the Maastricht Treaty and NAFTAA in 1992, the WTO in 1994 and claiming it had great impact on the public relations industry. According to Szondis (2009, p.115) International public relations is the planned communication activity of a (multinational) organisation, a supra- or international institution or government through interactions in the target country which facilitates the organisation (or government) to achieve its policy or business objectives without harming the interests of the publics. There have been papers which presented international PR to be simply about how to overcome barriers that are created by other cultures, including language, laws or cultural issues, which are often indentified as problems (Wilcox et al., 2001), rather than opportunities or the manifestation of diversity. The most frequently referenced paper which stands against IPR has been Angell (1990) asserted that the variance between local countries was so great as to preclude any possibility of globalisation. A much different study, also highly referenced, has been provided by Pavlik (1987), who as early as the 1980s considered IPR one of the most rapidly growing areas of the profession, and one of the least understood. The problem with defining difference between domestically and internationally done public relations is that there is not enough research or critical assessment. While basic principles do not change, the way they are carried out from culture to culture and country to country, and the attitudes and values embedded within those different cultures or countries, are different (Wakefield, 2007b). A similar study was conducted by Botan (1992, p. 157), who argued that international public relations is always intercultural. The existing public relations body of knowledge, and public relations curricula around the world, have a U.S. bias (Sriramesh, 2002). U.S. paradigm, however, strikes with the idea of that European or non-U.S. perceptions of public relations become more of value in the twenty first century. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield (2007b), who have been practicing and researching in the area of IPR for almost two decades, believes that principles and practices of PR in Europe, emphasising social role of public relations, are more promising for effective PR in the multinational than the American-based PR-as-marketing-tool approach. He, alongside the majority of new PR schools, supports paradigms of PR incoming out of places other than the U.S. Therefore, need and call for the elsewhere theories and concepts was also a factor for a research in international/global PR. Ovaitt (1988, p.5) made an interesting suggestion saying that it was not a popular idea with marketing and advertising experts when they started thinking about internationalisation decades ago and it was not popular with public relations practitioners back to late 1980s. The idea is that what these professionals do for a living might be done on a global basis global in the sense of achieving some significant level of standardisation, not only of what is offered to customers, but also how it is presented and promoted. Public relations as a profession is not necessarily understood and practised in the same manner all around the world. This is not news per se, as several scholars (Sharpe, 1992, Vercic et al., 1996, Taylor, 2000, Rhee, 2002, Valentini, 2007) for many years have underlined that public relations requires a global understanding of cultural differences. Different studies (Kent and Taylor, 1999, Lee, 2005) show that public relations practitioners are increasingly required to be able to communicate with different international publics, no matter the size of the organisation they are working for, or whether it is private or public, including non-profit organisations. After the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Excellence Study yielded a review of normative principles (Grunig, 1992), Vercic et al. (1996) explained the importance of identifying five contextual variables that influence the practice of the normative principles. Vercic, Grunig, and Grunig (Vercic et al., 1996) proposed a global theory of public relations that was elaborated by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003a, 2003b, 2009) in their Global Public Relations Handbook and by Sriramesh (2009) in a special issue of PRism. Their global public relations theory attempted to answer the question of whether public relations theory and practice should be unique to each country or culture or whether it should be practiced in the same way everywhere. Authors answered this question by theorising that global public relations should fall in the middle between standardisation and individualisation (Grunig, 2009). The theoretical framework of Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) has been used to assess the status of public relations in countries around the world. Contextualised studies are the core component of the global public relations concept. As Vercic (2009) reported, international PR practices should represent the best practices anywhere because of their necessary complexities and reach. Global theory is not a positive theory, which describes a type of public relations that currently is practiced everywhere in the world. Research, such as that reported in Sriramesh and Vercic (2003, 2009), does show that there are many idiosyncrasies in public relations practice around the world that reflect cultural differences. It also shows that the one worldwide universal in public relations practice is what is J. Grunig have called the press agentry/publicity model (Grunig et al., 1995)-the least effective of the models. Rather, their global theory is a normative theory that argues that public relations will be most effective throughout most parts of the world (Grunig, 2009, p.2). Emphasising cross-cultural effects on reputation in multinational organizations Wakefield (2007b, 2008) argues that there still is an important distinction between global and domestic public relations practices, and that understanding those differences will contribute to better global practice. More specifically, recent research has also called into questions of need to understand how culture affects public relations. There are numbers of key researches (Grunig et al., 1995) who have written papers specifically on the subject. A similar study was conducted by Neff (1991), who has indicated that economic development is leading public relations firms down a path requiring knowledge of culture and language in addition to public relations. Perhaps one of the most influential recent publications on multiculturalism in public relations education was produced by Sriramesh (Sriramesh, 2002, Sriramesh, 2003). He has also reported that public relations education has not kept pace with the rapi d globalisation that has occurred since 1992 (Sriramesh, 2002). Sriramesh (2009) called for a need for a more thoughtful representation of many of the generic principles of public relations practice to suit the local environment, so that the body of knowledge is more holistic and relevant to global demands. However, there still is a room for an assumption that not all the practitioners require international training and international perspective. RESEARCH / CRITICS: Since the advent of the Internet, it is even more tempting to view PR practice as the same anywhere, and therefore it decreases attempts to produce research or principles that need to view à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“cross-border PR as different (Wakefield, 2007a). Despite the numerous calls for research, reviewed works and studies on global (national) public relations released in the 2000s (see table 1) (Portugal, United States see table) have recorded that this area of research is underrepresented. Despite global trends underlining increased internationalisation, these results can be interpreted to indicate that Researchers have not paid enough attention to the international perspective. An important indicator is the place international public relations occupy in the list of priority research topics. One recent example is a Study of the Priorities for Public Relations Research conducted by Deputy Dean of Media School of Bournemouth University (UK) Tom Watson (Watson, 2008, Watson, 2007)  [1 ]  .He sent 26 public relations topics to a Delphi study panel and the Top Ten PR research topics were identified, however, international perspective was excluded from the list. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield responded critically to Watsons Delphi study: First, I was surprised in finding that the topic fell all the way out of the top ten. After all, arent PR issues and challenges, along with its overall scope of practice, becoming more international with each passing year?(2007a, p. 6) Nonetheless he added: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There really are no more studies being done on international public relations now than have been done over the course of the last three decades. Those that are being published are increasingly making such statements as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“there is no such thing as local PR anymore, or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“today, everything is global. Well, if this represents what academics and practitioners are thinking, then it would stand to reason that no real different research needs to be done-that ANY PR principles, even if they are all traditionally domestic in nature, would suffice for research or practice anywhere in the world (2007a, p.7). The seminal critique in this area is also by Sriramesh (2009, p.6), who argues: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“When scholars think of, and discuss, public relations, the global perspective is often overlooked. Srirameshs (2009) critique of Mackey (Mackey, 2003), who claimed to introduce the various contemporary theories of public relations in the inaugural issue of Prism is also indicative: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The author attempted to review à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the changing vistas in public relations theory, there was not a single mention of any advances in global public relations theorising in that piece even though by 2003/that time there were several advances worth reporting'(2009, p.8). Another example is Distasso (2009). Authors surveyed 312 public relations executives and educators to examine how well practitioners and instructors perceive public relations students to be prepared for the practice, the content and value of public relations curricula and, the future of public relations education in the United States. Even though scholar mentioned globalisation as a factor increasingly influencing public relations practice he had not included it in the questionnaires or research questions. Somewhat it contrast are papers from the annual International Public Relations Research Symposium Bledcom, which reflect the diverse and up-to-date research traditions amongst scholars working in the field of public relations both within the USA and Europe (Moss et al., 1997, Newman and Vercic, 2002, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003a, Sriramesh, 2004, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Van Ruler et al., 2008, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2009). These are scholars, who systematically examines the priorities for PR research and determine international agenda These differences in research agenda are reflected/explained, to some degree, in the/by Scholars like Sriramesh, Vercic, Wakefield and others highlighted the important point that an issue of international public relations is not reflected enough in the research questions. International public relations education (IPRE) As a corollary to the process of globalisation has been the recognition of the need to make public relations education more internationally focused and future public relations professionals more internationally and interculturally competent (Lane DiStephano, 1992) / Huthcings et al., 2002 There have been numbers of calls for new public relations curricula aimed at educating staffs that can understand and meet increasing international social, economic and political complexities and challenges. (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, p. 13). The International Association of Universities (1998) supported the need for business schools to be more international in their strategy, claiming higher education must integrate an intercultural dimension into its teaching and research, if it is to fulfil its role and maintain excellence. (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 58). Another rationale for an international public relations course is the accelerating pace of societal and technological change today. These cha nges call for adaptations in academic curricula and professional development programs. There were written dozen papers on justification of international public relations education based on research in the different areas. Some went radical claiming that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“any curriculum that excludes international public relations courses is ineffective in addressing student and practitioner needs, particularly in the next century (21 century).(Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994) p.9 Factors what influence the development of IPRE are mostly the same, however they have different interpretations. The need for international courses in public relations is demonstrated further by the growing global recognition of public relations degree programs and education, a phenomenon that Cantor (1984) predicted more than twenty years ago. And indeed, previous investigation has established that the call for internationalisation of public relations education has been there for a long time and comes from both industry and academia sectors (Neff, 1991, Cottone et al., 1985). However, disagreements between practitioners and educators on a blueprint for international public relations education have also been documented (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994). A decade old survey of U.S. public relations educators and practitioners that explored the state of curricula and content in public relations education found that both practitioners and educators perceive need to incorporate courses and cont ent that will prepare future practitioners for the global landscape (Neff et al., 1999). A Public relations is a multidisciplinary area of study and practice that must change as rapidly as the context and society in which it exists (Baskin, 1989, p. 35). As public relations continues to be a globalised profession, curriculum should be updated to reflect the practice. Ten years later similar study has recorded, that having a global perspective and experience with a variety of cultures are necessary but lacking skills for advanced level practitioners (DiStaso et al., 2009, p.269). An important consideration in providing students with some skills in achieving cross-cultural understanding is the recognition that, as future business professionals and leaders, they will live in a society increasingly characterised by international labour mobility and multiculturalism. The international manager or employee will be an individual who will spend their working lives in several distinct job areas working for several organisations as well as making several sojourns to various international postings. This means that the new style employee will need to be cosmopolitan, multilingual, multifaceted and what Schneider Barsoux (1997, p. 157) refer to as a capacity to operate à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“across national borders somewhat like James Bond. Public relations education at all levels and in both communication and MBA programmes should educate students to practise public relations globally (Grunig and Grunig, 2002). However, not only do students need to be trained and prepared for this mobility, but even those who do not move to another nation face the recognition that the domestic work environment also requires some responsiveness to differing cultures (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 69). Sriramesh (2009, p.6) makes a reasonable argument that even textbooks in the US and the UK should contain more global cases and interpretations so as to give their own students a more international and holistic education, thus broadening their horizons. It is indicated that authors of universitys level public relations textbooks have not yet realised the growing importance of international public relations and thus deal marginally with it. The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) has drawn on its international membership to research and recommend standards for public relations education and has established the results of its work in two Gold papers in 1982 and 1990 (IPRA (1982) Gold paper No. 4, A Model for Public Relations Education for Professional Practice, and (1990) Gold Paper No.7, Public Relations Education Recommendations and Standards). (White, 1991) p.184-185 Not much has changed since that time. WAYS: Number of general papers were designed in response to the need for public relations education to produce well-trained, culturally sensitive practitioners (Miller, 1992, Ekachai and Komolsevin, 1998, Burbules and Torres, 2000, Bardhan, 2003, Dickerson, 2005, Tuleja, 2008). With the increasing importance of international communication, some educators had considered creating a course dedicated to international public relations (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, Taylor, 2001). In a special edition of Public Relations Review on developing teaching related materials, Taylor (2001) offered guidance to public relations educators on how to develop an international public relations curriculum because: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“New communication technologies and global communication processes create more frequent international communication (Taylor, 2001, p.2). Nevertheless, some of the Taylors conclusions sounded far too decisive: The most comprehensive way to internationalize the public relations curriculum is to offer a course dedicated to international public relations (p. 74). Creedon and Al-Khaja (2005) analysed how adding cultural competency to the list of skills and competencies required in educational programs presents an opportunity to educate a generation that will accept difference and value a global culture separate from national identity. Then again the study was rather limited the authors conducted a survey of accredited programs to determine whether or not a history course was required of their majors. Another empirical-based study argued that just talking about the importance if IPR in the classroom is not sufficient, students have to be able to live international public relations in order to understand its relevance (Bardhan, 1999, p. 19). An important portion of literature on international public relations education suggests the necessity for students to learn about other countries through immersion. According to Porth (Porth, 1997, Tuleja, 2008) the international study tour course may be a legitimate answer to critics of education who urge business schools to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“go global and to create stronger ties with the international business and academic communities. More specifically, recent research has also called into question the assumption of studying internationally. For instance, Hutchings et al. (2002, p. 58)suggests that the challenge for the education is how to devise a short-term study program that is effective in exposing international concepts to the student. Yet, foreign travel alone is not the panacea for internationalising PR education because it is difficult to manage even if having resources. Hutchings study is focused on going abroad, even so it may make some contribution to understanding of glo bal consciousness characterised as moving towards a recognition and appreciation of increasingly global diversity and interdependence. Arguments about which is the best approach to international public relations education, courses and its numbers, or changing the context with its live experience and observations, largely missed the important point that methods have to be fit for their purposes. For some purposes, this is the best, and in other cases the choice will be this and that. Furthermore, although those approaches rest on very different use of resources and possibilities, they can be complementary in the hands of future research and need to be incompatible. Many studies would benefit from mindfully using each approach for different purposes at different stages of the internationalisation. Fuller discussions of this are to be found in some public relations papers, including (Neff, 1991, Dibrova and Kabanova, 2004, Peterson and Mak, 2006, Chung, 2007/8, Dolby and Rahman, 2008). CHALLENGES/BARRIERS: Authors such as Kalupa and Carroll Bateman (1980) have suggested that public relations educators have failed maintain the currency of the teaching in relation to the practice. On the other hand, Holbrook (1985, 1995) has been one of the most prominent critics of the idea of selecting research topics based on what is of interest to practitioners. He has argued that such an orientation tarnishes the purity of the academic endeavour. Amongst other challenges Bardhan (1999) recorded that educators feel unprepared at present to handle the task effectively and lack of interest among students. Falb (1991, 1992) has claimed that because of putting public relations curriculums in either Mass Communications or Journalism public relations has been inhibited in its growth in academic and professional areas. Similar study was conducted by (Pincus et al., 1994), who argued that communication topics do not rate high in MBA programs: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of public relations topics in MBA programs, the profession will never realize entry to the highest levels of corporate decision making (1994: p.55) . Making an analogy, this statement might be extended by claiming that If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of international public relations concepts in Postgraduate programs, the profession will lack behind present state of research and practice. This statement finds a reflection in recent research as well. Papers like Sriramesh (2002) claim that it is time for educators to integrate experiences from other continents into the PR body of knowledge, thereby building PR curricula that contribute to training truly multicultural PR professionals. CONCLUSION: Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) underlined the compelling need for a text describing and explaining public relations practices and body of knowledge in different parts of the world. Their call for research has been taken up and largely because it proposed a framework, which made it easier to facilitate global research. Thereby, by critically examining the framework scholars in different countries enrich international public relations body of knowledge and provides prove or counter-arguments to the Global theory. Nonetheless, it might be argued that among those five factors, which have been put forward by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003), one is missing professional PR training. In this regard it can be concluded the following. Firstly, such indicator as level of professional training can be considered as a sixth factor influencing practicing public relations in country. Secondly, on the basis of a global concept can be developed a similar concept and subsequently applied to the study of inte rnational public relations education. Thirdly, basing on data provided from the five factors, it allowed to determine the degree of standardization vs. localization of IPR programs and courses and to identify barriers and obstacles. Achieving internationalisation of public relations education is concluded to be important for three reasons. First, because many graduating students will be finding employment internationally and benefit from having been educated to be effective in differing cultural settings. Second, because rapid changes in national immigration policies have meant that many more nations are considerably more multicultural than they have been in the past and citizens need to be more conscious of diversity in their national and organisational surroundings. Third, because the pace of changes in the international political economy necessitates that people must be responsive to international economic and business forces. Thus, students who receive an internationally focused public relations education should be more culturally and socially aware and prepared to cope with the demands of rapid international economic, political and social change (Hutchings et al., 2002). Professional education and training are one of the major issues in every country in which public relations is practised. Even the US, where there are hundreds of public relations education are frequently expressed, and senior practitioners rise questions about the value of existing public relations education programmes (White, 1991, p. 184). Sommerness and Beaman (1994) found only few offerings of university courses emphasising international public relations across the United States at that time. However, most recent study has shown that some authors (Hatzitos and Lariscy, 2008) report an increased interest in scholarly research in international public relations and an effort to internationalise the public relations curricula at many U.S. universities. Despite the fact that significant gaps were found between desired outcomes and those actually found in the opinions of both practitioner and educators, certain surveys (Neff et al., 1999) have revealed strong agreement between educator s and practitioners regarding the training, experience and expertise outcomes needed for career development in public relations. Thus, while the goals of public relations education to certain extent seem clear, the means of achieving those goals, including curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, may not be as clear. However, studies such as examining perception, asking whether or not IPR should be emphasised doesnt really contribute anymore as the concept have solidly grounded. There have been dozen papers reporting that call for a development. What more valuable for this particular research is the fact that international public relations education requires to be integrated into global PR perspective. International experiences, approaches and cases must be studied and shared between international academic societies. The literature review recorded a substantial gap in international public relations education research elsewhere than U.S. Therefore there is a need in further researching and describing development in IPRE globally. This particular study will explore perceptions and state of IPR education in two countries the United Kingdom and Russia.