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Erasmus mobility has become an important feature of higher education in Europe and beyond, with the potential to generate significant changes at individual, institutional and systemic levels. More than three decades after the foundation of this successful program, evaluations reveal that, despite notable progress, several aspects of the Erasmus student experience can be further improved. Based on the lived experiences of Erasmus alumni, in this article, we explore recurrent challenges that emerge in educational mobility and how they could be better addressed. Three key dimensions are identified in the qualitative accounts of former Erasmus students and analyzed in light of previous research: mobility preparation, institutional support for integration, and recognition of study abroad.

The European Universities Initiative (EUI), created by the European Commission in 2017, is a recent novel phenomenon within the European Union policy toolkit that explicitly targets the development of transnational cooperation in higher education (HE). To date, the EUI counts 44 European university alliances, involving around 340 HE institutions. In this paper, we argue that the EUI can be seen as a case of a transnational institution building process representing a potentially significant structural reform for European higher education. Anchored in new institutionalism, we explore the regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive dimensions of the EUI. Methodologically, this study analyzes the perspectives of European policy actors (n = 4), a set of policy documents (n = 13) and the mission statements of the EUI's partnerships funded before 2022 (n = 41). The results show that the EUI emerges as the 'next level of cooperation' in European HE since it aims to transform European cooperation (regulative dimension), to create and diffuse a new model for European HE following a challenge-based approach (normative dimension), and to work as a way to reinforce and institutionalize European and global scripts for European HE (cultural-cognitive dimension).

Computer-based test (CBT) and paper-based test (PBT) are two test modes to the test takers that have been widely adopted in the field of language testing or assessment over the last few decades. Due to the rapid development of science and technology, it is a trend for universities and educational institutions striving rather hard to deliver the test on a computer. Therefore, research on the comparison between these two test modes has attracted much attention to investigate whether the PBT could be completely replaced. At the same time, task difficulty is always a key element to reflect test takers' performances. Numerous studies have laid a solid foundation and guidance about the comparative study of test takers' performance on CBT and PBT, but there still remains a scarcity from the perspective of task difficulties with different Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) task levels in particular. This study, therefore, compared the test takers' performance on both CBT and PBT across tasks with different CEFR levels. A total of 289 principal recommended high school test takers from Macau took the pilot Test of Academic English (TAE) at a local university. The results indicated that there was a difference between test takers' performance on different test modes across different CEFR levels, but only CEFR A2 level showed a statistically difference between CBT and PBT. And since science and technology are continuously developing, it is essential for the university to consider switching the test mode from PBT to CBT.

In this study we compare the titles of scientific letters and those of research papers published in the field of astrophysics in order to identify the possible differences and/or similarities between both genres in terms of several linguistic and extra-linguistic variables (length, lexical density, number of prepositions, number of compound groups, number of authors and number of countries mentioned in the paper bylines). We also carry out a cross-genre and cross-journal analysis of the referred six variables. Our main findings may be summarized as follows: (1) When compared to research paper titles, scientific letter titles are usually shorter, they have a lower lexical density, they include a higher number of prepositions per number of words and a lower number of compound groups per number of words, although they have more up to 4-word compound groups, i.e. the simplest ones. As a consequence, scientific letter titles include less information, which is also less condensed, than research paper titles. (2) The predominance of compound adjectives over compound nouns in the titles of both genres highlights the scientificity of astrophysical discourse. (3) In general terms, our data show a positive correlation between title length and the number of countries mentioned in the bylines for both genres. The positive correlation between title length and number of authors is only met in the case of research papers. In light of these findings, it may be concluded that scientific letters are a clear example of a timeliness and more "immediate" science, whereas research papers are connected to a more timeless and "elaborate" science. It may also be concluded that two different collaboration scenarios are intertwining on the basis of three separate geographic and linguistic publication contexts (Mainland Europe, The United Kingdom and The United States of North America).

As humanity reaches the 5.0 industrial revolution, education plays a critical role in boosting the quality of human resources. This paper reports bibliometric research on emerging TiP during 1993-2022 in the educational field to analyse its development on any level of education during the last three decades. This study employed a Scopus database. The findings are that the trend of TiP publication in educational fields has tended to increase every year during the past three decades and conference paper became the most published document type, the USA is the country which produces the most publications; "Students" being the most occurrences keyword and total link strength. The publication of the TiP is ranked to the Quartile 1, which implies that a publication with the cited performance is a publication with credibility because the publisher has a good reputation. Researchers can find the topics most relevant to other metadata sources such as Web of Science, Publish, and Perish.

In this study, we carry out a qualitative and quantitative analysis of abbreviations in 300 randomly collected research paper titles published in the most prestigious European and US-based Astrophysics journals written in English. Our main results show that the process of shortening words and groups of words is one of the most characteristic and recurrent features in Astrophysics research paper titling construction. In spite of the convenience of abbreviations as a mechanism for word-formation, some of them may pose certain difficulties of understanding and/or misinterpretation because of their specificity, ambiguity, or overlapping. To overcome these difficulties, we propose a series of options which with no doubt would lead to a better interaction among the different branches of Astrophysics in particular and of science in general and would definitely improve how research is currently performed and communicated.

The European Commission recently incentivized universities to establish alliances in order to institutionalise regional collaboration through the European Universities Initiative (EUI). Alliances are envisioned to maintain Europe's global position and enhance regional integration. Their mission statements are ways of signalling identity and legitimacy and are used for strategic planning and performance frameworks. This study explores how 31 EUI alliances communicate their identity using insights from institutional theory and strategic balance. Findings reveal that EUI alliances anchor their identity within low risk and easily accepted areas of value to stakeholders and project homogenisation in regionally institutionalised areas. However, alliance missions also articulate in varying levels of detail a range of ambitions in claims, which demonstrate areas alliances chose to distinguish themselves. The findings provide insight into how alliances exert bounded agency within a regional initiative and highlight potentially competing tensions within the initiative.

Internationalization in higher education is of growing importance as institutions respond to globalization trends. Cross-border partnerships between institutions have existed for many years, but the number of networks with multiple institutions to further information exchange and build on resources have been increasing more recently. This case study examined one European institution and how it used and was involved in an international network. The research question guiding this study was: How do higher education administrators in a European institution successfully implement internationalization through an international network? Three key themes emerged from the data collected as related to how the institution is successful, the institution: (i) prioritizes the network; (ii) adapts to the network challenges; and (iii) establishes partnerships beyond the network. The findings from the study led to three recommendations for institutional practice: (i) develop a communication plan, including a mission statement; (ii) empower the secretariat to be the key facilitator; and (iii) encourage individualized strategies for each institution. Overall, this case study will help higher education administrators plan for best practices related to using networks to amplify internationalization strategies in their institutions.

"Go to temples of science and ideas of Europe. Imitate the Tugendbund, 'the Union of Virtue', of which thousands of German youth are the members. Always keep the rule of 'Fit soul is in fit body' in mind" (Petrov, 2013, p. 72). This study aimed to show the similarities, in terms of expression, emphasis, and implication, in the about/mission/vision/goals/objectives of various science centers from around the world and in the basic themes derived from Snellman's statement above, namely, Science for all, Science Centers for all, and Human welfare that he made as a challenge to not only his people but to everyone. Document and content analyses were applied in the study. Within the scope of these analyses, this study investigated the about/mission/vision/goals/objectives sections of websites of science centers from around the world (Asia, Europe, Global, Latin America/The Caribbean, North America, Africa). From this investigation, similar basic themes, derived from Snellman's statement challenging his people/everyone to adopt this devotion to science, were found in the areas of i) expression in ASTC, CIMUSET/CSTM, CASC and SAASTEC; ii) emphasis in ECSITE, ASDC, ASCN and NSCF; and iii) implication in ASPAC, ASTEN, NCSM, ABCMC and Red-POP. These basic themes, as found in the about/mission/vision/goals/objectives of science centers, can, in effect, be narrowed down to the one theme of "cultural institutions will be a big part of human life" (Madsen 2017, p. 68) science centers in the global village (Touraine, 2016, p. 121) of the future.

This paper examines the interplay of creativity, education, and the expressive arts. We begin by presenting a narrative literature review focusing on the use of artistic tools to promote creativity, self-expressiveness, and meaningful aspects of emotional and social learning. This review reveals strong connections between the different components of this interplay, and a special attention is given to the use of arts to promoting creativity and meaningful learning. We then propose the Empowering Creative Education Model (ECEM), which aims to provide a practical framework for employing artistic tools in each of the model's four developmental circles: I, Us, Educational and Community. Each of the four circles includes unique aspects of personal development.

Immigrant minority (IM) languages have a significant presence in certain European regions. Nonetheless, these languages are not usually included in the school curriculum. This paper aims to analyse the studies published between 2010 and 2020 considering IM languages in multilingual European education contexts. The method included a search of academic papers published in the databases ERIC, Web of Science and Scopus, which yielded 42 studies. The studies were analysed by considering: (1) the demographic characteristics of the countries where the studies were conducted, (2) the sociolinguistic or psycholinguistic focus of the papers in relation to the European country, and (3) the characteristics of the bi-multilingual education programme including IM languages. The results indicate that: (1) the demographic characteristics of the country are not strictly related to the number of studies published, (2) most studies have a sociolinguistic approach even though many studies analyse both sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic factors, and (3) only seven multilingual education programmes including IM languages were described in these papers. We conclude that there is a lack of research focusing on IM languages in educational settings and discuss how addressing these gaps could create opportunities for building equitable multilingual communities in Europe.

This study reviews the literature published on job crafting using bibliometric techniques. It utilizes the papers published on the topic from 1990 to 2023, retrieved from the Scopus database. The purpose of the paper is to draw the intellectual, conceptual and social structure of the field of research on job crafting. It uses the bibliometric method to review the literature on "job crafting." The findings of the study reveal both the micro and macro aspect of the research published so far such as Europe is the epicenter of research on the topic, while experiments and questionnaires a popular choice in methods adopted. This review gives a unique view of the past and outlines a number of future directions for research on the topic and it will be of interest to existing scholars in the field as well as doctoral students who might be interested in the topic.

Applying qualitative methods, this paper examines the burgeoning of quality assurance databases, processes and networks of actors in the field of higher education in Europe. Our main argument is that there has been a move from the Bologna Process being the near singular focus for European-level coordination and harmonisation of higher education, towards the making of a much more diverse and complex quality assurance and evaluation infrastructure. This infrastructure involves a range of distinct but interdependent actors and processes and contains explicit and implicit interlinkages with the production of wider policy agendas, such as the rise of the European Education Area. The aim of this paper is to analyse the growth and complexity of Quality Assurance (QA) in higher education (HE) in Europe, as a way of understanding the multifaceted and continuously developing process of Europeanisation.

The political, social, and institutional environments in which contemporary universities operate have changed rather dramatically over the past two decades in ways that threaten the resilience of the academic core, both in its ability to map knowledge comprehensively and also to maintain a balance between the branches of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. This paper traces historical changes (2003-2019) in the academic core of two "flagship" research-intensive universities located in Northern Europe. The results show that some branches of the academic core are undergoing dynamic processes of program churn that make them resilient. Furthermore, the data show that this resilience is enabled in large part by bridging different branches of knowledge by establishing what we term interbranch programs. In addition to the abovementioned findings, the paper links ongoing discussions regarding change in HE systems and institutions to the literature on organizational resilience, and it advances insights for a possible future theory of how adaptation plays out in the academic core over time.

The paper examines critically the dimension of empowerment in the European discourse, starting from some operational definitions used in official documents. The author analyses the shift in the European documents from 2000 to recent years, from a lifelong learning vision to an adult education approach, basically labour market-oriented, thus leaving aside the social cohesion and self-emancipatory dossiers. Against this background, a theoretical approach derived from the categories of transaction and reflexivity is suggested, setting out from the works of John Dewey. This paper investigates whether the categories of experience, problem posing and emancipation are more suitable for a long-term project on adult learning than the categories of activation, problem solving, and empowerment.

The Bologna Process represents the most significant extensive reform of higher education in Europe. The particular aspects of the Bologna Process still incite critical evaluations as regards the successfulness of its implementation. The theoretical part of the paper analyzes the fundamental principles defined in the Bologna Declaration, requirements and critical views of the Bologna Process, as well as the relevant research conducted on this issue used for the comparative analysis. The introduction of the Bologna Process into the Serbian university education has initiated numerous changes, the increase of the student mobility being the most striking one. The empirical part of the paper focuses on the study of the following problem: the manner in which students of social sciences and humanities perceive the Bologna Process fifteen years after its implementation into the Serbian university education. Consequently, the subject matter of the research is the observation and description of students' attitudes to this phenomenon with the purpose of acquiring relevant information "firsthand." The achievable objective of the presented research reviews the context and condition of the Bologna Process during 2019/2020 academic year and its feasible improvements, which can contribute to comparative study of similar researches in the time of the pandemics. The specific research tasks include the study of the Bologna requirements, attitudes to the Bologna Process, benefits and restrictions of this reform, and particularly the attempt to suggest the improvement of the Bologna Process realization from the perspective of students of social sciences and humanities. The research sample consisted of the Bachelor students of social sciences and humanities from the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš (N=150). The survey technique and the scaling technique with a rating scale questionnaire were used (BOL-JM-JOZ). The questionnaire had five closed-ended questions, while the Likert scale was comprised of 23 items. The test of the instrument consistency proved its reliability. The obtained results were shown by the chi square test, which proved a statistically significant difference in the respondents' answers as regards the year of study, p<0.05. The main factors were extracted from the assessment scale by the application of the factor analysis. These factors examined the students' perceptions of the Bologna Process, comparing the answers provided by the students of the first, second, third and fourth year of study of social sciences and humanities, p<0.05.

Chatbots have experienced significant growth over the past decade, with a proliferation of new applications across various domains. Previous studies also demonstrate the trend of new technologies, especially artificial intelligence, being adopted in libraries. The purpose of this study is to determine the current research priorities and findings in the field of chatbots in libraries. A systematic literature review was performed utilising the PRISMA checklist and the databases Scopus and Web of Science, identifying 5734 records. Upon conducting the first screening, abstract screening, full-text assessment, and quality assessments guided by the CASP appraisal checklist, 19 papers were deemed suitable for inclusion in the review. The results of the review indicate that the majority of the existing studies were empirical in nature (primarily adopting qualitative methods) and technology reviews with a focus on reviewing the implementation and maintenance, design, evaluation, characteristics, and application of chatbots. The chatbots of interest were mainly text-based and guided chatbots, with closed-source tools with access portals mostly built on library web pages or integrated with social software. The research findings primarily concerned the development models and necessary tools and technologies, the application of chatbots in libraries. Our systematic review also suggests that studies on chatbots in libraries are still in the early stages. [This paper was presented at the 2023 Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA) International Conference (Osijek, Croatia, May 24-26, 2023).]

Governments, businesses, and educational institutions need to collaborate and make significant investments in order to address the growing digital skills crisis. In Europe, hundreds of digital skills initiatives have been launched with different forms of government and private industry support in the last five years alone. Consequently, digital skills initiatives have come to encompass a wide array of interventions. In this context, this paper proposes a typology of digital skills initiatives that was developed based on the analysis of over 300 initiatives listed in the European Commission's repository of best digital skills initiatives. The proposed typology consists of four categories: target group, digital skills, learning format, and sponsoring organization. In terms of target group, digital skills initiatives tend to target one or more of five distinct groups: the general public, educators, adults, seniors and youth. In terms of digital skills, digital skills initiatives tend to focus on general digital skills or specialized digital skills. In terms of learning format, digital skills initiatives tend to offer training and/or a learning resource. In terms of sponsoring organization, the initiatives tend to be sponsored by organizations that are either affiliated or unaffiliated with a technology vendor. The typology is followed by a presentation of mini cases, which highlight different archetypes of the proposed typology. The paper closes with a discussion of practical implications for policy makers, administrators, and scholars interested in digital skills initiatives and the future of work.

This paper was inspired by empirical encounters with students and teacher-administrators who engaged with an online European education initiative, which raised questions about whether and how their practices were situated as local, transnational, or national(ist) endeavors. The conceptual, theoretical, and methodological resources of social topology and critical border studies guided our inquiry by a focus on bordering practices and how these generate spatiotemporal forms and movements, and evoked a "typical national form" which is characterized as a singular, stable, linear, and flat "topography." An innovative methodology is deployed to scrutinize how practices with this online, European initiative continue, challenge or complement that typical national form. The findings demonstrate how the use of topographical indexes and tropes (re-)materialized characteristics of these typical national forms, while the combination with topological relations introduced multiplicities and "levels" in these forms. Moreover, spherical forms, bouncing movements, and tunneling movements challenged the singularity, stability, linearity, and flatness of the typical national form. Building on these findings, the paper sets forth the argument that this online European education initiative mainly challenges the enactment of nationalism in classrooms by encouraging learning and thinking through "translocalities," which accentuates distances and differences that are being crossed without appealing to the typical imaginary of the "nation" with linear, stable, flat borders.

Living and working through the challenges of a pandemic offered a unique research opportunity to engage with some core questions about what really matters in Religious Education (RE) in countries across Europe. The "What COVID Reveals to Religious Education Specialists" research project sought to provide a reflective space for RE specialists, drawn from the board members of the European Forum for Teachers of Religious Education (EFTRE), to consider their experiences of RE during the COVID-19 pandemic and to begin to articulate what they might want in the future for RE in light of their experiences. Areas explored in the online qualitative survey included: challenging questions and issues, social unrest, student-teacher relationships, learning scenarios, valued dimensions in RE, opportunities for the future, and 'ideal' RE. Respondents were from sixteen of the twenty-two countries present on the EFTRE Board, offering their individual perspectives from Western, Northern, Central and Southern Europe. Using the tool ATLAS.ti, an inductive analytical approach was employed; a number of key group 'themes' emerged from the responses, which provided a basis for further analysis. This paper will present some of the main findings in dialogue with the focusing research stimulus question: "What does COVID-19 reveal to RE specialists about their subject?" The project is a European collaboration involving researchers from Austria, Germany, Hungary, Ireland and Wales.

This research was carried out to add to the current literature on learning styles by explaining various understandings of the topic and the previous research on it. Studies and information on learning styles and strategies are abundant, and the need for more research stems from the recent move towards student-centered classes. This paper is an attempt to do more specific research on the subject and answer the question of what the correlations are between learning styles and different factors such as gender and learner's cultural background. This study was conducted at the University of Nottingham. Seventy students have participated in the survey, 34 males and 36 females. The participants' nationalities were mixed, which was essential for the study; Kurdish (20%), British (40%), European States (10%) and Asian (17.1%). The questionnaire results were analysed by using IBM SPSS Statistics 21 software. Frequency tests, Correlation analysis, T-Tests, and One-way ANOVA test of the available data were studied. The findings show that Kurdish learners are auditory learners compared to other nationalities. Also, the study showed that language learners are more visually inclined learners than learners from the other majors. Finally, future researchers may expand on the findings of this paper by getting a larger sample.

Drawing upon French philosophy, this study offers a novel empirical and conceptual understanding of the newly launched European Universities Initiative. In 2019, higher education institutions across the European Union created 17 new alliances as part of the first pilot phase of the initiative. This is an experiment in European and global higher education. This paper offers a conceptual contribution to the field of higher education studies, making use of a rhizomatic analysis to explore how university alliances build what the European Commission refers to as the 'European universities of the future.' Based on the conceptual reflection and findings from a small-scale empirical study, this paper concludes that the alliances within the European Universities Initiative rely on pre-existing higher education and research partnerships while at the same time experimenting to foster a diversity of institutional forms to achieve the ambitious goal of creating 'European Universities.'

About ten years ago, an innovative instrument was developed to promote internationalization in European higher education institutions--"a Certificate for Quality in Internationalization (Cequint)." The initiative fits well the contemporary governance philosophy that promotes voluntary instruments, an individualized approach, and an orientation towards transparency instead of control. While labels and certificates are becoming popular, their effectiveness is often questioned. In this paper we examine critically the value of "Cequint" and its potential for enhancing internationalization. The empirical results confirm that certified study programs outperform their uncertified peers. Partly the effect is explained by self-selection as internationally inclined programs are more likely to apply for the certificate, but there seems to be also a significant independent effect of the certification process. The paper suggests that a voluntary certification scheme can support organizational improvement by three mechanisms: by enhancing motivation, self-awareness, and expertize.

This paper analyzes the key determinants of the quality of preschool education in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based on the analysis of recent data, the paper indicates the status and development trends in this regard in the last decade. Although preschool education in Bosnia and Herzegovina has a long tradition, it is facing a number of challenges, mostly arising from the arrangement of the state system and post-war transition processes which have significantly impoverished this level of education. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to point out the recent public policy efforts made in the attempt to ensure the quality of preschool education in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the effects that are being achieved in this regard. Since quality can be approached from the aspects of structure and process, the elementary structural and process dimensions of preschool education will be taken as units of this analysis. Conceptualizing the results of this analysis, the status and quality of preschool education in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be positioned through an orientation towards the European framework for the quality and development trends of preschool education in Europe.

Drawing on communities of practice and social cognitive learning theories, this paper explores language teachers' beliefs, knowledge and practices concerning the provision of high-quality education to learners with specific learning difficulties in various educational settings around the world. The data sample for this paper comprises qualitative data (videorecorded interviews and teaching resources) collected from six teachers working across various educational settings (primary, secondary, college and university) across several geographical areas (Europe, Middle East, and Southeast Asia). Thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the data. The findings suggest that teachers continue to experience challenges in educating learners with specific learning difficulties regardless of the educational setting. Limited opportunities for receiving specialised training in this area have been identified by several teachers as one of the key factors affecting the quality of their practice. The change in the mode of instruction from face-to-face to online was not always reported as negatively affecting the quality of educational provision to learners with specific learning difficulties. Technology-assisted online lesson delivery was seen as being advantageous to learners with some types of learning difficulties. Findings from this paper can be useful to teacher-practitioners and teacher-educators who are interested in improving the quality of language education for learners with specific learning difficulties.

Since the mid 1990s vocational and education and training systems across Europe have had to respond to a number of external factors which have transformed the demand for skills. This paper examines the way in which VET systems have responded to the external factors and increase their resilience in the face of external shocks of one kind or another. The paper also reveals the way in which VET increasing established itself as a mainstream option for young people over the same period because of its capacity to deliver skills which the labour market demands.

The principal objective of this study was to profile qualitative research in social sciences through a comprehensive examination of 10,637 documents. An analysis on how scholars from central/peripheral countries included in the qualitative research citations/publications is presented. Central/peripheral distinction is used to determine the trends in the globalization of qualitative research. With the comprehensive examination, this paper will shed light on the discussion of the patterns of globalization in qualitative research. Science mapping technique among bibliometric methods was employed. This paper is based on studies that published in journals that use the English word/term "qualitative" in their titles. The data for this study encompassed 10,637 documents published between 1995 and 2019 by 16,884 authors. Our findings reveal that qualitative research continue to be mostly North America- and Europe-centered initiatives. A similar situation is also observed for the most cited publications and the affiliated institutes of their authors. The studies focus primarily on the individuals' self and social experiences, social psychology, and their knowledge, attitude, and behaviors in education. The most cited publications and the institutions with the highest number of publications are all North America- and Europe-centered. Another finding is that six of every 10 qualitative research are about medical sciences.

Potentially, technology transfer offices (TTOs) can play a significant role in facilitating the successful transfer of technologies and knowledge between universities and industry. Many developing countries are currently developing technology transfer practices within their universities. However, many developing country TTOs operate inefficiently or are ineffective. The sharing of experiences can lead to improvements in this endeavour. Advanced nations can serve as a frame of reference and a basis of policy recommendations for developing countries due to the longevity of their technology transfer activities. The authors issued 234 questionnaires to European university TTOs, of which 54 usable questionnaires were returned. They combine the data from these questionnaires with 19 interviews conducted with university TTO staff from 9 countries in an attempt to create a typology of practices that developing nations could emulate to improve technology transfer in their own contexts. While ultimately a clear typology was not forthcoming, the authors found some relationship between the dominant focus in the mission statement of developed country TTOs, the activities they undertake, their position in the university governance structure and their level of maturity which may usefully inform the development of TTO practices in developing countries.

Although education is arguably one of the most central institutions in contemporary European societies, only recently scholars have started to study opinions that relate to the perceived legitimacy of education among the public at large. This paper contributes to this emerging literature. Based on data from the most recent wave of the European Quality of Life Survey (N = 23,073; 30 countries) we assess what individual- and country-level factors predict citizens' satisfaction with educational quality and the perceived fairness of/corruption in education. At the individual level, we find that indicators of one's material vs. educational position are inversely related to the perceived quality, fairness, and corruption of the education system. At the macro level, it turns out that in countries that perform better on PISA tests the perceived educational quality is higher and the perceived corruption lower. In the conclusion we elaborate on the implications of our findings.

This paper provides an alternative lens of viewing digital technologies and networked spaces in outdoor intercultural learning, by introducing the Taoist philosophy of Ziran (nature) and Wuwei (inaction). The application of digital technology to outdoor learning has become prevailing and triggered critical debates and discussions among scholars and practitioners. The majority of the perspectives are, however, oriented in Western ideologies, and very rarely has any research considered this issue in the context of outdoor intercultural learning. A mini-ethnographic study was conducted to reconcile the nature-technology dichotomy during an EU-exchange sail-training voyage. Methodological implications are provided for conducting fieldwork in outdoor learning research, in line with the Ziran-Wuwei principles. The findings suggest that educators and facilitators follow the dialectical, relational, and contextual orientations to manage the (non)use of digital devices to maximise learners' outdoor experiential engagement and reflections.

Across the world, numerous students are being bullied at school. Bullying is often caused by a power imbalance between students. Therefore, identifying potential sources of such a power imbalance can prevent school bullying from happening. Based on the labelling theory, we expect that grade retention can lead to such a power imbalance and, therefore, increase the likelihood of being bullied at school. Hence, this study examines the association between grade retention and self-reported victimisation. We also expect that retainees will be less likely to become a victim of school bullying in schools and countries with a high number of other retainees. If true, this would signal a moderating effect of both school- and country retention composition on the association between grade retention and victimisation. The contextualised impact of grade retention upon victimisation is assessed by cross-national multilevel analyses on PISA2018 data (25 countries; 8,039 schools; 159,412 students). Overall, our findings indicate that being retained in primary and/or secondary education is associated with higher levels of victimisation, while retainees suffer from more victimisation in countries with a low number of other retainees. In contrast to our expectations, however, we did not find such a moderation effect of school retention composition.

During an assignment as a change leader of a complex IT change program within a Dutch public government organization, I used action learning to develop and support the desired changes and to tackle the complex problems that usually accompany such a change program. During this action learning project, I took the role of facilitator and I devised and presented the initial conceptual tools and their application to two action learning sets. Subsequently, after proposing the idea of ??applying action learning to problem solving, the program team members including the senior managers, were prepared to apply action learning as an integral part of the IT program. We formed two action learning sets, with around 10 persons in each set. One set consisted of diverse and multidisciplinary subject matter experts, and external IT suppliers who participated as program team members. Another set was made up of managers of delivering departments, who would take the lead in adopting the solutions developed by the software development and implementation program. To shape the action learning approaches and processes within the sets during the lifetime of the change program, I developed, and we used, seven instruments (MALS) based on progressive insights, and applied them within the sets for process, quality, and improvement based on progressive insight. This paper describes the seven instruments and explains how they were used within the project.

Educational Technology (EdTech) plays a significant role in enabling learners with disabilities to access learning at school and reduce educational and social exclusion. It also enables them to enjoy the benefits of a full school curriculum and to participate in activities in different educational arrangements. The purpose of this review was to address the existing evidence of how EdTech is being used to support learners with disabilities in order to inform future research and policymaking. It sought to contribute to an evidence base of ways to reduce barriers to learning drawing on a systematic methodology to gather evidence pertaining to access to EdTech for primary school learners with disabilities aged 6-12 years. After a thorough examination of the literature, the final sample comprised 51 published articles (43 peer-review and 8 conference papers). The review revealed examples of positive outcomes of EdTech interventions being used, particularly in special schools; however, the evidence of their efficacy is weak. The use of EdTech for learners with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries requires further, robust and long-term research that considers the involvement of learners, pedagogy and curriculum design in order to understand its impact on improving educational experiences of children with disabilities.

Creativity represents a young and promising academic field of research. Over the last 20 years, creativity publications have been steadily increasing in number. Of the 20 most all-time prolific creativity scholars in the European Union (EU), only one has retired. The present paper aims at mapping the EU creativity research. We analyzed over 12,000 Web of Science records dated back to 1968 until December 2020, using two bibliometric tools, SciMAT and VOSviewer. The descriptive analysis lists the most prolific authors and journals on the creativity area, the most cited articles, as well as the authors', institutions', countries', and research areas' bibliometric networks. Moreover, this study presents a thematic analysis and an evolution map of the themes based on keywords. The EU scholars were found to establish collaborations based on geographical, cultural, and, maybe, idiomatic proximity. Engineering, computer science, and education & educational research are the most interconnected areas of research. Innovation, performance, creative cities, the neuroscientific study of creativity, and emotions are relevant topics in the area. A broader concept of the creative and collaborative economy, the impact of technology on developing creativity, and the study of the brain with neuroscientific tools may become promising lines for future research.

The "object lesson" is a particular teaching method that was widespread in Europe and the westernised world during the nineteenth century, which was variously adapted according to national contexts under the name of "Anschauungsunterricht, leçon de choses, lezione di cose, and lección de cosas." Based on the intuitive (sometimes known as natural) method, it established itself as a direct product of Pestalozzi's pedagogy, although its genealogy has been reconstructed differently from country to country. This makes it an interesting case of translation and transformation in education or, perhaps, simply an example of "maquillage" motivated by revanchism. The aim, in general, is to introduce abstract ideas to infant and primary school pupils through the observation of concrete objects. The leading theorists (the early followers of Pestalozzi in Germany and England, the educationalist Marie Pape-Carpentier in France, the Italian and Spanish positivists, etc.), gave it, in most cases, the form of a maternal conversation, where adults and children prompt each other with questions and answers. Many school programmes have given it a place in the curriculum, others have maintained it in freer and more spontaneous forms. This paper offers, on the basis of the most recent literature, an analysis of the different national traditions, using the main pedagogical dictionaries published in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Discourses of global education, citizenship and competence have been characterising the higher education literature in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic has both heightened the relevance of global citizenship education and presented new challenges as educators and students continue to grapple with the lasting impact and implications. This paper presents the findings of a research study which looked at the perceived learning outcomes of a "virtual exchange" project which addressed issues relevant to global citizenship, involving students in European and Southern Mediterranean countries in online dialogue programmes. The study used quantitative and qualitative approaches to the analysis of responses to open survey questions using the quantitative tool IRAMUTEQ (Sbalchiero & Tuzzi, 2016) and focus groups. Participants perceived that their learning was happening above all through their encounters and discussions with people from different backgrounds. They reported learning to listen actively and carefully, to accept and/or respect different opinions and experiences. The findings open up possibilities for how higher education institutions might engage students in online transnational and global learning experiences--which can contribute to thinking about renewing education and societies in a post-pandemic world.

Purpose: This systematic review paper aims to examine extant empirical research involving educational technology during COVID-19 to provide an aggregated analysis of how the pandemic has influenced educational technology research. Design/methodology/approach: Using a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis systematic review and an integrative review methodology, 50 primary research studies were selected from ten top-ranked educational research journals. These studies were reviewed regarding research purposes, methodologies, instruments, educational level, geographical distribution, and findings of the studies. Findings: The findings reveal four emerging themes--influencing factors, effectiveness, challenges and teachers. The majority of the studies focused on higher education. Quantitative research design based on a questionnaire was the most adopted method of investigation by researchers. Research limitations/implications: Search parameters focused on the top 10 journals in the field of educational technology. Although this provides a level of quality, it narrowed the search. Practical implications: For practitioners and researchers, this study provides a summary of the field to better understand what knowledge we have gained on the use of educational technology to enable a more agile, knowledgeable response to education in future emergencies. Originality/value: This systematic review is unique in examining how the pandemic has influenced educational technology research. It also provides insight into gaps in the research that future researchers can use as a springboard to enable a more knowledge and a more agile approach to future emergencies.

This paper theorizes the affective and moral grounding of "best practice" policymaking, particularly how best practice operates as an affective regime that encourages certain affective norms. To illustrate this, the author takes up the example of best practices promoted by the CoE's "Digital Citizenship Education Handbook" for the acquisition of digital citizenship competences. It is shown that the distribution of best practices creates a set of affective conditions--especially through cultivating certain affective skills/competences and ethics/morals--that govern the ways in/though which best practices ought to be appropriately materialized. The paper discusses two implications of this analysis for education policymaking and policymakers. The first implication suggests that there needs to be work informing policymakers how affect works to create regimes of best practice; the second implication emphasizes the importance of working with policymakers to explore how they could challenge affective regimes of best practice.

This paper looks at youth mobility as an ongoing, dynamic, processual experience in the making of an educational trajectory. By exploring the experiences of students who have undertaken more than one mobility experience under the Erasmus + program, we reflect on how underlying motivations change over the course of subsequent mobility experiences. In contrast to existing research, where the focus has been on reported motivations for one-off mobility experience, we discuss the latent motivations driving super-mobile educational trajectories. In doing so, we observe the ongoing reconfiguration of these trajectories through the concept of spatial reflexivity, which results in articulated and augmentative dynamics over time. Methodologically, the paper is based on qualitative material collected in person and online with such mobile young people across Europe.

Both the transformation from innovation systems to innovation ecosystems and university reforms in such a context require a renewed understanding of the nature of universities and their roles in society. While the recent flourishing concepts about new models of universities suggest that the notion of an entrepreneurial university needs to be replaced by a more suitable concept to capture the unprecedented changes in universities in the societal transformation, the features of a new model of university described by these concepts can hardly fit into a consistent framework. This paper responds to this research gap by integrating both conceptual and empirical literature about the transformations or reforms of universities, mainly in the European context. Our major research findings are as follows. First, we identified characteristics of an ideal-type university in innovation ecosystems, named a sustainable entrepreneurial university (SEU), in comparison with those of an entrepreneurial university. Second, we elaborated on three emerging roles of the SEU in innovation ecosystems. Third, we found that while a transition from entrepreneurial universities to SEUs can be seen in European university reforms, the paces of the transformations vary. At the end of the paper, we discuss the scholarly and policy implications of our research findings.

There is an increasing interest and growing practice in Citizen Science (CS) that goes along with the usage of websites for communication as well as for capturing and processing data and materials. From an educational perspective, it is expected that by integrating information about CS in a formal educational setting, it will inspire teachers to create learning activities. This is an interesting case for using bots to automate the process of data extraction from online CS platforms to better understand its use in educational contexts. Although this information is publicly available, it has to follow GDPR rules. This paper aims to explain (1) how CS communicates and is promoted on websites, (2) how web scraping methods and anonymization techniques have been designed, developed and applied to collect information from online sources and (3) how these data could be used for educational purposes. After the analysis of 72 websites, some of the results obtained show that only 24.8% includes detailed information about the CS project and 48.61% includes information about educational purposes or materials.

Qualitative content analysis is used in this study to review related online education since the outbreak of COVID-19. The aim of this study was to summarize the impact of online teaching on the education industry during the pandemic, sum up the viewpoints of all kinds of people to draw conclusions, and conclude the practical countermeasures. Based on the result of the analysis, firstly, we think that students and teachers are satisfied with online education, but parents have expressed dissatisfaction with this kind of education. Secondly, this paper lists the advantages and common problems of online teaching during study at home from different aspects. According to deficits, we summarize the solutions from three aspects: network equipment, teaching, and self-adjustment. This research is of great significance. It is not only beneficial to the development of educational platforms and personalized teaching but also helps formulate education policy to reduce the burden of education.

This paper analyzes the professional ethical knowledge of teachers in the use of technologies by teachers in training. Based on the disciplinary pedagogical technological knowledge (TPACK) model, it is intended to measure the correct inclusion of technologies in the classroom. For this, a descriptive exploratory methodological design study was carried out. The instruments used have been the Likert scale questionnaire and the personal interview, organized into four dimensions in which the self-perception of professional ethical knowledge, ethical knowledge of technology, pedagogical technological ethical knowledge and disciplinary technological ethical knowledge of the future teachers. The questionnaire has been applied to a sample of 1.051 trainee teachers from a European university in the context of COVID-19 and 822 students participated in the interview. The results show the scarce training in professional ethical knowledge of teachers in training and the importance of addressing this knowledge in the 21st century, a post-pandemic context. Another of the conclusions is the need to include the ethical component in the TPACK model to achieve a correct and ethical use of digital resources in the classroom.

This study aims to examine the effects of flipped learning on L2 students' overall academic achievements through meta-analysis. Forty studies (e.g., journal articles, M.A/Ph.D. theses and conference papers) on 'flipped classroom', 'flipped learning' and 'academic achievement' were included in this meta-analysis study. The data was analyzed by using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Software. The random effects model was used in analyzing the overall effect size and the heterogeneity of the studies included in this meta-analysis. The results revealed that flipped learning has statistically significant effect on L2 learners' academic achievements (g=1.303) compared to traditional learning approaches. This result does not differ according to publication type, educational level and four basic language skills and sub-skills, but it differs according to sample size of the selected studies.

Purpose: This study investigates the challenges faced by European teachers when assessing student learning of democratic citizenship competences by asking about their experiences and opinions in their teaching practices. Design/methodology/approach: Through focus group interviews conducted with the teachers, we investigate the underlying reasons for teachers' choices of using certain forms of assessment methods while excluding other methods. This paper presents the analysis of interviews with 82 schoolteachers from lower secondary schools in eight European countries (average 19 years of teaching experience) participating in an Erasmus + project. Findings: The teachers' responses uncover a need for teachers to be better equipped with relevant knowledge, tools and approaches to practice formative assessment to develop students' democratic citizenship competences. The current common understanding of the summative assessment of knowledge using simple and standardised tools poses one of the main challenges for teachers to use formative assessment methods. Practical implications: The focus on summative assessment significantly limits the teachers' room to work on democratic citizenship competence. There is a need to strengthen this as a democratic citizenship education as a cross-curricular element in education, with an emphasis on formative assessment, to monitor and support students' democratic values and attitudes.

The paper introduces a novel approach to university rankings that considers a university's contribution to sustainable development. It addresses the usual controversies surrounding the construction of rankings using composite indicators. The conventional approach typically involves normalizing sub-indicators and applying subjective weights for aggregation, which raises concerns about the reliability of the rankings. In response to this issue, we propose an alternative method based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) that utilizes flexible weights. Our approach is applied to the data from the UI-GreenMetric World University Ranking. We initially employ a general Benefit of the Doubt DEA model and subsequently enhance its discrimination power by computing super-efficiency. In the third model, we impose weight restrictions on sub-indicators. The results of our analysis offer valuable insights for all stakeholders, as illustrated by the implications derived for Czech universities included in the sample. Furthermore, we compare the results of universities in various European countries, establishing a connection between rankings and the fulfillment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) within individual countries. This research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between university performance, sustainability, and the associated implications for policy and benchmarking.

Within an ever-increasing time of globalisation, globalised learning and international mobility, international professional experience can provide a range of opportunities for personal and academic growth. Perhaps unsurprisingly, pre-service teachers commonly attest to the positive impact of international placements. What is less well understood is the impact on the learning and teaching that occurs at the university curriculum level prior to and after an international placement. An emergent aspect of this research and the focus of this paper is the impact of these experiences in terms of what they offer the university teaching and learning context. To gain a further understanding of the extent of these impacts, a set of reflective narratives from 10 pre-service teachers and seven teacher educators were gathered and analysed using inductive, thematic analysis. The findings showed that for pre-service teachers and teacher educators that context both culturally and educationally were paramount. The reflections highlighted the impact on the development of a range of general capabilities for both sets of participants. Additionally, international placement experiences increased levels of reflection for both pre-service teachers and teacher educators, which led to further understanding and refining their teacherly identity.

The article seeks to advance understanding of the involvement of transnational student associations in European governance of higher education policies within the European Union (EU) and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Specifically, the article explores the mechanisms for interest intermediation that exist for transnational student associations in both policy arenas. Three transnational student associations stand out in terms of their involvement: European Students' Union (ESU), Erasmus Student Network (ESN) and European Students' Forum (AEGEE). The findings point to two distinct models of student interest intermediation in European policy-making. Within the EU, the European Commission interacts with all three transnational student associations; however, ESU and ESN participate in more expert and working groups. The roles afforded to each association in relation to the European Commission are demarcated and functionally differentiated. Within EHEA, in neo-corporatist fashion, ESU, as a representative platform of national student unions, holds representational monopoly. In the EHEA and the EU, the involvement of transnational student associations in policy-making can be attributed to the evolving nature of transnational governance regimes in which participation of transnational student associations not only brings expertise to but also aids the legitimacy of the policy processes and outcomes.

Purpose: The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has had a profound impact on education institutions at all levels. Open universities, with their privileged delivery method, have been in an advantageous position. In the earlier stages of the pandemic, they made remarkable contributions to assuring learning continuity. However, with more and more conventional universities migrating online, great changes have taken place in the field of higher education, and it is imperative for open universities to adjust their strategies in order to maintain their leading role in a technology-enabled education context. This paper aims to examine what challenges have been faced by open universities during the pandemic and how they will transform in the future. Design/methodology/approach: Six open universities in Asia, Africa and Europe were selected as cases in this research to make a comparative study based on the papers in the volume beyond distance education. Similarities and differences among the cases were analyzed in order to identify the developing trend for open universities in the international context. Findings: The results showed that (1) open universities in these regions demonstrated their resilience in the pandemic; examples were that new technologies have been leveraged to implement totally online delivery with short notice and huge amount of learning resources were offered to the society. (2) However, they encountered challenges of delivering fully online examination due to the lockdown and quarantine policies, and open universities in African and the sole private institution suffered financial pressure due to improving information and communication technology infrastructure and staff training. Another challenge was the fierce competition from conventional universities that open universities in Asia and Europe came across. (3) Four main areas were identified for future development in order to respond to the challenges: No.1 is that programs such as health care, psychology, epidemiology, virology, immunology, data analytics, biology and bio-informatics have stimulated interest for African open universities to develop in the future; No. 2 is that open universities were seeking to innovate their teaching formats; short courses, such as micro credentials, might be developed as agile and flexible offerings which are expected to be suitable to learners in the pandemic context; No 3 is that programs and courses for upskilling in the context of digitalization will be implemented; and No. 4 is that lifelong learning is given a higher priority in order for open universities to stand securely in the higher education sector. Originality/value: The study may give open university leaders a quick insight into their future development.

This paper presents a methodology for directly aligning 'can do' frameworks to each other. The methodology, inspired by the manual for relating examinations to the "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment" (CEFR) (Council of Europe, 2009) and Kane's (2004, 2013) interpretative argument, takes account of both the horizontal dimension (content analysis) and the vertical dimension (benchmarking with Multifaceted Rasch Modelling -- MFRM). The paper exemplifies the application of the methodology by introducing the research conducted to align the "Canadian Language Benchmarks" (CLB)/"Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens" (NCLC) to the CEFR, presenting the resulting alignment, and discussing the rationale for the choices made.