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This study used the story of "Sadako and the thousand paper cranes" by Coerr (1977) to discover similarities between the events of August 1945 in Hiroshima and the events of August 1990 in Kuwait. The participants in a children's literature class at Kuwait University folded paper cranes and wrote in their journals to answer two questions: (1) what is the importance of the story of Sadako, the Japanese girl, in introducing the issue of Kuwaiti prisoners of war? and (2) what are the educational values that Kuwaiti students can extract from Sadako's story? Three techniques were used, with a special focus on the participants' remarks and their impressions of those remarks in written form. The researcher counted nine values that the participants mentioned while they folded the paper crane and five values after they realized the crane's meaning. Several recommendations, suggestions, and remarks are also proposed.

Much attention is now given on producing quality graduates. Therefore, outcome-based education (OBE) in teaching and learning is now being implemented in Malaysia at all levels of education especially at higher education institutions. For implementing OBE, the design of curriculum and courses should be based on specified outcomes. Thus, the challenge for the assessment is that it should be capable of measuring whether intended outcomes have been achieved or not. Likely, by assisting lecturer in preparing examination paper that aligns with the specified outcomes is something that can help to ensure the implementation of OBE. Hence, this paper describes the development of a tool for generating question examination paper based on learning outcomes, called Learning Outcome-based Question Examination paper Tool (LoQET). LoQET is proposed for assisting lecturer in Universiti Putra Malaysia for preparing examination paper based on programme outcomes and learning outcomes set in the teaching plan and assessment entries.

Public schools widely use mission statements, and many educational administration programs teach mission statements as a necessary lever for school improvement. A mixed methods investigation examined three levels. An experiential phenomenological analysis examined graduate students' experiences with mission statements within their own schools and professional life. A thematic analysis examined 80 schools in the Midwestern United States, broken down by high and low performance on state academic testing, ecological differences, quantitative structures of the mission statement, and qualitative themes and dimensions. A meta-synthesis compared findings with previous research. There were structural differences in mission statements, but the conclusion was mission statements were a legacy practice which served the political spectacle, and practitioners adopted the practice out of conformity. There was no direct evidence mission statements achieved the stated purpose. Recommendations were made to refashion mission statements and the school improvement process around four factors.

This paper makes an econometric testing of one-minute paper used as a tool to manage and assess instruction in my statistics class. One of our findings is that the one minute paper when I have tested it by using an OLS estimate in a controlled Vs experimental design framework is found to statistically significant and effective in enhancing students' knowledge. It is found to be equally effective when I have tested it by using a seemingly unrelated regression that allows the error terms to be correlated across separate but related regressions. This is irrespective of students' ability levels as is measured by GPA in both cases.

The emphasis of this paper is on the importance of teaching teacher preparation courses, specifically educational psychology, through a study abroad trip to Finland. This experience allowed American preservice teachers to see theories applied in an international setting while also allowing preservice teachers to compare the United States education system to the Finnish educational system. The current study includes sixteen female, preservice teachers' perceptions of the trip. Development of the activities abroad occurred with a Finnish university and included multiple school visits, panel discussions, and guest lectures. These experiences allowed for full immersion in the Finnish education system. The data include observations, student papers, and student survey responses, which present changes in students' views of education, views of the Finnish education system, and the application of theories in a real-world setting. This experience not only provided preservice teachers with an opportunity to see one of the best educational systems in the world but also pushed the preservice teachers to rethink how teaching and learning can look in a classroom.

Embarking in an educational research paper is one of the daunting processes any scholar can go through. And the process is even harder for novice education students who wander through the plethora of terminology, styles and paradigms trying to figure out their way in that jungle called educational research. The following of the review presents the constructs and basic theoretical components needed. By illustrating the differences between, strengths, weaknesses and research methods attached to each paradigm, this paper aims at introducing the first step in the thousand mile journey for novice education researchers and graduate students. Moreover, the paper is aiming at extending a departure point for the novice educational researchers, and strives to supplement the work of professors and supervisors who are engaged in training future educational researchers.

This research aims to examine and analyze the implementers disposition in the implementation of teacher certification policy in Makassar City and to know how is the disposition affects in successful implementation policy. This research is descriptive by using a qualitative approach. Sources of data in this study are primary data from the informants and secondary data using library research. This research used qualitative methods so that researcher as the manager of the research to be one of the instruments for collecting data, and also as the key instrument. Data was gathered by way of interviews, observation, and documentation. The results of research showed that the attitude of the implementer requiring payment of the certification candidate is not in accordance with the rules that apply in the recruitment of candidates for certification, and the issue has an effect of the implementation on successfully teacher certification policy. The implementers policy must follow procedure in accordance with the established guidelines or regulations.

The rise in older population in Ghana is accompanied by challenges that may require trained professionals with specialized knowledge in geriatrics and gerontology to help address. Research, however, points to an existing shortage of geriatric-trained professionals in Ghana; a problem that can be addressed with the education and training of students with interest in aging. This paper offers a review of the state of geriatric and gerontology education in Ghana. The paper specifically examines current geriatric-focused training programs in public universities, and existing national aging policies with implications for the development and implementation of aging education in institutions of higher learning in Ghana. The review findings point to an urgent need for governmental and institutional commitment to promote aging studies as a component of health professions curricula in Ghana. Critical steps to prioritizing and forging a path to instituting geriatric and gerontology education in Ghana are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine any differences in test scores between three different online versions of the Mental Cutting Test (MCT). The MCT was developed to quantify a rotational and proportion construct of spatial ability and has been used extensively to assess spatial ability. This test was developed in 1938 as a paper-and-pencil test, where examinees are presented with a two-dimensional drawing of a 3D object containing a cutting plane passing through the object. The examinee must then determine the cross-sectional shape that would result from cutting along the imaginary cutting plane. This work explored three versions of this test (the original and two adapted versions), administered online, to see if there were any differences on the versions regarding student performance. Versions differed in the linework quality displayed as well as shading shown on the surfaces. This study analyzed statics students' scores on the three online versions of the MCT and on the original paper version of the MCT to identify which version of the test may be most optimal for administering to engineering students. Results showed that there was a statistically significant difference in students' scores between multiple versions. Understanding which representations of the MCT items are most clear to students will provide insights for educators looking to improve and understand the spatial ability of their students.

Australia's much-vaunted reputation as a successful egalitarian, multicultural country has substantial merit, but it also has a chequered history, and the official narrative of egalitarianism and multiculturalism is experienced differentially by vulnerable, marginalised people and communities who bear the brunt of residual and new forms of racism and linguicism. One of the most vulnerable groups in Australian society is the cohort of Chinese international students, who face barriers of racism, linguicism, and exploitation. This paper presents the results of a study which consulted Chinese international students about their experiences in Australia. It found that while their experiences varied, a disturbing common thread of discrimination - from overt to more clandestine modes of aggression -- occurred. Implications for Australian decision-makers are enormous, particularly for educational and governmental institutions, for whom Chinese international students seem to represent a commodity rather than real, often vulnerable, young people.

The prediction of physical ability is a key point to understand the physical training effect of college students. This paper uses the error Back Propagation neural network algorithms to investigate the college students' physical test results, and predicts the future trends of the results. The findings indicate that, in future ten years, the physical test grades of both men and women will slip to a certain extent. It implies that the indicators of speed, power, endurance level and physical strength of college students keep going down. This phenomenon should be paid attention to. It is necessary to strength the exercise consciousness, and stimulates the enthusiasm of students' exercise.

This research paper presents empirical evidence aimed at establishing a causal relationship between explicit critical thinking skills and adolescent-parent career congruence among undergraduate students. Additionally, it seeks to identify the mediating role of friendship quality in this relationship. The study employs structural equation modeling as a method to establish causality. The findings of this research have implications for educators and instructors in higher education, as well as career exploration consultants in schools. The study provides valuable evidence on the most effective approach to promoting adolescent-parent career congruence by utilizing critical thinking skills and fostering high-quality friendships.

Hands-off data-driven learning is a data-based, student-oriented learning model characterized by inquiry and discovery. English context vocabulary teaching is the key to English teaching in colleges and an important indicator to evaluate the quality and level of college English teaching, which is a language teaching paradigm focusing on the language environment. Combining the two approaches can give students a more realistic, practical, and meaningful language learning experience. This paper analyzes the vocabulary learning level of two non-English major undergraduate classes at Southwest University of Political Science and Law before and after the application of the context experiment. The positive effect of context vocabulary teaching in the control groups is verified by comparing and analyzing the influence of context teaching based on hands-off data-driven learning on their scores and learning results between the experimental and control groups. It shows that the combination of context in English vocabulary teaching with hands-off data-driven learning can help to improve students' ability to understand, absorb, and apply English vocabulary.

The present work explores the potential role of smartphone addiction in mediating the correlation between self-efficacy and Psychological Escapism among university students. The paper's stratified convenience sample comprised 195 students from the World Islamic Sciences and Education University. Validated scales measuring self-efficacy, psychological escapism, and smartphone addiction were utilized for data collection. The findings indicate that smartphone addiction, self-efficacy, and psychological escapism were all found at moderate levels. Moreover, the presence of smartphone addiction as a mediating variable resulted in a significant increase in the proportion of explained variance in the level of psychological escapism attributed to self-efficacy (31%), compared to the absence of this mediating variable (22%). Additionally, while gender and academic year have significant effects on psychological escapism, the demographic elements investigated did not demonstrate any significance with self-efficacy or smartphone addiction among college students. Accordingly, this research points out the importance of developing curative and preventive counseling programs aimed at reducing smartphone addiction and mitigating the level of psychological escapism by enhancing self-efficacy among college students.

Numerous UK universities are experiencing financial instability; with an increasingly competitive and maturing market, reliance has grown on international students to offset institutional shortfalls. Dependency on international student tuition revenue has over-exposed the market to dramatic shifts in political policies, both domestic and internationally, that could significantly impact operational success. UK higher education institutions (HEIs) ability to promote their institutions as they are intertwined with the UK government; thus, controversial policies create a backlash, drawing HEIs into disputes as unwanted participants yet recipients of significant economic disruption. Government policies on domestic tuition caps, Brexit, and increasing geopolitical disputes with China have had a considerable impact on institutional operations. This paper recommends HEIs, principally lower-tabled universities, take a more aggressive strategic realignment to best adapt to the marketplace's uncertainty. By reemphasising institutional specialisation, variable tuition rates for under-represented growth markets, financial support for EU students, increased distance education presence, and intense market-wide lobbying of government MPs, this paper seeks to open a discussion on how to identify existing problems and target opportunities for growth. The complexity of market conditions and the decreasing solvency of many institutions will not be solved by a single recommendation or a short-term policy but by a complete realignment and robust industry-wide initiatives. If universities cease operations or collapse under market conditions' financial strain, it will impact the overall market's reputation, reducing UK institutions' overall desirability as a major exporter of education.

As a public compulsory course for Non-English majors in colleges and universities, College Public English should not only develop students' language and cross-cultural communication skills, but also cultivate their correct outlook on life, values, world and native land emotion, which is consistent with the ideological-political goals of the course. English textbook is the guarantee for the smooth progress of English teaching, and more importantly, it is an important carrier to practice Chinese teaching ideas. This paper mainly focuses on how to integrate ideological-political elements into English teaching from textbook perspective. It discusses the measures of integrating ideological-political education into College English courses from four aspects: teaching objectives, unit themes, and knowledge points, grammatical structure and word explanation. It is finally pointed out that exploring and integrating ideological-political elements in textbooks is the key link to realize ideological-political education in College Public English courses.

This paper presents the conceptual framework, value chain model and the system architecture of intelligent student relationship management based on cognitive technology with conversational agent for enhancing student's loyalty in higher education. The purposes were to synthesize the conceptual framework and apply it to develop the value chain model and the system architecture of intelligent student relationship management based on cognitive technology with conversational agent for enhancing student's loyalty in higher education and assess the developed value chain model and system architecture. The questionnaire was employed as the instrument to assess and certify the value chain model and the system architecture by the experts. The 5 point-Likert scale was used to identify the level of agreement of the value chain model and system architecture certification assessment. The instrument was verified by five experts using content validity index (CVI). After that, the value chain model and the system architecture were verified based on the consensus assessments of seventeen experts using mean, standard deviation (S.D.), median, interquartile range and quartile deviation. The results revealed that the experts had a consensus on the value chain model developed based on the conceptual framework (Mean = 4.89, S.D. = 0.27, Median = 5, Interquartile Range: I.R. = 0.00, Quartile Deviation: Q.D. = 0.00). They also had a consensus to approve the system architecture developed based on the value chain model (Mean = 4.70, S.D. = 0.55, Median = 5, Interquartile Range: I.R. = 1.00, Quartile Deviation: Q.D. = 0.50).

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.

Though there is an existence of writings on human capital and its relationship to growth, but it has missed the economic impact of universities. It is known that the knowledge of economy has a positive role in achieving economic development. So my paper focuses on the role of education expenditure in achieving economic development. The human resource is the basis for growth and development because it is able to achieve the appropriate scientific achievement and its future economic performance which is a positive return. The improvement in performance of skilled workers will be affected if Saudi government increases the education expenditure in addition to the investment in human capital. From here we can say that the human resources and the universities (government education expenditure) are two sides of a single coin whose basic and sole objective is economic growth. Therefore, this paper will test the relationship between education expenditure and economic development during the period from 2003 to 2019 through a theoretical analysis of the relationship of higher education to economic development. To explore the relationship between spending on education and economic development the author used econometric technique to analyze the study by using multi regression model depending on weighted least square (WLS). The study results show that there is a significant relationship between Saudi education expenditure and economic development, but regarding to R & D expenditure it is not significant. So the author excluded it from the model due to lack of data. Furthermore, the model WLS is effective to explore results and relations between dependent and independent variable in the case of Saudi Arabia.

Access to education in Nigeria has attracted the attention of many Nigerians due to rising number of children and youths who are unable to gain admission into schools to actualize their educational and career dreams. Besides, there are also the issues of equitable and adequate resources to the existing schools to ensure qualitative education at all levels in Nigeria. This is the trust of this paper, as it examines the significance of access to education, equal educational opportunities, resource allocation to education and criteria for such allocations. The paper also attempts to highlight some problems and prospects of access and resource allocation to education in Nigeria.

The 21st century is an era of knowledge and information. Modern science and technology based on information technology has inspired profound changes in the world, including college education. Information literacy is an intrinsic element that often plays an important role in teaching and school management. In the information age, how to improve college teachers' information literacy has become a major issue in the development of college education. This paper focuses on the study of college English teachers' information literacy. It first studies the basic connotation of information literacy of college teachers which covers information awareness, information knowledge, and information ability. Then this paper takes college English teachers in North China Electric Power University as the research object, and adopts questionnaire survey and literature research to analyze the current situation of the information literacy of college English teachers. Based on the analysis of the basic connotation of teachers' information literacy, and the current situation of college English teachers' information literacy, this paper puts forward three strategies for improving college English teachers' information literacy: enhancing college English teachers' self-development consciousness, making use of group dynamics, and perfecting modern information technology training system.

Special class secondary school physics teachers represent outstanding secondary school physics teachers in China. This paper analyzes the personal life histories of 13 outstanding secondary school physics teachers. We coded and analyzed the sample materials and summarized the laws of professional development of outstanding secondary school physics teachers. The study shows that cultivating outstanding secondary school physics teachers takes a relatively long time. Their professional development can be divided into five stages: the pre-service learning period, the initial adaptation period, the exploration and skill-developing period, the maturing innovation period, and the excellence and advancement period. Individuals' own efforts and continuous learning, guidance from master teachers and experts, and support from family and school play an important role in the professional growth of outstanding secondary school physics teachers. Outstanding secondary school physics teachers can apply lifelong learning, do educational research, and develop their own distinctive physics teaching styles.

Recent years, research on curriculum-based ideological and political education has been one of hotspots in the field of higher education in China. Using both literature analysis software of CiteSpace and VOSviewer, visual analysis and information collection have been carried out on 429 papers of Chinese curriculum-based ideological and political education from 2014 to 2021, so as to find out the research focuses and evolution in this field and then to predict the trend in the future. The results are that the hotspots of ideological and political research focus on the definition of its connotation, construction value, and the exploration of practical paths. Furthermore, current research frontiers including "ideological and political elements", "talent cultivation", "college physical education (PE)" and "core socialist values" reflect that the current study focuses on the exploration of practical paths. It is expected that education mechanism, teaching practice research and multidisciplinary research will become the main trends of curriculum-based ideological and political education in China in future.

The intention of this paper is to examine the longer-term impacts of international professional experience (IPE). Participants in the study were all early-career teachers who had participated in IPE as part of their education degree and were invited to participate through the alumni office of an education faculty from one university. Thirty participants took part in this research study by completing an online questionnaire with two continuing on to a focus group discussion. The two data sets -- from the online questionnaire and interview transcripts -- were scrutinized individually using a deductive approach, informed by the five categories from the integrated works of Willard-Holt (2001) and Pence and Macgillivray (2008) as a framing lens. The impact of IPE on the identity formation, practices and career-based decision making of the focus group participants reiterated what emerged from the literature and questionnaire data. This research highlights the impact that IPE has on future teachers' sense of self and practice as a teacher, their approach to learning, teaching and education more broadly, and on the decisions, they make about their career options and pathways. This study has implications for the ways in which future teachers are prepared for culturally diverse classrooms.

Online learning has been a vital tool to be used during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many research studies have been conducted on this topic from different perspectives. However, it can be argued that it is important to identify and evaluate the students' experience especially those of them who are experiencing online learning for the first time. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate Saudi EFL learners' experience towards the rapid shift to an entirely online learning environment. Specifically, this study aimed to identify the benefits and the challenges of online learning during COVID-19 and compare the traditional way of face-to-face learning to online learning from the students' perspective. The research method employed for this paper was a quantitative method in terms of a questionnaire. The questionnaire contained 15 items and was utilized to identify the benefits and challenges that the students have faced during their online learning experience. Participants were 72 Saudi EFL learners in their preparatory year at a Saudi higher education institution. Major findings revealed a number of benefits of online learning, such as: "Easy access to online material", "Ability to record meetings and sessions", and "Retrieve information". On the other hand, technical problems were the most reported challenge for students, in addition to lack of interaction with teachers. Based on the research findings, several suggestions and recommendations were presented to enhance the effectiveness of online learning.

This paper draws on the affordances theory and investigates the ways in which pre-service teachers are sustaining social media uptake in learning by taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by the new delivery methods during the pandemic. This research is part of a descriptive mixed methods study. A questionnaire and in-depth, qualitative interviews were used to explore pre-service teachers' perceptions of the affordances of social media platforms for learning and the actualization of those affordances. The survey and interview data were analyzed through the theoretical lens of affordance theory. The results suggest that the pre-service teachers actualized the affordances of social media by their knowledgeable use in a dynamic learning environment. The key findings are that the teachers perceived the social media applications to be flexible, useful and practical (functional affordances), bridges formal and informal learning and supported self-regulated learning (cognitive affordances), allowed pre-service teachers to assume new identities and discover learning as independent learners who had control over their learning (identity creation affordances), and fostered interaction and collaborative feedback (social affordances). Lack of guidance or lack of teacher presence was the main constraint. This research produces new knowledge and analysis and makes new theoretical contributions on the specific affordances of social media technologies. This study adds to and extends existing literature by contributing to an understanding of the actualization of the affordances of social media platforms.

Formative assessment is a strategy that optimizes the learning process at any educational level, however its use is not very frequent as literature revision shows. In this paper, we analyse the use of formative assessment in online postgraduate studies (masters) in Spanish universities. Our sample was 31 online master's degrees coordinators and we analyse the results obtained from a questionnaire with open questions using NVIVO software. Through qualitative analysis of the information supported by cross-queries of codes and attributes, we have considered formative assessment according to fields of knowledge, the type of digital tools used and the main difficulties identified. In this type of online masters, our data show that most of the teachers use this type of formative e-assessment to provide feedback to their students and as part of the final marks of the courses, too. So these results are relevant to understand the E-assessment strategies for master's degrees. Finally, the main limitation of the study is the fact that it uses a sample limited to the geographical context of Spain. Nevertheless, these data are representative of E-assessment in Spanish master's degrees and may be of interest for future research, for comparative studies in other contexts and even with face-to-face or blended-learning master's degrees.

In comparison with other sectors, the education sector was most visibly impacted by the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating the adoption of effective strategies by teachers and teacher educators in order to minimize the negative effects of school closure on student learning within in a short period of time. This paper attempts to review the literature on the training of in-service and pre-service teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to help guide relevant researchers in conducting more in-depth academic research, and to remind educational institutions and individuals of the need to take the most recent social issues into account when designing teacher training programs.

The target of Education for Sustainable Development is to make people creative and lifelong learners. Over the past years, architectural education has faced challenges of embedding innovation and creativity into its programs. That calls the graduates to be more skilled in the human dimensions of professional practice. So, architectural education has a great role in developing students' skills and attitudes needed for professional practice and in fostering continued learning throughout the lifetime. Architectural education that establishes a base for lifelong learning is the best way to face global challenges of the 21st century. More effective methods are needed in introducing lecture-based courses in architectural education to meet the 21st century proper skills. Lecture-based courses are often associated with teacher-centered method that inhibits the possibility to apply such skills. This paper suggests applying the concept of Flipped Learning that stands on active learning and its related pedagogy; Problem-Based Learning. The paper aims to; 1) draw a clear vision of flipped learning relying on its pillars; pedagogy, technology, and space, 2) investigate the challenges face such concept and the opportunities, 3) explore the mechanism of the Problem-Based Learning pedagogy, 4) review the previous promulgated literature of applying PBL within the framework of FL on LBCs in the architectural curriculum, and 5) apply Problem-Based Learning pedagogy on Lighting and Acoustics as a lecture-based course. The paper concludes by; establishing a conceptual approach for the flipped classroom environment, and devising a proposal of Lighting and Acoustics course in a framework of Problem-Based Learning pedagogy.

As a contribution to the efforts to understand the influence of peer presence on self-regulated learning, this paper studies students' reaction to a project-based activity, the final product of which was a scientific communication to peers. In this activity, "peer lecturing," the students formulate a question on a topic linked to the course, search scientific information in order to answer the question, and teach the result of their investigations to their class in the form of a whole-class communication. The paper draws on the qualitative analysis of 23 interviews of first-year student teachers involved in "peer lecturing" in the framework of an introductory zoology course. In this study, the expressed gains in self-regulated learning described by the students are compared to the gains reported in the literature in other project-based methods and in peer teaching. Original gains in motivation ("social goals"), cognitive processes and self-regulation, are highlighted, while stressing differences between student types. Further development of the method is suggested.

Research on entrepreneurship education (EE) has encountered confusing ontological and methodological issues, such as definitional controversy, gaps between research and practice, and lack of theoretical foundations. These are factors holding back the further development of the research and practice in this field. This paper presents a whole picture of EE by exploring key factors involved in EE programs such as objective, audience, content and method, and assessment with a macro integrative perspective. In this way, it points out the disintegrated micro perspectives employed in prior studies is the source of inadequate understanding of EE, which causes issues and confusions in present EE research. The macro integrative perspective offered by this paper provides an innovative way to tackle these issues and hence is expected to contribute to the further improvement of EE research and practice.

Educational partnership between schools and higher education institutions has become an important tool towards enhancing students' achievement levels in both contexts and increasing students' college readiness level. It has also been identified as one key element of educational reform. The present paper reviews a number of models of school-university partnership from different parts of the world. It also presents the results of a study that investigated--among other things--the views of 749 school students and 68 school teachers on the topic of school-university partnership. The paper provides a summary of participants' suggestions on how best to create better progression between EFL syllabuses in both contexts: post-basic schools and foundation programs in Omani universities, with particular reference to the teaching/learning of EFL reading and writing. Students' suggestions have mainly focused on three themes, which were collaboration at the administrative level, the need for orientation programs and exchange visits. Teachers' suggestions were more centered on the need for curriculum change as well as alignment in curriculum issues between the Ministry of Education and the higher education sector. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations for future practice and research.

The aim of establishing the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) marked the development of the Bologna process since its beginning, while it exercised a decisive influence on the content of the higher education policy initiatives undertaken over the years. One of the most important goals of the relevant policy making was to bridge the university-to-labour market gap and to improve the employability of graduates. Such aims require a consistent and multidimensional cooperation between higher education institutions and the social partners, mainly employers, from which significant benefits may derive for all parties involved. As a result, many types of work based learning have been promoted in higher education with the most prominent of them being the student work experience programmes organised by universities in collaboration with enterprises. The paper analyses the guidelines provided by the EHEA framework with regard to the cooperation between universities and the social partners. Also, it discusses the role that has been attributed to (or claimed by) the social partners regarding work experience programmes. The EHEA institutional framework includes provisions for the participation of social partners in the organisation of work placements, which contribute to students' skills development and easier transition to employment.

As the global economy is undergoing transformation and upgrading in the background of the digital economy, it leads to a reformation of business education in the new context, which brings the concept of new business education in China. One of the significant features of the new business education is multidisciplinary teaching and learning. Meanwhile, it is closely related to strategic decision-making in disciplinary program design, research design, faculty recruitment, teaching models, and international strategies. Benefited from the internationalization of higher education in past years, traditional business education has gained an advantage in introducing international students, teachers, and resources and building global cooperation platforms, including international visits and multiple studies in an international context. However, it cannot meet the demand for cultivating talents in the era of the digital economy. This paper starts with the connotation and feature of new business education, discussing internationalization strategy with a fresh perspective and unique positioning. Meanwhile, it aims to provide a theoretical and practical value for China's business schools with internationalization strategy making in the background of the digital economy.

Teaching practice plays an important role in preparing future teachers. More and more countries pay attention to teaching practice in teacher education and take measures to improve the system of teaching practice. This paper examines the characteristics of teaching practice through the perspective of comparative analysis, comparing the situations in China, the UK and the USA. The different characteristics are presented, particularly in the goal of teaching practice, the duration of the internship and the cooperation system among education administration departments, universities, and schools. Some suggestions are proposed to improve teaching practice generally based on experience of these three countries. As such, it provides insight into practice for policymakers and academics in the field of teacher education.

This paper investigates the potential efficiency of researches from various departments under a common faculty in terms of their individual publications. The outcome in terms of the number of research publications of the eight departments working under the faculty of engineering at King Abdul-Aziz University was utilized as the case for these investigations. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is utilized for the benchmarking of the research potential efficiency of these departments. The results of these studies are useful to know the potential research efficiency of each department under investigation and enable the respective departments/administration to determine the number of research publications necessary from each department to reach their respective optimal levels. The present study is helpful in diverting the interest of university management towards the quality development in education and research. The study is important as it uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to determine the relative efficiency of the publication amount for engineering departments at King Abdul-Aziz University. It further suggests some of the important measures required for the improvement.

The study assessed the service quality and satisfaction among Pharmacy students at one of the private medical colleges in Saudi Arabia using ServQual model. Specifically, it sought to determine the respondents' profile in terms of gender, year level, and grade point average; service quality using SERVQUAL Model; over-all students' satisfaction of students on the provided college services; and which profile and service quality dimensions best predict the over-all satisfaction of the students. Using a descriptive statistics and Multiple Regression Analysis for data analysis, this paper had 189 respondents. Based on the results, majority of the respondents were female from levels 2, 3, and 4 with above average GPA. Responsiveness, empathy and tangibility dimensions of service quality had a negative gap, which means that the expected services did not meet the perceived services on the cited service quality dimensions. Meanwhile, when overall satisfaction was measured, students expressed satisfaction to the college services. Year level was a predictor for all measures of student satisfaction; while GPA was identified as a negative predictor to student satisfaction in terms of faculty. Students' satisfaction in terms of faculty was best predicted by responsiveness, assurance, tangibility. Meanwhile, assurance was a predictor of students' satisfaction in terms of curriculum. Responsibility, responsiveness and assurance, on the other hand were predictors of students' satisfaction in terms of students services and facilities. Finally, the overall student satisfaction was predicted by responsiveness, assurance and tangibility.

Education opens numerous revenues to register economic expansion all around the world with specific reference to developing nations. Advancement of Pakistan in education indicators has been severely insufficient during the previous decades. Decreased financing along with inefficiency in budget expenditure plus weak management system have crippled the education sector ensuing poor educational outcomes. Outcome-based Education (OBE) has recently gained much attention in Pakistan. OBE is used in education because it clearly focuses and organizes everything in an educational system around what is necessary for all students to be able to do at the end of their learning. OBE proposes an influential and interesting option of transforming and organizing medical education. Therefore, the basic aim of this review is to highlight the tertiary education system of Pakistan and the need to shift from teacher centered to Outcome Based Education system. The review also addresses the major factors that impact student learning outcomes. Data bases were searched including Cochrane and Medline. Search strategy was designed by combining Boolean operators and key terms related to review objectives. Seven studies were included in the paper regarding the effectiveness of Outcome Based Education in different disciplines of education. The findings suggested five important factors from the literature that impact student learning outcomes including, assessment strategies, learning objectives based on level of complexity, student preferred learning styles, English language competency and Employer requirements. However, limitations were recognized in the methodology section and further recommendations were given for future researchers.

The world has witnessed a major pandemic that has threatened the status of education across the globe. Such a crisis highlights the importance of education technology, which has not been an influential part of Kuwait's education until the onset of COVID-19. Delays and interruptions of the academic year disrupted the lives of many students around the world, including Kuwait. Since e-learning technologies are not traditionally used in Kuwaiti higher education, this study aims to investigate the acceptance of technology and whether that has changed with the pandemic. It seeks to find useful strategies that could assist teachers in effectively using electronic distance-learning digital resources. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) has been developed to investigate the degrees of usage and acceptance of technology. This paper adopts an improved model that also includes the educational experience of teachers, in an attempt to understand the context of Kuwaiti higher education. Therefore, this quantitative study examines the use and acceptance of educational technologies of English language instructors in higher education. The study uses an online survey among 33 English language instructors at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) to also account for the perceptions and experiences of the teachers. The results revealed an overall high acceptance level of educational technology, with varying degrees of implementation.

This paper draws on social constructivism and the domestication model and investigates pre-service teachers' perceptions of the usefulness of Microsoft Teams for remote learning. This research is part of a descriptive cross-sectional study. It is neither causal nor relational. The participants comprised of 215 undergraduate pre-service teachers from an all-female teacher training college in Kuwait and were surveyed during year 1 of their three-year academic programme. Descriptive statistical analysis and One-way ANOVA were used to analyse the data. Results indicated an overall positive perception of Microsoft Teams by all participants. The findings suggest that Microsoft Teams is an effective virtual leaning platform because of its quality, user friendliness and functionalities. The respondents perceived that the tool played a significant role in fostering interactive learning and for receiving and providing feedback. However, the pre-service teachers perceived that the platform was not suitable for independent learning and collaborative learning compared to other online collaborative tools. The empirical contribution of this study is founded on the fact that it is conducted in the context of virtual remote learning at an undergraduate teacher education level where there is limited empirical evidence. This study adds to and extends existing literature by contributing to an understanding of the domestication of virtual learning platforms when making the shift from purely traditional classrooms to remote learning.

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the available literature on student attrition in Saudi higher education context. Despite the reported low student retention rates in Saudi tertiary institutions, student attrition remains an under-researched phenomenon. Thus, this paper aims to trace and collect all the available studies that addressed the issue of low student retention in the Saudi in higher education and to present and analyse their findings. This will help in providing evidence and empirical data that give a clearer view of the problem and pave the way for the future researchers as well as allowing for suggestions towards more effective plans and solutions. The student attrition factors reported in the reviewed Saudi studies were classified under personal, academic, social and institutional categories. However, the students' low academic abilities and institutional factors were the most common across all of the studies. These factors relate to students' experiences with the administrative system of their academic institution, including the admission, registration and disciplinary rules and policies and the availability and quality of student services and facilities.

The growing popularity of the corporate university model raises the question of whether the market principles are suitable for planning the policy of a key enterprise like the university without weakening its capacity of pursuing critical knowledge and teaching for democracy. Does the inclusion of the free market imperatives in the functioning of the university improve its overall quality? Is there a clash between the values of the university and those of the market? What is really at stake for democratic societies? This paper addresses these questions through a conflict perspective on neoliberalism as the orthodoxy of state planning and the implications of this operational model on the core values of the Western university. The paper also takes a historical approach on state intervention to explain the political circumstances that accompanied this orientation to public policy and to offer perspective on the relevance of the state to liberal democratic society.

A considerable number of studies have investigated students' learning in class and outside of class across subjects such as English, mathematics, and physical education in China and other countries. Scholars have found that students' activities in class and outside of class are closely related to their learning outcomes, self-regulated learning and future development of transition strategies. However, the relationship between Chinese basic education and students' choices of activities outside of class has rarely been addressed. Using mixed research methods, this paper examines the relationships between Chinese students' basic education and their choices of English activities at university. The results showed that the participants' basic education and senior high school rankings had significant influences on their choices of learning activities out of the class at university level. The paper also highlights occurrences beyond the classroom in the 21st century China.

The paper explores the ways in which non-formal content and language integrated learning within university studies can affect students' academic progress. The research has included theoretical and empirical studies. The article focuses on the observation of students' learning process, draws attention to challenges and benefits students experienced through non-formal Law and Language integrated learning. Emphasis is laid on those non-formal learning activities that may be viewed as part of the university students' training for their future professional activities. The paper provides the results of students' interviews and questionnaires revealing the issues that students consider important regarding non-formal content and language learning. The research findings aim to contribute to a better understanding of the overall interdependence of formal and non-formal learning within the university academic environment.

The rapid advancement of emergent learning technologies has led to the introduction of massive open online courses (MOOCs) which offer open-based online learning courses to a large number of students. In line with the advancement, the Malaysia Ministry of Education has recently initiated Malaysia MOOCs via collaboration with four public universities. This paper proposes factors that could be used in development of MOOC learning content, which are: (i) type of MOOC, (ii) type of video lectures, (iii) integration of cultural aspects in video lectures, (iv) communication style in video lectures; and (v) humor effect in video lectures. The paper also proposes factors in developing MOOC learning tasks, namely: (i) structure of learning tasks; (ii) dialog in learning tasks; (iii) learner autonomy in learning tasks; (iv) social settings of learning tasks; and (v) transactional distance of learning tasks. The factors are based on experiences during development of MOOC for ethnic relations and are aligned with learning concepts and strategies such as the transactional distance theory and the theory of the computer model of a sense of humor. Future directions on the development and research on MOOCs are also proposed.

This paper gives an assessment of the social and motivational value of scientific degrees of Russian university teachers. The author analyzes the historical experience and current trends in the transformation of the system of degrees. The paper shows the dynamics and structural characteristics of teachers with different professional and qualification status in the context of modernization of higher education. An assessment of salary level according to scientific degree is given. Based on the results of a sociological survey, behavior strategies in respect of earning a degree of candidate and doctor of sciences are identified. The principal status advantages of degree holders are described. Reasons for the discredit of the Russian system of scientific degrees are identified.

This paper was an attempt to examine youth empowerment in higher education for sustainable development of developing communities in Cross River State in Nigeria. In Cross River State developing communities, youths are in the majority and form a very strong formidable force in the society we live, study, but are not empowered while in school nor after graduation. Hence, they rarely contribute to sustainable development of their communities. To address this problem, three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The design of the study was ex-post facto. The sample of the study was one hundred and forty six (146) youths drawn out of a population of five hundred (500) youths in the study area. The instrument used for data collection and analysis was a self-developed research questionnaire comprising 30 items. The data was analyzed using Pearson product moment correlation analysis. The result of the analysis showed that when youths in higher educational institutions are empowered, they will contribute to sustainable development of their communities. Based on the conclusion, the paper recommended that government, parents and stakeholders should address the issue of youth empowerment in educational institutions to enable them acquire skills for empowerment in the society.

The paper considers the problems of science and education space and network formation between business and education. The productive form of integration between the parties is revealed. The authors address employment as an evaluation criterion for networking between university and business. Special emphasis is on active training methods as a way to develop the student's personality. The paper data is sourced from a survey conducted on university students.

Several research findings conclude that many doctoral students fail to complete their studies within the allowable time frame, in part because of problems related to the research and supervision process. Surveys show that most doctoral students are generally satisfied with their dissertation supervision. However, these surveys also reveal some students think their supervisors meet with them too infrequently, lack interest in their dissertation topics, and provide insufficient practical assistance. Furthermore, many countries will soon witness a large turnover in the labour market as people near retirement. Because this is also the case at many universities and colleges, the expectation is that there will be many teaching and research vacancies. Therefore, many new doctoral students who plan to enter academia after earning their doctoral degrees are needed. In responding to these complaints, this conceptual paper examines the use of the agile approach--which has achieved recognition and approval in software development--in the doctoral dissertation process. In the teaching/learning sphere, the agile approach can be used in iterative meetings between doctoral student and supervisor for dissertation planning, direction, and evaluation. The focus of the iterations, the so-called Sprints, is on communication and feedback throughout the entire process. The paper is based in theories on teaching/learning and on the author's personal experience with the agile approach. Use of the agile approach, which can decrease the time required for doctoral studies, may thus increase the number of graduates with doctoral degrees. The paper makes suggestions for practical implementation of the agile approach.

Maximum number of privately funded engineering institutions have been established in India in the last two decades to meet the growing needs of technical manpower required by the Engineering and IT companies as well as aspiring students after completion of the Pre-University Program. However, a large number of institutions have not been able to attract the talented students for their undergraduate programs. The private managements of those institutions have realized then, the need for maintaining high quality in imparting engineering education. In addition, the regulatory bodies like NBA insist on maintaining the quality in the educational programs before giving accreditation. Therefore, the young institutes need to know the best practices adopted by the high performing institutions and introduce those best practices in their programs. In this paper, an attempt has been made to identify the best practices of the reputed and ranking institutes, to classify and codify those practices so as to enable the young institutes to implement them. Quality indicators have been identified through literature review, by summarizing previous studies, by conducting discussion with experts in the field. A few top ranked engineering institutions are selected to identify and list the best practices, by referring to the finding of various magazines. Practices followed with respect to the quality indicators identified have been composed by conducting structured interviews and discussions with various core groups and stake holders of these institutions. The details of literature review, data collection & analysis, findings and policy implications of the research work are presented in this paper. The best practices enlisted through this study will act as guidelines to implement the quality initiatives for the young institutions.