Business News Online

Lancaster University is to open a campus in Southern China in co-operation with the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Though the project has been initiated by the university, many of the programmes first taught there will be business related, including accounting and finance, international business, business administration, economics and marketing and taught by faculty from Lancaster University Management School.

The Guangwai-Lancaster University will teach undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and work on research between the two parent universities. The curriculum will adhere to that of Lancaster, including a proficiency in the English language. This will enable Guangwai-Lancaster University students to study for part of their degree at the campus in Lancaster. Some second year undergraduate students will be able to transfer to Lancaster University for their final two years of study.

Some 600 students are expected to enrol in year one but eventually student numbers will rise to as many as 10,000.

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Nurses are under more “moral distress” than ever when dealing with medical decisions and the people and families they impact, and this is contributing to burnout and turnover in the field, say some experts.

The Pediatric Bioethics Conference at the University of North Florida will address the moral dilemmas facing the medical field today. And while child care is a driving force of the event, one of the many break-out sessions will address moral distress among health-care professionals and ways to stem turnover and burnout.

Kelly Komatz, an associate professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, who is giving the presentation on moral distress, says the issue affects many aspects of the health-care industry, but it is acute in nursing.

“They’re the ones in most cases that are left to have to carry out orders or do procedures and ready patients for certain things,” said Komatz. “Moral di

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Administrators have been appointed at MF Global UK Limited, a UK-based broker-dealer whose business includes commodity futures and options.

Richard Fleming, Richard Heis and Mike Pink of KPMG have been appointed as joint special administrators at the company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of MF Global Europe Limited. This in turn is a subsidiary of US-based MF Global Holdings Limited and which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 31 October.

“There has been no indication to date that the issues flagged in the US regarding client’s monies not being properly separated have extended to the UK entity,” said a spokesperson for KPMG. “Our priority is to minimise the disruption to clients.” The business employs 725 people in the UK.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the former President of Brazil who served two very successful terms, has been diagnosed with throat cancer

The Sirio-Libanes [Syrian-Lebanese] Hospital in Sao Paulo said in a statement that Lula, 66, has a tumor in his larynx, a statement from the

“After multiple investigations, initial chemotherapy will start in the next few days. The patient is well,” the statement read.

Line of credit business loans used to be a basic part of 99% of the businesses in operation. It used to be that these loans were relatively easy to get, and were a real boon to business. Nearly every business has its ups and downs throughout the annual cycle, and the line of credit was there to help out.

No more. Now a line of credit is just as hard to capture as a standard loan, if not harder. The banks claim that they are being held to higher standards for granting loans of any kind, but I find that very hard to believe. Banks don’t seem to have any trouble lending to big companies, to the favored few. And they even get brownie points for lending to exporters, so those companies fare pretty well.

But standard small businesses of all ilk are still having a really tough time.

The first round of stimulus spending was intended to go to local banks which could then re-lend it to local businesses, and the hiring engine was to have kicked into gear. Well, it didn’t work like that. The money did make it to regional banks, and a bit of it made it to local banks, but it stopped there. Read more…

There are small business services in the Internet. We can use like business resources online. Anyway online services typically cost one time or recurring charges, while the resources generally allow free access to business owners. These services are more particular than the resources, and they give you a possibility to manage accounts and attract a database of more customers.

A type of online services for small businesses is accounting software. Many companies offer software that allows companies to easily enter, modify and manage financial information such as payroll and accounts receivable. The obtaining software online allows entrepreneurs to keep financial information via a website. The owners must generally pay a monthly fee to access the software. Read more…