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The current practices and shortcomings of engineering students' English language teaching (ELT) syllabi were examined from the perspectives of learners and teachers in English as a foreign language (EFL) context. The syllabi included content that had little impact on students' communicative competence in English (CC-E). Students were generally concerned about their professional communication abilities. In this study, the researchers collected data from ten engineering-focused universities in Bangladesh. These universities' existing ELT syllabi (ELT-S) were examined, seeking the current practices and pitfalls. The study sampled 152 participants from the selected universities. The study followed a mixed-method approach. In the qualitative technique, content analysis, focus group discussion (FGD), and interviews were employed for data collection, while survey questions were used in the quantitative approach. The study's findings revealed that the existing English syllabi of those selected universities required updating and modification to meet the identified professional requirements regarding the type, credit allotment, content, classroom practices, class size, policies, etc. The improvements included redesigning English syllabi, material, and teaching methods to improve engineering students' communicative abilities. A uniform curriculum with at least one English language sessional course per semester in all engineering majors was strongly recommended.

Purpose: The present study investigates the influence of demographic factors on the demand for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Pakistan. The government of Pakistan has implemented various skill enhancement programs to harness the demographic dividend. However, only a small portion of the workforce receives any form of TVET, contributing to a shortage of skilled workers in the country. Many industries, particularly in manufacturing and mining, face deficits in the skilled labour. Consequently, this study aims to examine the role of demographic factors in shaping the demand for TVET within the Pakistani context. Methods: For the TVET demand's estimation, this study employed the Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement (PSLM) dataset of 2018-19 by using binary logistic regression analysis (BLRA). The demographic variables include the household's income, household head's education, household size, male proportion of the target age group, household head's age, and region of the household. Findings: The findings indicate that households in the higher income category do not demand TVET. Moreover, if the head of the household is highly educated, then the household is less likely to participate in TEVT. So, the higher the socio-economic status, the lower the probability of demand for TVET from the better-off students. Further, this study also indicates that boys are more likely to participate in TVET-related degrees, while females are less likely to participate in TVET due to the non-availability of institutes and hostel facilities, poor transportation, the limited number of trades available for females, and security issues. Conclusion: The findings provide insightful evidence to support the idea that the higher the socio-economic status of households, the lower the probability of demand for a TVET degree or diploma. Similarly, children of parents with university education are less likely to pursue TVET-related degrees. The reason is likely attributed to the perception that TVET-associated degrees and diplomas are considered inferior due to their lower standing and prestige as compared to general or professional degrees. This study suggests that the attractiveness of TVET can be enhanced by improving the quality of TVET, improving labour market outcomes, and creating a pathway to general education. Overall, this study not only contributes to empirical analyses of socio-economic determinants in TVET demand but also suggests that its findings can be applied not only to South Asian countries but also to other comparable nations with similar cultural ties and affinities.

This qualitative case study examines the Education Faculty Perspectives (EFPs) of the Karakoram Public International University in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, on teachers' experiences of a recently introduced education reform (an Honor's Bachelor of Education program [B. Ed Hons] mandated by Pakistan's Higher Education Commission (HEC) in 2010. The B. Ed Hons has replaced the existing pre-service programs nationwide. Our analysis identified several paradoxical themes about borrowing of the B. Ed Hons: at the "talk"/rhetoric level, the program was welcomed as a transformative shift in teacher education; at the "walk"/implementation level, its practicality and sustainability became complicated; at the decolonisation level, the discourses on the colonial nature of knowledge and North-South dependency were muted. Implications for moving from borrowing external "best practices" to producing local solutions are highlighted. The analysis suggests the contextual realities and challenges should be addressed, individual and structural capacities developed, and an incremental, critical-constructive approach to both external and local ideas be pursued, and decolonization discourse included.

Gender studies in Western institutions of higher education tend to focus on the deficiencies of female students in adjusting to new cultures compared to their male counterparts (Contreras-Aguirre & Gonzalez, 2017; Manese et al., 1988; Mallinckrodt & Leong, 1992). Few researchers have delved into female Chinese international students' ways of self-fashioning and the opportunities it brings them. Using a phenomenological theoretical framework combined with a critical lens to conduct detailed interviews, this study shifted the lens of focusing on female students' deficiencies, instead exploring how a group of Chinese female international students self-fashioned as they navigated the U.S. higher education environment. Three major themes emerged in our female Chinese international students' stories: their "self-fashioning" helps them (1) sophistically navigate the U.S. system better, (2) tactically fit into the new U.S. society, and (3) adaptively create more genuine personal identities. Implications were discussed at the end of this study.

Purpose -- Balochistan, which makes up roughly 44 percent of Pakistan's total land area, is home to 6 percent of the nation's inhabitants. Due to long distances and low population density, service delivery is particularly challenging. The province's educational services are impacted by natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, droughts, and migration. Disaster risk reduction is a widely recognized concept that emphasizes appropriate education to lower an individual's personal, familial, and communal vulnerability. The role of the school is crucial in Disaster Risk Reducation (DRR) education. As a result, the study's goal was to explore the approaches adopted for the inclusion of DDR through teaching in classroom and school activities. Methodology -- A focus group discussion with three groups of Pakistan studies and Geography teachers was conducted that consisted of 10 male and 14 female members. Findings -- Findings demonstrate that the current textbook continues to teach students less about disaster risk reduction; teachers include knowledge from their personal experience in planning lessons about DRR. School assemblies, child clubs and activities designed by school management, and social organizations play a prominent role in DRR education. Further, the role of teachers and school management was identified in psycho-social support during disasters and pandemics. Significance -- The study concludes that in addition to extracurricular activities and the teacher's role, prior disaster experience, school, and social organization played a significant role in DRR education in rural Balochistan. The study results will assist curriculum developers, policymakers, and education leadership in developing more effective school disaster management plans. The results will also clarify how schools and teachers can close the knowledge gap in disaster preparedness education. Organizations working on disaster risk education and education in emergencies will also benefit from additional research to respond to the need readily and effectively.

COVID-19 pandemic has forced educational institutions to use e-learning systems. Bangladesh is no exception; many students come from underprivileged families who are not well-off. This study aimed to explore the antecedents to the underprivileged undergraduate students' intention to participate in online classes in Bangladesh through the integration of the Technology Acceptance Model, Information Systems Success Model, and Theory of Planned Behaviour. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the hypotheses. The non-probability sampling method was used to select 394 respondents by dint of the subjective judgment of the researchers. Using smart PLS software, the data were analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). It was divulged that e-Learning usage intention (BI) is influenced by attitude (ATT), perceived usefulness (PU), students' online learning satisfaction (SOS) and subjective norms (SN). But perceived ease of use (PEU) and system quality (SQ), internet service quality (ISQ) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) do not influence BI. Even ISQ does not influence SOS. It was also revealed that PEU mediated attitude and PU, and PEU and SQ also influenced SOS. The study contributes to e-Learning literature by incorporating three models which may guide policymakers in understanding how to integrate students from all social classes into e-learning systems to eliminate academic digital discrimination.

Emerging research suggests that students from equity-deserving groups (EDGs) may experience barriers within work-integrated learning (WIL) that other students may not face, and such barriers may negatively impact students' participation in WIL. Guided by a social justice lens, this study used interviews of co-operative education (co-op) students (n = 30) from EDGs to explore barriers that such students experienced in one Canadian co-op program. Analyses of qualitative data showed that these students experienced non-structural barriers (those that are less explicit, such as internalized discrimination) and structural barriers (those related to policy and practice, both within their co-op program and their host organizations). While some barriers were specific to a given EDG, others were common across EDGs. These findings provide a fuller picture of the kinds of barriers experienced by WIL students within and across EDGs.

In higher education, academic advising is crucial to students' decision-making. Data-driven models can benefit students in making informed decisions by providing insightful recommendations for completing their degrees. To suggest courses for the upcoming semester, various course recommendation models have been proposed in the literature using different data mining techniques and machine learning algorithms utilizing different data types. One important aspect of the data is that usually, courses taken together in a semester fit well with each other. If there is no correlation between the co-taken courses, students may find it more difficult to handle the workload. Based on this insight, we propose using session-based approaches to recommend a set of well-suited courses for the upcoming semester. We test three session-based course recommendation models, two based on neural networks (CourseBEACON and CourseDREAM) and one on tensor factorization (TF-CoC). Additionally, we propose a post-processing approach to adjust the recommendation scores of any base course recommender to promote related courses. Using metrics capturing different aspects of the recommendation quality, our experimental evaluation shows that session-based methods outperform existing popularity-based, association-based, similarity-based, factorization-based, neural networks-based, and Markov chain-based recommendation approaches. Effective course recommendations can result in improved student advising, which, in turn, can improve student performance, decrease dropout rates, and a more positive overall student experience and satisfaction.

The basic aim of the research at hand was to investigate the effects of conflict management styles of school principals on teachers' job performance. To meet the major objective of the study, the targeted population was comprised of public sector secondary schools in the Punjab province. As the population was most scattered so the researchers used multi-stage sampling techniques to approach the whole population. At the 1st stage Gujranwala division was randomly selected through simple random sampling technique. At the 2nd stage, 176 secondary schools from three districts viz. Narowal, Gujranwala, and Sialkot were selected randomly. Among these 176 schools, 100 were male and 76 were female secondary schools. At the 3rd stage, 532 SSTs were randomly selected from the respective schools. It was a quantitative study and a survey technique was used to conduct it. The researchers used two questionnaires namely, FOCI for measuring school principals' styles of managing conflicts and TPES for measuring their respective teachers' job performance. Using MS Excel 2010 and SPSS version 24, statistical procedures (t-test, ANOVA, and regression analysis) were applied to analyze and interpret the data. It was determined that there was a strong correlation between teachers' job performance and the conflict management styles used by school leaders. Moreover, in conflict management styles, integrating and obliging styles had a positive effect whereas avoiding, compromising and dominating styles negatively effects teachers' job performance. The researchers have recommended that mix method research may be applied to validate the results of the study. Beyond further research, it is suggested that school Principals should be trained for better conflict management.