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While the past two decades have witnessed a surge of studies on the researcher identity of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) academics, research on how the intertwined connections between EFL academics and the larger ecological system within an institution affect their researcher identity construction remains relatively scarce. Utilizing a three-tier system framework, this study seeks to address this gap by exploring how EFL academics (micro level) in China navigate the complexities of aligning their researcher identity (re)construction with institutional practices (meso level) of a national policy (macro level). Adopting a case study design, this study collected and triangulated data from three sources: semi-structured interviews, narrative frames, and document analysis. Data analysis revealed that there were (mis)alignments between EFL academics' research expectations of national research policy and interpretations of research policy at the institutional level, and participants adopted different responses in re-adjusting their research practices to align with research policy. The study implies the need for university administrators to take into account academics' disciplinary features, research values, and needs when implementing institutional research policies. Such an orientation provides more opportunities and resources to shape, rather than break, the researcher identities of EFL academics and ultimately facilitate the sustainable development of higher education.

This study delves into the intricate tapestry of Jiarong Tibetan embroidery, exploring its historical development, cultural significance, and educational implications in heritage preservation and sustainable practices. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the historical development and literacy of Jiarong Tibetan Embroidery in education. Conducted in Xiaojin County, known for its cultural significance in Tibetan embroidery, the research employed a multidimensional approach, including a literature review, interviews with key informants such as cultural experts and artisans, and thematic analysis of data collected through surveys, observations, and focus-group discussions. The research uncovered profound insights into the origins of Jiarong Tibetan embroidery, its cultural symbolism, educational pedagogy, market dynamics, and strategies for sustainable development. Based on these findings, the study suggests collaborative efforts among stakeholders to integrate heritage education, promote cultural literacy, and preserve traditional crafts like Jiarong Tibetan embroidery in the face of modern challenges.

This research is part of the "Ancient Xuzhou Houses in China: Cultural Memory, Symbol and Process Reconstruction in the Context of Rural Revitalization" project. Traditional houses contain a large amount of cultural value, literacy role, and historical memory. In order to sort out the transfer process more clearly between memory and people, this study set three research objectives. First, spatial memory transmission and literacy role needs to be studied and analyzed. Then, on this basis, we will further study the method of spatial memory transmission and literacy role. Finally, the appropriate medium for spatial memory transmission is analyzed. This study used descriptive analysis to summarize and discuss the results. The results show that spatial memory transmission and literacy is a process of maintaining and transmitting social and cultural values through the use and evolution of architecture and spatial design over time. Symbols in the memory space of residential buildings are containers for storing memories, just like a mobile hard drive that records relevant memory information. Residential buildings and people are like two devices that convey information and communicate through symbols. After comparison, in the dimension of cultural memory, symbols are more social and cultural and are more suitable as a medium for transmitting spatial memory and literacy role under cultural identity. This article explains the relationship between symbols and spatial memory, through spatial memory transmission to describe how common memories are shared and reproduced among collective members through cultural memory, literacy role and symbolic translation. It can transmit cultural and historical memories between different generations and acquires the importance of spatial positioning and environmental interaction in transmitting cultural memory.

Involving the global issues as listed in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education is necessarily done in the education process, especially in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning. Exposure to global issues is known to improve students' understanding, awareness, and ability to solve urgent issues faced by global society. This paper aims to find out the trend of research on the coverage of SDGs in students' learning process. This systematic literature analysis was done by applying Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Method. A total of 25 studies were recognized through a systematic search by using Sustainability, SDGs, and EFL as keywords. The result shows that the trend of associating SDGs with EFL settings was done mostly in Indonesia. In the recent year 2022, it reached the highest number of studies in the particular matter with 7 total of research. It was also found that the study involving SDGs on EFL learning was mostly done in the tertiary setting, compared with K-12, junior high school, secondary, high school, and other educational institutions. It was also discovered that the specific area of study enhances EFL students' learning achievement, environmental awareness, global citizen values, as well as students' levels of self-norms, beliefs, and self-value.

The review article presents an analysis of the literature on environmental literacy in sustainable development. By utilizing techniques to examine multiple documents published between 2013 and 2023, including citation analysis, co-authorship analysis, subject area analysis, and keyword analysis, this study aims to provide valuable information and insights into the research landscape surrounding environmental literacy and its contribution to promoting sustainable development. A systematic search was conducted to gather several scientific articles, conference papers, and publications from the Scopus database from 2013 to 2023. The findings of this analysis shed light on authors, influential institutions, and active research groups that contributed to the study of environmental literacy and sustainable development. This comprehensive review offers an understanding of the state of research in this field while identifying areas for further exploration and research gaps. The insights gained from this study can be highly beneficial for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to advance knowledge and take action toward promoting literacy's role in sustainable development. This analysis is a foundation for advancing our understanding of literacy's significance while emphasizing its vital role in sustainable development efforts.

Greenspaces on university campuses have gained recognition for their multifaceted impact on the physical, social, emotional and intellectual well-being of students. The allocation of resources towards the development and maintenance of greenspaces is regarded as a strategy in the pursuit of sustainable development goals. However, the research on greenspaces within higher education has been inadequate. This study conducts an assessment of greenspaces within 2556 Chinese universities using remote sensing and geospatial technology, analysing the disparities in their distribution and exploring the spatial patterns and driving factors on a national scale. A national university greenspace database is obtained. Unexpectedly, the study finds that greenspace area and proportion within Chinese universities are relatively low in comparison to the greenspace areas outside the campus and of the city. There is heterogeneity and a decreasing trend in university greenspace. Compared to university faculty and off-campus population, university students have the lowest per capita greenspace area. Of concern is the significant issue of greenspace inequality. Our research suggests that the inequality in greenspace provision for university students can be explained by factors of economic development, educational investments and provincial greenspace supply. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the state of greenspaces in Chinese universities and calls for interdisciplinary and interdepartmental cooperation to address issues of greenspace inequality and campus greening, ensuring the sustainability and livability of urban areas and university campuses.

Patriotic education in China is a state project that serves the Chinese government. However, current discourse on Chinese patriotic education basically views inward and outward aspects of patriotism as separate and incompatible, which downplays the intricate relationship between them. Arguably, a more nuanced understanding of patriotism is needed to better explore patriotic education in the context of China. This paper begins by elaborating the differences between inward and outward patriotism as illustrated by Marianna Papastephanou's Janus-faced nature of patriotism. It then proceeds to give background information on Chinese patriotic education and illustrate how inward patriotism has been intrinsic to patriotic education in China from its beginnings. The paper further reveals that outward patriotism has been increasingly emphasized in today's China. Finally, it proposes that the risks and potentials of both inward and outward patriotism should be realized and given full consideration and explains how balanced patriotism can help accommodate diverse needs and make Chinese development more sustainable.

Breaking through the company's own green knowledge barriers through school-enterprise cooperation has become an important means for companies to expand market competitive advantages and environmental governance. This article uses China's non-financial listed company data from 2010 to 2021 to study the causal effect of school-enterprise cooperation on corporate green innovation. The results passed a series of robustness tests and confirmed that school enterprise cooperation can improve the level of green innovation of enterprises. This paper also uses the instrumental variable method to mitigate the causal relationship between the two. The results show that school-enterprise cooperation can still significantly improve corporate green innovation. The results of the mechanism test confirm that school-enterprise cooperation will promote corporate green innovation by reducing corporate green innovation risks and easing corporate financing constraints. At the same time, the heterogeneity analysis results show that school-enterprise cooperation has a better effect on improving green innovation for enterprises in heavily polluting industries, enterprises in years with low economic policy uncertainty, and enterprises with a high degree of government-enterprise connection. The findings of this article help to understand the intrinsic mechanism between school-enterprise cooperation and corporate green innovation, and confirm that school-enterprise cooperation can improve the climate and environmental innovation system, which has important practical significance for the construction of the industry-university-research system.

Urbanization, vocational education, and industry in China have been influenced by policy and economic changes. This article outlines potential solutions for the integrated development of urbanization, vocational education, and industry in China. By integrating the development ideas of the triple helix model based on international related research literature, this article proposes a development model for China's industry-education city integration. Taking the Liuzhou rail transit industry-education city as an example, this article adopts a comprehensive and sustainable development approach, including urban management, industry-education integration, and industry innovation and entrepreneurship, centered around the characteristics of urbanization, vocational education, and industry. The development of China's industry-education city through the triple helix model has brought about innovations in education, industry, urban form, policy, technology, and social culture, which can help China's urbanization, vocational education, and industry achieve spiral development.

Connecting teachers' professional well-being and managerialism, this study explored how teachers experience their professional well-being in navigating challenging working conditions. Supported by the well-being theory, document analyses were carried out and open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers at Chinese HEIs. The findings portray a landscape of tensions, conflicts, and challenges, where teachers' professional well-being is dramatically confronted and even systematically overlooked. In a managerial culture in favor of performance and competence, teachers' engagement, their perception towards the meaning of education, and their understanding of self-actualization were consistently informed, controlled, and rewarded against a reducible list of skills and outcomes. In this way, the meaning of being a teacher is narrowly focused but broadly standardized. The findings deepen understandings of teachers' professional well-being, enable more critical examinations of managerialism in higher education, and allow promotion of teachers' professional well-being for sustainable development.

Background and Aim: China's economic and societal development, education reform, and increasing demand for quality education, independent colleges' advantages waned. Issues like "schools within schools," lack of independence, unclear property ownership, and weak internal governance arose, necessitating restructuring and new directions. Thus, this article examines Edvantage Group's response to independent college restructuring through dynamic capabilities theory, analyzing bottleneck issues, exploring measures taken for reform and development, and investigating a sustainable development path post-restructuring. Materials and Methods: Through semi-structured interviews and practical investigations, this paper analyzes the development strategy of the independent college under Edvantage Group. Results: the group's development presents a dynamic and evolutionary growth process, and dynamic ability is the key ability for the group to gain a foothold in the market and gain development advantages. Under the background of the current government's efforts to promote vocational education, the Group should incline its internal resources more to vocational colleges and technical schools. To give full play to its advantages, seize opportunities and make up for its disadvantages, it is necessary to improve the internal governance system, improve the system construction, strengthen and stabilize the teaching staff, enhance the social influence of the group, further promote the restructuring of internal resources of the group and improve the utilization efficiency. Conclusion: The transformational development challenges, private education groups need to find a distinctive, high-quality, and sustainable path to development. Dynamic capabilities are crucial, and this paper takes the case of Edvantage Group, investigating its development strategy based on dynamic capability theory.

The social responsibility of college students in the later stages of adolescence for sustainable development is emphasized, and the role of universities has become a crucial task. This study aimed to explore the level of college students' cognition, attitude, and behavior towards sustainable development and the association among them through the moderation effect of informal online learning. The difference verification and structural equation modeling were applied to 559 students who majored in science, and statistical validity was confirmed. Regarding the sustainable development level of college students, there was a significant difference in cognition, attitude, and behavior towards sustainable development between males and females, formal education, and informal online learning. Further, college students' attitudes towards sustainable development played a significant mediating role between cognition and behavior. The study also found a significant moderation effect of informal online learning on students' cognition and attitude toward sustainable development behavior. Accordingly, this study suggests that universities should systematically design educational programs to promote college students' behavioral change toward sustainable development through personal life-oriented learning courses.

Sustainable leadership is a necessity to achieve the goals of sustainable development, such as addressing complex global issues, preserving environmental and social balance, ensuring the well-being of future generations, and promoting innovation. Sustainable leadership in education is important to contribute to sustainable development goals by equipping future generations with environmental, social, and economic responsibilities and integrating sustainability principles into the education system. This study aims to determine the current state of research containing the term "sustainable leadership" by conducting a bibliometric analysis using the Web of Science (WoS) database. The VOSviewer software is employed to visually represent the data obtained from the WoS database. According to the comprehensive bibliometric analysis results, research related to the theme of "sustainable leadership" began to emerge in 2002, with a total of 390 publications identified in the period from 2002 to 2023. The majority of these publications are in the form of articles, reflecting the interest and curiosity within academic circles in this field. However, considering the lower presence of other document types such as conference papers, book chapters, and review articles, there appears to be a growing need for these types of sources. The bibliometric analysis reveals that research on sustainable leadership is predominantly published in the form of articles, with a significant increase observed, particularly in publications from 2019. The VOSviewer analysis of the "sustainable leadership" field categorizes the most commonly used terms into three clusters: "sustainability", "sustainable leadership", and "leadership". In terms of the distribution of articles in the field of sustainable leadership by citing countries, the countries with the highest number of citations are Thailand, South Africa, the United States, and China, respectively. The findings of the analysis are believed to contribute as a resource for future research and benefit researchers in exploring potential topics related to the theme of sustainable leadership in the near future. Additionally, it is noted that there is limited research on sustainable leadership in Turkey, and recommendations are provided for its further development.

Purpose: The global COVID-19 epidemic has posed significant challenges to the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in Chinese and foreign universities, and the application of artificial intelligence generated content (AIGC) technology has presented both opportunities and challenges to its development. The purpose of this study is to summarize advanced experiences and models of new engineering innovation and entrepreneurship education development in Chinese and foreign universities, as well as to analyze the influencing factors. Taking the sustainable development goals (SDGs) into account, this study qualitatively proposes enhancement paths and improvement suggestions based on the application of AIGC technology, providing a reference for promoting the sustainable development (SD) of innovation and entrepreneurship education in Chinese universities. Design/methodology/approach: By using the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), this paper studies the interaction mechanism between the influencing factors of innovation and entrepreneurship in universities under the background of SDGs. This paper selects 12 representative universities with different cultures and strengths. Meanwhile, this paper analyzes the content of 2,535 publications on innovation and entrepreneurship education and summarizes seven influencing factors as comparison criteria. Then, this paper codes, summarizes and uses configuration to assess the primary factors influencing the development of innovation and entrepreneurship in colleges and universities at home and abroad. Findings: On the quality of new engineering innovation and entrepreneurship education, comprehensive, diverse influencing factors and upgrading paths are obtained. Furthermore, this research proposes that the SD of innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities should make effective use of "AI plus education" and actively construct practical and teaching platforms. Meanwhile, the ChatGPT is being used to strengthen the innovation and entrepreneurship curricular system and talent training mode. The research also makes recommendations for improving teachers' ability to acquire intelligent tools and promotes three-way teaching modalities of "teacher-AI-student" by taking into account the influence of various aspects. Originality/value: This research uses the QCA research method, which analyzes not only influencing factors on the SD of innovation and entrepreneurship education but also explores the interaction mechanisms among factors. Furthermore, the research incorporates SDGs and AIGC technology application scenarios into the field of domestic innovation and entrepreneurship education, which will be helpful in SDGs of innovation and entrepreneurship education on both theoretical and practical levels.

Purpose: This study aims to examine and assess how sustainable development goal (SDG) Target 4.7 is incorporated in one leading higher education institution (HEI) in China (with a focus on teacher-education programmes) from students' perspectives. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses document analysis and a semi-structured interview to analyse official and accessible documents of the programmes related to SDG Target 4.7 and recorded interviews with seven students across various Postgraduate Diploma in Education programmes in the field of education at the examined university. Findings: SDG Target 4.7 is absent in the related documents. Challenges and barriers for students include limited opportunity to be informed about SDG Target 4.7, limited topics covered, ineffective pedagogies and students' diverse needs being neglected and teachers not giving immediate feedback. Given the opportunities in teaching and learning SDG Target 4.7, such as students are keen to learn and implement SDG Target 4.7, future directions could be reducing teachers' lecturing and increasing student engagement in multiple ways, providing concrete examples that are relevant to students' lives and giving immediate feedback and designing more related courses to specifically and systematically teach SDG Target 4.7. Originality/value: This study contributes to the field by identifying and deeply analysing an interesting and representative non-western case that remains underexplored in literature. In this sense, it helps international readers to generate a more comprehensive understanding of Chinese approaches to SDGs in its higher education system, develop a more holistic global discourse on incorporating SDGs into HEIs and compare the similarities and differences between different countries' approaches.

In recent years, researchers have paid increasing attention to the embodiment of education for sustainable development (ESD) in early childhood education (ECE) policies in various countries, but there is a lack of relevant research in China. Therefore, this study adopts the ESD analytical framework to analyze some representative ECE policies in China. It was found that although these policies did not explicitly mention ESD, they contained related concepts, such as educational content covering the three domains of sustainable development, focusing on cultivating children's cooperation and problem-solving skills and advocating the principles of child-centeredness and multiple synergies. This is closely related to the theoretical foundation of China's ECE. However, there are also some deviations in the current policy. In the future, policies should be adjusted to focus on children's relationship with the multidimensional world, enrich relational thinking in curriculum development, transform children's learning styles and promote the sustainable development of ECE.

UNESCO's relatively high prestige across East Asia has spurred intensifying efforts by governments to use its imprimatur to legitimate official narratives of the past and visions of the future. This article focuses on China's use of UNESCO as an arena for competitive national 'branding' in the education field, especially relating to STEM and AI. We analyse the Chinese state's engagement with UNESCO's education work in the context of shifts in budgetary and political influence within the organisation, and of a growing 'securitisation' of education within China itself. We show how Chinese engagement with UNESCO's educational agenda reflects both domestic political considerations and the 'major country diplomacy' of Xi Jinping, as manifested in the 'Belt and Road Initiative' and intensifying strategic competition with the USA. We conclude by discussing the implications of rising Chinese influence within the organisation for UNESCO's capacity for articulating a coherent and consistently humanistic vision for education.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the potential of implementing an action competence teaching model as a framework for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) in higher education. The paper seeks to draw insights from the students on the potential of this teaching model. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a quantitative research design in exploring the potential of an action competence teaching model. This study used self-report measures to obtain insights into the objective of the study. Findings: The action competence teaching model was seen as useful in equipping students with knowledge about a problem, confidence and willingness to act. However, some issues like the design of the projects, teamwork and instructional practices were identified and discussed. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to implement an action competence teaching model to help draw insights from students on its potential. This paper documents certain aspects of action competence that require attention before being implemented in higher education. This information so far lacking in scientific literature contributes to ongoing discussions on SDGs while unveiling strengths and weaknesses to be considered.

Research in environmental education adopts a broad concept of environmental literacy, recognizing the multifaceted nature that encompasses cognitive, affective, and behavioral components. However, minimal research has examined how these components interact with each other across various cities. The present study aims to fill this gap by investigating the interplay between the components of environmental literacy, such as affiliation with nature, environmental knowledge, and environmental behavior. More importantly, the study explores how these relationships vary across different cities that differ in sustainable development levels. Children (N = 979, M[subscript age] = 11.13) from 29 cities in China completed measures of affiliation with nature, environmental literacy, and pro-environmental behavior (PEB). We classified the cities into high versus low sustainable development levels using the Low-Carbon and Green Index--a comprehensive measure of sustainable development, including energy consumption, carbon emissions, and public policy. A moderated mediation analysis revealed that environmental knowledge mediated the relation between affiliation with nature and PEB only in cities with higher sustainable levels. As a result, environmental education should be tailored to a city's sustainable development level to better encourage pro-environmental behavior.

Purpose: Higher education institutions have a critical role in creating and disseminating the knowledge required to address the complex global challenges faced by global society, as summarized in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This role of higher education is linked with the concept of internationalization, which has recently been called upon to help contribute to tackle the global challenges and meet the SDGs, particularly through more attention to "Internationalization at Home" (IaH). This paper aims to examine the role of higher education in addressing the SDGs, especially with respect to the links between IaH and the SDGs. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of the International Campus of Zhejiang University (iZJU) is conducted to illustrate how iZJU, which is a pioneer of "Internationalization at Home" and an exemplar of sustainable campus in China, contributes to the value of the SDGs and makes an impact. Findings: The authors examine the practice of IaH at iZJU in the dimensions of organization, curriculum, people and campus, and the authors find evidence from the iZJU model in addressing the value of the SDG4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. Originality/value: First, the authors contribute to the literature on the role of higher education in addressing the SDGs, especially with respect to the links between IaH and the SDGs. Second, the authors contribute to the IaH literature by examining IaH from a Chinese perspective, as there has been little exploration of what IaH means beyond the European context. Third, the authors build on the analytical framework in the IaH literature in the dimensions of organization, curriculum and people and extend with a new dimension of campus. Fourth, the authors show that IaH is a comprehensive approach to include both curriculum internationalization and campus internationalization.

As a new sustainable alternative to linear economics, the circular economy (CE) is bound to be accompanied by the requirements of the existing production model, science and technology, as well as the public perception of CE. To expose the potential impact of higher education on CE transition, this study systematically reviewed the relevant literature on the drivers and barriers to CE with a mixed analytical method. CiteSpace was used to perform bibliometric analysis and visual presentation of 367 literature accurately retrieved by search formula from two international influential databases, Web of Science and Scopus, and two significant Chinese databases, CNKI and CQVIP. In the results, we identified the number of publications and citations, the annual distribution of publications, annual citation trends, county distribution of publication contribution, the most-cited articles, and the co-citation networks. Moreover, we clarified the main drivers and barriers to CE in China by conducting qualitative content of the keywords related to driver and barrier factors in the literature. The results suggest that higher education has a positive influence on strengthening the main drivers and eliminating the main barriers, which implies that higher education has bright prospects in speeding up the CE transition. To maximize the effect of higher education for CE, we suggested university leaders and lecturers should adopt effective education and instruction measures in improving the performance of education activities for CE, so that the future leaders of various industries in universities could construct CE values and behavior patterns to achieve the replacement of traditional linear economy.

Cognisant of the wide range of cooperation between China and Africa and the existing strong Sino-African relationship, this article explores the international cooperation between Africa and China in the higher education domain, especially in the field of Open Distance Learning (ODL). The study employed data triangulation relying on both secondary and primary sources to address the main research questions. It sheds light on the development of ODL in Chinese Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with a focus on professional development of university teachers. The article argues that ODL is crucial for emerging economies' sustainable development. Key factors such as political, technological and socio-cultural features play a crucial role in the development and effective implementation of ODL. By exploring the potential opportunities and identifying related challenges, this article contributes to an understanding of how mutually beneficial partnerships between African universities and Chinese HEIs can be developed within the wider framework of Sino-African relationship.

At the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, the party put forward the 14th five year plan and the long-term goal of 2035, it put forward that we should not only give priority to the development of agriculture and rural areas and comprehensively promote rural revitalization, but also strive to build an educational power, improve farmers' scientific, technological and cultural literacy and promote the revitalization of rural talents. Human resources are the first resource for China's economic and social development, and education is the main way to develop human resources. Rural Revitalization needs talent revitalization, which is inseparable from the revitalization of rural education. However, there are still some problems to be solved in rural education. This paper combs the problems existing in the school running conditions, teachers, family education, education quality, local culture and the development status of rural vocational education, analyzes the causes of the problems, and puts forward the countermeasures for the development of rural education. Such as increasing investment in education funds, strengthening the construction of school standardization; improving the economic treatment and social status of rural teachers, strengthening the construction of rural teachers and enhancing their sense of rural belonging; strengthening the role of family education and sharing the responsibilities of vulnerable groups; improving the quality of education and creating local characteristic courses; vigorously developing rural vocational education. Through these measures, we can promote the healthy and sustainable development of rural education. At the same time, the government, society, schools and families need to work together to attach great importance to and strive to solve the problems existing in rural education. Therefore, this article combs the problems existing in rural education and seeks solutions in order to help the rapid development of rural education.

As the education for sustainable development (ESD) has been advocated in diverse educational contexts, increasingly more attention has been paid to facilitate teachers as the promoters of such educational practice in higher education. Yet, less sufficient research has focused on the ESP (English for Specific Purposes) teachers, who are regarded as the pioneers of ESD practice, and their professional development. This study aims to promote teacher professional development in the area of ESD practice by investigating the identity construction of eight ESP teachers from a northern Chinese university. Drawing on a model of ESP teacher identity, the authors conducted life-history interviews concerning the five frames of identity construction. The results reveal a complex picture of ESP teachers' professional identity construction. It is revealed that a majority of participants claimed a sense of achievement in their teaching of ESP skills and sustainability competences in graduates for the local socioeconomic development. However, their professional identification is undermined by such factors as the marginalization of ESP as a legitimate discipline, lack of acknowledgement of ESD in curriculum design, and teachers' professional insecurity resulted from their professional incompetence and low academic status. This study provides a new and innovative perspective on the issue of ESD development in higher education.

The purpose of this study was to address the impact of international collaboration on education for sustainable development in the context of early childhood education in rural China. Government stakeholders in three Chinese provinces participated in a 14-day program in Bergen, Norway, focusing on early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS). The overarching questions were how the participants experienced the transformative learning in a study-abroad program, how they perceived their experiences affected their "glocal" awareness of ECEfS, and how they reflected upon their experiences to form new glocal perspectives of ECEfS. The theoretical framework of the study was inspired by Mezirow's perspectives on transformative learning. In this study, 11 participants wrote narratives and reports about their experiences in Norway and were later interviewed about their understanding of ECEfS and the steps they were taking after the training period. We identified three E's: experiencing cultural shocks and "outsider" status, engaging critical reflections upon ECEfS, and envisioning commitment to future action, with five key components of transformative learning--a disorienting scenario, emotional response, critical reflection, perspective change, and commitment to future action within the ECEfS. Implications for intercultural experiences as catalysts to trigger transformative learning, and for building a dialogic relationship and hybrid organizations as agents of positive social change, and recommendations are included in the final section of this paper.

With the expanding use of English around the world, it is important to understand various stakeholders' attitudes towards it from a Global Englishes (GE) perspective. The GE perspective has challenged native speakerism and recognized the multilingual nature of the English language. In particular, a GE perspective leads to the sustainable development of a language from both sociolinguistic and ecolinguistic perspectives. Echoing the diversity and complexity of the English language use and teaching, this paper investigates senior high school students' attitudes towards the local variety of English in China, and unpacks their negotiation and construction of identity through their English-language learning journey. Through a series of interviews, this study found that the students still perceive English as a school subject, and see themselves as perennial learners of English. As the GE perspective was not widely recognized, and that students have not developed their awareness of the global use of English, several implications of teaching English from the GE paradigm, from curriculum design and teaching materials, are provided to increase the awareness of the global use of English. This paper also highlights the importance of viewing the development of English from an ecolinguistic perspective for the sustainable development of the language.

This study examines the key historical stages of the sustainable rural education policy development, including the stage of Rural Education Restoration and Adjustment Period (1979-1985); the stage of Comprehensive Reform Period of Rural Education (1985-2003); the stage of Rural Education Coordinated Development Period (2003-2018); and the stage of Rural Education Revitalization and Development Period (2018 to present). Along with the analysis, the policy characteristics of sustainable development of rural education policy in China concentrates on adhering to the unified leadership of the Party as the fundamental, adhering to the principle of comprehensive reform, adhering to the goal of serving rural development; adhere to promoting equity in education as the main task; and adhering to the construction of teachers as the key. In addition, policy problems on the sustainable development of rural education in China are also highlighted in this study. The conclusion and remarks are finally offered in the last.

This paper provides an analysis of the literature on transnational education to identify the key challenges and success factors for the sustainable operation of transnational higher education (TNE) programmes as perceived by key stakeholders. Probing the stakeholders' perspectives and applying a systematic approach, this study analyses 227 English-written articles retrieved from the Web of Science database published from 2000 to 2021. Key challenges identified include difficulties in managing the TNE programmes, ensuring quality assurance, adapting the curricula to the local contexts, accommodating offshore students' learning styles, creating studying environments for TNE students equivalent to those in the home institutions, ensuring preparedness of the academic staff, and facilitating the knowledge transfer in the host countries. The analysis also highlights six factors for the sustainable development of TNE programmes, including the effectiveness of the operations, the internationalization of the curricula, the transnational experience of the students, the development of the transnational staff, the existence of a proper regulatory framework in the host countries, and the development of a global systematic data collection for quality assurance. In addition, the evidence collected suggests that while the transition from domestic into a foreign programme can be rewarding, it demands appropriate planning and implementation.

Academic support is an important part of quality education provision in higher education institutions (HEIs). Although many researches discuss about the different approaches and their effectiveness of academic support in retaining students and meeting their diversified needs, there is not so much literature written on the academic support in transnational education (TNE) under the strategic goal of sustainability. Based on an integrated analysis of a Chinese-Finnish TNE program, this paper uses mixed methods with qualitative and quantitative approaches in a case study to analyze what academic support should be provided to students, how and when it should be provided. Findings show that students need academic support in the aspects of employment-related issues and courses learning most. And Fu Dao Yuan is suggested to be the links between students and academic support mechanisms. The paper also proposes a longitudinal model of academic support to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which can be a reference model adopted in other TNE in the Chinese context.

Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.2.1 is monitored by determining the proportion of children aged 24 to 59 months who are developmentally on track in the domains of health, learning, and psychosocial well-being. UNICEF has developed a caregiver report measure, the Early Childhood Development Index 2030 (ECDI2030), to measure progress towards this target. This paper examines whether a newly developed tool, the Early Childhood Development Assessment Scale--Direct Assessment (ECDAS-DA) can add value to the measurement of Target Indicator 4.2.1 by complementing UNICEF's ECDI2030, and explores the psychometric properties of the ECDAS-DA. A total of 956 children (476 girls) aged 3 to 5 years from Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar were administered the ECDAS-DA in individual sessions. Caregivers provided responses to a survey based on UNICEF's ECDI2030. Confirmatory Factor Analyses indicated that learning, health, and psychosocial well-being domains of the ECDAS-DA were three component parts of one underlying construct of early child development. Significant correlations between the ECDAS-DA and the caregiver-reported ECDI2030 survey were found in the learning and health domains but findings were mixed for the psychosocial well-being domain. Multiple measures of early development could be important in measuring SDG Target 4.2.1 and the ECDAS-DA has the potential to complement UNICEF's ECDI2030.

The environmental issues has transcended the confines of national boundaries and become global concerns. To address these matters, Environmental Education (EE) has emerged as a pivotal strategy aimed at elevating students' awareness, knowledge, and attitude towards the environment. In this light, China has incorporated EE into its official curriculum since 2003. Given that China is a multiethnic nation with 56 officially acknowledged ethnic groups, schools catering to minorities are also required to integrate EE into their curricula, as mandated by the PRC government. Against this backdrop, this study appraises the environmental content of three textbooks: "Morality and the Rule of Law, Korean Language, and Character and Society," published by Yanbian Education Publishing House in 2016 for Chosunjok (ethnic Koreans), which represents the 13th largest minority group in China. To reveal the underlying ideologies and cultural values embedded in environmental texts, this study employs critical Curriculum theories and environmental literacy (EL) as analytical frameworks. The findings are organized into three categories: Knowledge, Affective, and Behaviour, which are the primary components of EL. The Behaviour category is given the most emphasis, as it encourages students to take responsibility for environmental protection. The Knowledge and Affective categories are also well-represented in the texts. However, the study observes a tendency to avoid discussing current environmental issues in China and to attribute environmental problems to dominant groups without clear explanations. Therefore, the article recommends that critical perspectives be promoted among students and teachers to enhance the quality of environmental education and reveal concealed ideologies in environmental discourse.

Under the background of insufficient scientific research funding, evaluating the level of scientific research from the perspective of sustainable development is necessary. The study aims to develop an evaluation index system based on the theories for sustainable competitive advantage (SCA), which could be used to evaluate the sustainable development trend of scientific research in universities. In this study, 42 world-class universities in China are used as examples to calculate their SCA performance in scientific research using the entropy and equal weights methods. The scores of scientific research in different universities in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) in 2021 are used to verify the effectiveness of the evaluation index system. The results show that the evaluation index system can effectively predict the scientific research performance of universities in the future. It could be deduced from the results that universities with better scientific research performance meet the needs of the external market better and have more valuable, rare, imitable, and ambiguous resources but a lower level of scientific research dynamic ability. The evaluation index system makes up for the lack of emphasis on the potential scientific research capacity of the university in the current evaluation methods. It can help university administrators formulate relevant scientific research management regulations.

The concept of low carbon education is one solution to provide knowledge to students related to low carbon behavior. The purpose of this paper is providing an extensive bibliometric literature review on 'low carbon education'. Articles found by Publishing or Perish (PoP) software with the Google Scholar database. There were 55 out of 97 articles found from Google Scholar data base ranging from 2014 to 2019 analyzed in this study. The chosen references were then managed using a referencing manager software namely Zotero. After managing the database, this study classified and visualized it using VOSviewer software. Overall, this review provides an appropriate reference point for further research on 'low carbon education'.

With the advancement of China's economic and social development and urbanization, the scale of out-of-town migrant workers has been expanding. Following this, migrant worker children's education problem has become increasingly prominent and has gradually become a focus of education research. This paper reviews recent studies on migrant worker children's acceptance of compulsory education, and summarizes its existing education problems, aiming to provide direction and support for further promoting education equity and sustainable development of urban and rural education.

This study explores what China's central government has done in relation to education for sustainable development (ESD) and what Chinese higher education institutions (HEIs) have achieved in terms of ESD in response to SDG4. This is a qualitative case study focusing on China's central government and Beijing Normal University (BNU). The main form of data analyzed was documents. In total, we collected 48 policy documents, six speech transcripts and work statements, and 167 news releases. The results show that ESD has not been implemented holistically in China. Educational sectors promoted ESD because sustainable development has been emphasized in the national political strategy. However, the specific meaning of sustainable development in the educational sector is unclear, and the implementation has not been systematic. Overall, more attention has been paid to the natural dimension of ESD than to the social dimension. At BNU, ESD activities are conducted through three mechanisms: a coercive mechanism, a professional mechanism, and a cultural mechanism. Health, culture, and environmental protection have received more attention than social equity.

Purpose: This article was intended to share and reflect on experiences concerning the education for sustainable development (ESD) project at Hongqiao Kindergarten in Shanghai. The project aimed to explore how ESD could be implemented in a current curriculum and to provide useful examples of educational activities and experiences. Design/Approach/Methods: The action research included two cycles with four steps. The first cycle involved the integration of ESD into a traditional science curriculum. The second cycle involved the validation and optimization of the ESD objectives. The implementation strategies were reviewed and refined. Findings: First, a variety of strategies can be used to identify the theme and choose the content. Second, the objectives should be developed on children's life experiences and interests. Third, the idea of ESD can be implemented in multiple ways. Fourth, a reasonable objective system involving ESD was constructed for children by ages. Fifth, there were many effective ways to integrate ESD activities into other domains of curriculum. The challenges and implications were also discussed. Originality/Value: The study had a positive effect on teachers' ability to practice ESD. This was a pioneer project in early childhood education in China, which provided valuable information for those aiming to implement ESD practices in Chinese kindergartens.

Rapid urbanization in China has worsened the educational disparity between rural and urban regions, which can lead to increased social stratification and injustice. Information and communications technologies (ICTs), with their potential to enable universal access and pedagogical reform, are considered a promising solution to bridge such disparity. To gain a deeper understanding of how ICTs can promote equity and quality in China's education system, this study employed the extended case method to critically evaluate the longitudinal changes in four rural schools since the implementation of ICT initiatives in 2014. Our study revealed that ICTs acted as an external force that disrupted the status quo of rural education in terms of pedagogical and curricular norms, classroom structure and dynamics, perceived school and teacher identities, and induced positive changes such as increased academic performance, social and emotional development for left-behind children, and professional development for rural teachers. The study also offered theoretical insight into the socioeconomic factors hindering the sustainable development of ICT-supported rural education. Our research findings can contribute to the theory development in educational equity, educational quality, and social justice, and inform policy formulation to revamp rural education in China.

Purpose: This article aims to shed light on a latest education policy blueprint in China, titled "China's education modernization 2035," which was issued by the Central Government of China in February of 2019. Design/Approach/Methods: This is an analytical policy review. Findings: The author argues that this new Chinese educational policy was driven by three factors--UN 2030 Agenda, China's national strategy, and Chinese educational reform and improvement. In "China's education modernization 2035," eight key principles were rooted in the Chinese context and also recognized by international society. According to this policy initiative, 10 specific strategical tasks are outlined to reform Chinese education toward 2035. Originality/Value: The article will be useful to learn and understand the new directions and the future approaches of Chinese education development and reform toward 2035.

Existing research in global and social studies education has focused on methods, tools, and instruments to impart dispositions and skills for global learning, with little research pertaining to key global content knowledge. In this manuscript, the authors consider the use of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a prospective global content knowledge framework to impart global learning in social studies. Middle-grades Ancient World History content standards from two countries, China and the U.S., were reviewed to evaluate the degree of their alignment to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5: Gender Equality. The authors found little direct content alignment between content presented in the SDG and the reviewed content standards. Implications of this research in the consideration of global content knowledge frameworks, as well as preparing learners to live up to the expectations of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5, in social studies are discussed.

As part of a transnational degree programme, students in the UK and China were linked together to carry out group work. This was enabled by having two versions of our FHEQ Level 4 Sustainable Chemistry module; in person for UK students, and by distance learning for Chinese students. Groups were instructed to discuss issues relating to the UN Sustainable Development Goals in their respective countries and report back individually. Students who found the assignment interesting were more likely to indicate they would keep in touch, while those students who had fewer interactions or found the assessment guidelines unclear found the assignment less interesting and were less likely to wish to remain in touch. This kind of assignment is an example of what can be done with links to other institutions around the world.

Sustainability professionals need cosmopolitan competencies to be successful when working on environmental, social, and governance issues that span cultural and national boundaries. Working professionals often struggle building these competencies because they have limited time for international travel and limited access to international peers. Short-term (10 day) and highly curated educational travel programs, combined with pre- and post-trip study, provide powerful learning experiences that can overcome these obstacles. This paper does three things: 1) defines and justifies cosmopolitan competencies that are useful to sustainability professionals, 2) describes a pedagogy to teach these competencies to working professionals, and 3) evaluates whether intended learning outcomes were achieved. A quantitative survey instrument was completed before and after international education programs to China and India. The pre-post differences were statistically significant, suggesting the pedagogy has impact. Qualitative interviews supplement and help interpret the quantitative data.

Social media web 2.0 technologies can be adopted as an inclusive method to assist children in enhancing their quality of education for the Sustainable Development Goals (e.g. SDGs 4 and 17). Social media technologies have been documented as low-cost, synchronous, and convenient methods to assist young children, parents, and early childhood (EC) teachers in communication and collaboration. However, few researchers have explored the potential usage of social media tools in enhancing children's physical activities in the early years, particularly during the pandemic period. This article uses the example of WeChat Sports, one of the most famous children's games supported by social media web 2.0, to explore the benefits, challenges, and potentialities of using them in ECE. This research uses semi-structured interviews to gain a deeper understanding of the attitudes and perspectives of EC teachers and parents on the potential usage of social media technologies in supporting children's physical activities. The results reveal that most participants had a good understanding of using scientific methods to assist children's physical development, however, they expressed concerns on children's health, privacy, and formal learning in terms of overexposure to social media technologies. Suggestions and implications are also provided for both social media application developers and educators in future research studies.

The sustainable development of higher education in China has been a key priority for the national, social, economic and political development. Responding to the severe competition in various university ranking systems, most universities in China have set aims to enhance their sustainability in research and publication. There has been a prominent conflict that young scholars are expected to be productive, with publications in academic journals, competitive in receiving national and municipal research grants, and prestigious in the national and international arenas, or they will be terminated by the 'six-year-up-or-out' policy. Recent reform in higher education that calls for a sustainable development for young researchers is a strategy to revert the side effects from global university ranking systems by nurturing young researchers in their early academic lives, enhancing their productivity in research and publication internationally, and enhancing their global competitiveness without harming sustainability in academic development. This research explored (i) the difficulties that most young scholars face in sustainable academic research development, (ii) the factors that enhance or inhibit research productivity of young researchers, and (iii) the work lives in their early-career development in China. A qualitative study was conducted with data obtained from semi-structured, in-depth interviews of 24 young university researchers from three provinces and a municipality in China. Findings show that factors that relate to sustainable research productivity are individual attributes, discipline attributes, institutional attributes and policy attributes. Lastly, suggestions for policy making in higher education and for improving sustainable research development of young researchers in China are provided and implications for future research are discussed.

The establishment of national experimental teaching demonstration centers (NETDCs) in China has played an important role in improving the experimental teaching level in universities and colleges, promoting scientific research, and cultivating innovative talents for national- and region-level innovations. However, how to promote the sustainable development of NETDCs in China is becoming a critical issue. This paper constructs a new theoretical model for evaluating the sustainable development of NETDCs in China. This model consists of 5 dimensions (i.e., environmental, structural, human, teaching, and output entropies), 11 primary indicators, and 34 secondary indicators. A multidimensional scale for evaluating the sustainable development of NETDCs was developed and validated based on 24,483 questionnaires from 895 NETDCs in China. The results show that the development level and overall level of NETDCs in China for all 11 primary indicators are uneven. Policy measures for promoting the sustainable development of NETDCs are proposed and discussed.

Assessment of progress toward UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 requires measurement of the proportion of children aged 24 to 59 months developmentally on track in health, learning, and psychosocial well-being (Indicator 4.2.1). UNICEF's methodological work culminated with the development of the Early Childhood Development Index 2030 (ECDI2030) to measure on track status. To compare direct assessment and caregiver report of early child development, a measure aligned to ECDI2030 -- the Early Childhood Development Assessment Scale-Direct Assessment (ECDAS-DA) -- was developed and administered to 510 preschoolers aged 36- to 59-months from Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar. Their caregivers completed the Early Childhood Development Assessment Scale-Caregiver Survey (ECDAS-CS) containing items based on the ECDI2030. Research Findings: The two measures correlated with each other and were associated with child age, maternal education, and family wealth. ECDAS-DA showed more variability by child age and provided more fine-grained analyses of emerging developmental competencies than ECDAS-CS. Practice or Policy: Given the dearth of pan-culturally appropriate tools, ECDAS-DA can be deployed in longitudinal studies and impact evaluations in low- and middle-income countries.

Purpose: It is still unclear how Asian universities incorporate the theory or practice of sustainable development (SD) in their research and education programmes. To address this gap, the purpose of this paper is to report on a study that has examined how universities in Asian countries handle and address matters related to SD. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a bibliometric analysis and an online survey-method. The online survey data were analysed through descriptive analysis and one-sample student's "t"-test. Findings: The study indicates that there is considerable variation among the Asian countries regarding sustainability practices in higher education institutions (HEIs). The HEIs in far eastern countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are perceived to demonstrate more sustainability practices. Research limitations/implications: Even though a substantial number of participants participated in the survey, it did not cover all Asian countries. The online survey was carried out over a limited period of time, and not all HEIs in the field may have received information about the study. Practical implications: Asia is the largest continent facing a number of sustainability challenges. In this context, the contribution of HEIs is very important. The findings of the current study may serve as a baseline for Asian HEIs to take more initiatives towards SD goals, as HEIs are responsible for the education and training of hundreds of thousands of students who will be occupying key positions in industry, government or education in the coming years. Originality/value: The study contributes to the existing literature in two distinct ways. First, it was possible to develop a comprehensive instrument to measure sustainability practices in HEIs. Second, this study has filled the gap of the scarcity of studies regarding sustainability practices in HEIs in Asia.