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This study explored the experiences of inclusion and exclusion of African academics in Norway in various sectors of the society and their participation in these sectors. Using a mixed method research approach, 166 African academics completed a 20-item questionnaire entitled Perceived Exclusion Scale (PES) and two open-ended questions about their mental effects and coping mechanisms of exclusion. Descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis procedures were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the participants experienced exclusion in almost all the sectors of the Norwegian society with concomitant effects of depression and insomnia for most of the participants. Participants mentioned acceptance, confrontational strategy, avoidance strategy, theological group discussion and positive attitudes as key coping mechanisms to exclusion and discrimination. This study could be used as a baseline for future research on the psychological and mental health effects of discrimination of Africans and African-Norwegians. The study is a pointer to the public discourses on the positive sides of immigration in general and the role of migrants' contribution to the Norwegian society.

The mental health of students in higher education is an increasing concern. Research indicates that university students are at a higher risk of poor mental health and wellbeing compared to the general population, which negatively impacts their studies. The main issue addressed in this study is the evident gap in mental health research dedicated to university students in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The purpose of this article is to review the literature on mental health of university students in SSA and to provide an overview of student mental health policy in educational institutions. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 recommendation was followed to objectively select and retain articles within the topic of interest for this systematic review. Findings indicate a significant gap in mental health research for university students in SSA. There is a need for higher education institutions to establish mental health empowerment policies and strategies. International examples, such as the University Mental Health Framework in Australia and the United Kingdom Universities Student Wellbeing Good Practice Guide, exist for benchmarking. Contribution: The higher education sector and policymakers can use the results to inform current policy decisions and identify priorities for future directions. It is crucial to translate international guidelines into the African context to address the specific mental health issues of students in the region.

The future of university learning in Sub-Saharan Africa has become increasingly digitally transformed by both e-Learning, and learning analytics, post-COVID-19 pandemic. Learning analytics intervention is critical for effective support of socially-shared regulated learning skills, which are crucial for twenty-first-century e-Learners. Socially-shared regulation is the major determinant of successful collaborative e-learning. However, most e-learners lack such skills thereby facing socio-cognitive challenges, due to the unavailability of intelligent support during learning. This research aims to investigate and understand the effect of Learning Analytics instructional support using feedback and prompts, on e-learners' SSRL indicators. A theoretical model was derived from these factors and built from selected features. Both survey data and behavioral trace data were employed in the Learning analytics-based intervention. In this paper, only a segment of the data is discussed. The e-learners' perceptions and feedback confirmed that Learning Analytics-based interventions using prompts and feedback are effective in promoting SSRL in collaborative e-learning contexts. The findings indicated that the success of SSRLA-based intervention be tied to support from instructors and academic counselors, particularly feedback on previous problems and quizzes. This will improve e-learners' SSRL skills for quality educational experience, hence motivate e-learners, and help lecturers to identify at-risk learners in web programming problem-based courses. In conclusion, without adequate utilization of the Learning Analytics interventional trace data, critical information about learners' behavior patterns in terms of their online interactivity with the course activities and their SSRL profiles and strategies cannot be disclosed leading to little improvement of e-Learning interventions.

Scholars' engagement with digital social networks is complex, warranting a comprehensive understanding of their use and participation. Current research has not yet grasped the motivators, gratification, and challenges that academics encounter across multiple digital social networks. With this in mind, this study surveyed scholars who purposely participate in digital social networks for professional endeavors. The theoretical frameworks guiding this research are the Uses and Gratification framework and the networked participatory scholarship conceptualization. A total of 307 higher education scholars completed an electronic survey with closed and open-ended questions. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and a team-coding approach for qualitative data. The results of this investigation highlight specific motivators for using digital social networks to support the scholar's teaching, research, and professional development. The results of this investigation suggest that scholars are constantly navigating challenges and trading them off against the benefits. The results of this investigation also helped determine the imagined audiences that scholars perceive as potential spectators when using digital social networks for their scholarly efforts. The results illustrate the many reasons provided by scholars, which aligned with the self-presentation and impression management theory.

Despite the legislation put in place by the United Nations, Africa continues to grapple with issues of monosexism and heterosexism. In fact, of the 54 African countries, 33 have criminalised queer relationships, a legacy primarily attributed to colonial rule. However, social work literature has recently introduced a culturally sensitive model for working with the LGBTQIA+ community, known as Queer affirmative action. By utilising available literature and adopting an intersectional approach, which was collected and analysed through PRISMA, this paper aims to discuss the Africanising of sexuality in Africa. It argues that it is crucial to undertake a critical analysis of the colonial legacy and its impact on queer identities. Furthermore, the article posits that social work education must incorporate knowledge of the intersection of gender, sexuality, and other identity markers to form an inclusive and comprehensive approach towards practice. An affirmative philosophy to social work practice can serve as a counterweight to all punitive and discriminatory practices. Thus, in Africa, the most effective way to improve the well-being of queer individuals is to eradicate structural forms of inequality and decriminalise same-sex consensual relationships.

A former United States government senior policy advisor recommended that each university ought to formulate an Africa strategy within its long-term strategic objectives. This study explored the potential for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to further engage with Africa as a sustainability strategy, with an eye toward sustaining their missions and enhancing their global impact. The study utilized AutoHBCUology™, a multi-phase originally constructed mixed methodological design. The findings shed light on the multifaceted landscape of sustainability pathways and leadership commitment to internationalization with Africa among senior-level leaders at HBCUs. The emphasis on institutional leadership, stability, connectivity, and repositioning as pathways to sustainability underscores the multifaceted approach required to ensure the long-term viability of HBCUs in an ever-evolving educational landscape. The specific examination of leadership commitment to internationalization with Africa reveals a strong inclination toward professional high-level engagement, particularly through conferences and discussions with African Ministries of Education and institutions. However, fiscal resource allocation for internationalization with Africa may not be a high priority compared to other considerations. Nevertheless, the commitment to student-related activities, such as encouraging faculty, staff, and students to engage in educational exchanges, signifies a proactive stance toward fostering international experiences with Africa. Despite constraints, targeted Africa engagement may promote HBCU sustainability. Overall, this study aimed to initiate critical dialogue on typically unexplored sustainability dimensions for HBCUs in partnership with African nations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted academic labour, with women being disproportionately negatively affected. This scoping review provides an exploratory snapshot into the corpus of literature investigating the impact of the pandemic on academic labour. We used a set of criteria to first identify the 86 titles from which we selected 45 as the data set. We analyzed the data on characteristics of location, investigative methods, publication information, and discipline. The findings showed that most of the data were global in context; used primarily qualitative methodologies; published in a wide variety of journals; and spanned diverse disciplines, including science and health, education, business, sociology, and political sciences. We then analyzed the data thematically. The themes we identified were gender inequity, identities and intersectionality, performing work-home binaries, and invisible labour. We added a fifth theme, lived experiences, consisting of women academics' firsthand accounts. We consider this theme unique, despite its overlap with the other themes, because it is evidence of women academics telling their personal stories. We discuss how our findings show that pandemic conditions worsened existing inequities. The solutions most often cited in the data place emphasis and responsibility on the individual, but we argue that institutions should instead be responsible to redress inequities through improving workplace labour processes. Our research can aid future research on how policy theory can inform socially just policies and practices in the post-pandemic university.

Knowledge applied to innovation is increasingly recognized as an explanatory factor of economic growth. Innovation derives from applying knowledge to generate new products or processes. National Innovation Systems (NIS) performs as the formal or informal network of people within institutions interacting to produce and apply knowledge to innovation. NIS can be understood as two subsystems: one based on scientific and technological work, producing codified products (publications and patents), and the other centered on practical actions to diffuse, apply, and use knowledge. Our objective is to assess cost efficiency in the production of codified knowledge outputs (CKO), being our unit of analysis NIS (countries). To attain our goal, we apply a Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) to estimate a cost frontier of CKO. The panel sample includes 1189 observations for 23 years (1996-2019) and 82 countries. Our main results identify determinants and patterns of efficiency and productivity, tendencies, and specifics of countries and groups of them.

With the rise of many coaching regulatory organizations, such as The International Coaching Federation (ICF) and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), women are becoming central to the dialogue. This is especially the case with The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (GCC, 2024) which sees encouraging women and providing empowerment tools and strategies as part of the future strategic transformation in the region. This research essay is based on a survey conducted to explore public opinion on women's participation in coaching as leaders and coaches in Arab local organizations. The survey was launched and circulated in social media and WhatsApp groups using Google Forms. The data collected are representative of both women and men who live and work in Arab cultures and speak Arabic. The survey conveys the perceptions, beliefs, and values of the participants and how they view women's empowerment, leadership, and coaching in organizations. The purpose is to inform women coaches, policymakers, and consultants who support organizational development in MENA. This data-driven article will help enrich the lives of professional women in the field of coaching while supporting practitioners in understanding the landscape.

This article provides a detailed analysis of the various methods used in physics classrooms to teach oscillation and its related concepts. We thoroughly searched reputable databases, including Scopus and Web of Science. We analyzed 50 articles published between 2018 and 2023 using content analysis techniques such as elimination, classification, and grouping into themes. Our unit of analysis was the articles' methods, results, and conclusions. The results of this study are: (1) The trends in the development of research on the topic of oscillation and its derivatives from 2018 to 2023 indicate a declining interest. (2) During the period from 2018 to 2023, Indonesia emerged as the primary contributor to research on the topic of oscillation; (3) From 2018 to 2023, researchers predominantly focused on the topic of pendulum in the field of oscillation research (4) The most prevalent method for imparting oscillation content and its derivatives employed by researchers between 2018 and 2023 was experimentation, and (5) The most prevalent type of empirical research conducted on the topic of oscillation between 2018 and 2023 was pure research involving laboratory experiments. This systematic literature review is a foundation for developing various learning tools such as teaching materials, technology-based instructional media development, and primarily instruments related to oscillation and its derivatives. Overall, this systematic review highlights the need for more research on effective teaching methods for oscillation and provides practical insights for educators and researchers alike.

Due to the recent developments in the delivery of teaching-learning processes when COVID-19 hit the world with a health crisis and pandemic, it is crucial to look into the quality of courses delivered via online means or through distance education modality. This paper examines implementation and application of quality assurance (QA) landscape in Distance Education (DE). A documentary review using bibliographic inquiry is used as a methodology approach to gather relevant information to address the study questions. Previous studies on QA in DE are examined and arranged into themes using thematic analysis. Findings revealed that most of the literature on QA in DE in Africa and Asia based on the reviewed Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions are basically dealing with frameworks, outcomes and performance, instructional design, student services and challenges as well as parity in terms of quality with the traditional institutions. Therefore, this paper concludes that more studies are needed for QA in DE to match the post-COVID-19 trends on improving QA. This implies that there is a need to expand research on QA in DE to include areas of artificial intelligence.

This paper reports the findings of a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer on 392 Scopus database documents published from 2003 to 2022, aiming to understand the global landscape of the e-learning field and to identify the most prominent authors, institutions, countries and reference publications, as well as the research topics that have recently received the most attention in students' readiness for e-learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The findings indicate that there has been an upward trend in e-learning readiness among students in HEIs over time. Among the countries studied, the United States, Taiwan, Australia, and Malaysia were found to have the most effective approaches to addressing students' readiness for e-learning. The most highly cited author in this field is M-L. Hung. Based on the citations, the most recognised journal in this field was "Computers and Education" and the universities that were most persuasive were two Taiwan universities in the first position. The data also revealed relatively low levels of collaboration among authors, institutions and nations regarding students' readiness for e-learning.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a worldwide commitment to a set of ambitious goals that advance sustainable social justice across the globe. Higher education (HE), while featuring in SDG 4: Quality Education, needs to occupy a bolder and more explicit position in the formulation of the SDGs and in their attainment, not only as an instrument toward the achievement of the SDGs but also in the sociocultural consciousness of countries towards a more sustainable and socially just world. Engaging with students in HE around these issues plays a vital role. Given Student Affairs and Services' (SAS) role and position in terms of support and development of students worldwide, it is a key player in supporting HE to become a more effective instrument in advancing the SDGs and in advancing students' attitudes and commitment to SDGs. To explore how SAS can play a more impactful role in advancing the SDGs and SAS' role in and contribution to SDGs around the world, we researched SAS practitioners' awareness of and engagement with SDGs. To collect data, we used a survey with open and closed questions via snowball sampling with self-selected participants from fifty-three countries (N=318). The results of our study suggest that SAS practitioners engage with and utilize the SDGs in a variety of ways across the globe, thus contributing to the role HE plays in advancing SDGs. In exploring the patterns, it emerges that SAS in the Global South (GS) and Global North (GN) engage differently with the SDGs. According to the results of our study, SAS in the GS appears to have more awareness of, engage more deliberately with, and use the SDGs more broadly in their work with students. While there are different trends on the role SDGs play across the global HE sector, the consensus seems to be around the need to discuss and engage with the SDGs more deeply, at curricular and co-curricular levels in higher education. Our research suggests that HE and SAS can do much more to generate awareness of SDGs, particularly in the GN.

In the last three decades, there has been a rush towards internationalizing higher education. The international double/joint degree programs are one of the drivers of internationalisation activities. Many African universities have evolved to offer their students these opportunities for academic mobility. This study is a phenomenological understanding of the experiences of African students in Canada on exchange partnerships for international double/joint degree programs (IDDP), using Bourdieu's toolbox. The result shows a gap between the ideal expectations and the instrumental aspects of the programs. Students seem satisfied, despite the challenges faced by participating in these programs.

Schoolteachers worldwide continue to encounter challenging behavior in their classrooms. As a result, teacher preparation programs are receiving more scrutiny regarding how well they are preparing their teacher candidates to effectively address challenging behavior especially in line with the principles of whole schooling. The overarching purpose of this research was to identify the extent to which pre-service teacher preparation programs in eight African countries provided training in classroom and behavior management. The study was predicated on the premise of accentuating the scope of the teacher preparation experience in addressing critical research-based features of classroom and behavior management. Curricula from 11 teacher preparation institutions from across eight African countries were collected and analyzed to explore the extent to which the programs were addressing research-based practices in classroom and behavior management in the preparation of their teacher candidates. Results indicated that only three of the programs offered courses that were specific to behavior and classroom management and only one of the programs addressed some of the specific research-based practices--and very minimally so. This study highlights the need to further examine teacher preparation programs in the different countries with the goal to incorporate and promote research-based practices in behavior and classroom management.

There is an increasing trend toward regionalization as higher education adapts to openness and globalization. In response, East African countries formed networks and partnerships that strengthened business, higher education, student and staff mobility, and research. This is because regionalization is embedded in East Africa's economy, politics, culture, and social norms. In addition, regionalization is influenced by internationalization and globalization. It promises development opportunities, although challenges are inevitable. This paper examines the contributions of regional student mobility to East Africa's development. We use neoliberal and world systems theories to illuminate the advantages and disadvantages of regionalizing higher education and explain how partner states can maximize opportunities and minimize challenges. Data was collected through convenience sampling of two hundred international students and two staff members in international students' offices. Data analysis revealed that the regionalization of East African higher education reflects historical power relations; it has benefits though founded on inequalities.

Background/purpose: While the existing literature explores the internalization of higher education, a significant gap remains in comprehending the motivations behind international students choosing Portuguese higher education. This study aims to address this gap by examining the motivations of a specific group within Portuguese universities: international students from Portuguese-speaking African countries. Materials/methods: The study was conducted with a qualitative approach using data obtained from biographical interviews with African Portuguese-speaking international students. The collected data were then analyzed according to content analysis. Results: The findings demonstrate that the students' motivations for studying at Portuguese higher education institutions varied. Their reasons include the international reputation of Portugal, the quality of its education, upon recommendation from family members, the Portuguese language, lower tuition fees compared to their home institutions, cultural proximity, scholarship opportunities, and the perception of Portugal as a safe country. Conclusion: Through an examination of the motivation of students from Portuguese-speaking African countries pursuing higher education in Portugal, this study provides fresh perspective on the existing literature concerning international student mobility. Opting to study in Portugal is seen as a chance for African students to access quality higher education and to obtain an academic degree with significant recognition in the country of origin, with anticipated positive impacts on the personal, social, and professional aspects of their lives.

This study investigates the validity and reliability of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) in the context of blended learning. In the digital age, the fusion of online components with traditional classroom instruction has become integral to modern pedagogy, giving rise to blended learning--a flexible approach accommodating diverse learning needs. In such multifaceted environments, intrinsic motivation emerges as pivotal for sustaining student engagement, bridging the gap between in-person and online learning components. Utilizing a quasi-experimental quantitative research design, the research focuses on first-year university students enrolled in a blended learning economics course. Thorough statistical analysis affirms the IMI's effectiveness in accurately measuring intrinsic motivation levels within the diverse framework of blended learning. The findings not only validate the IMI as a tool for assessing intrinsic motivation but also underscore its importance for educators. Understanding students' intrinsic motivation is essential for tailoring instructional strategies, identifying at-risk students, and proactively preventing potential dropouts in blended learning environments. The validation of the IMI enhances the accuracy of assessments, interventions, and program evaluations, ultimately contributing to the improvement of education quality for students engaged in the integrated format of traditional and online instruction.

Following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Islamophobia became increasingly visible across the U.S, impacting anyone perceived to be Muslim. Despite being named after a religion, Islamophobia is a racial ideology predominantly targeting people of Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian (MENASA) descent. In this qualitative study, the author explores how MENASA students navigated their college campuses in the period shortly following the 2016 election through examining the ways in which MENASA-focused cultural centers provided spaces of inclusion and belonging. The findings suggest that processes of racial formation and panethnic identity formation influenced the experiences of MENASA students in this period. Students demonstrated both a clear sense of racialization outside of whiteness, and the beginnings of panethnic identity formation across groups. These findings are situated in the particular temporal context of college-aged adults who both experienced 9/11 as young children and the 2016 presidential election in early adulthood.

A substantial body of research shows that various types of audiovisual (AV) input such as videos and videos with second language (L2) subtitles can facilitate language learning. However, language teachers' day-to-day practices with regard to multimodal input is less understood. To bridge the gap in language education, this study investigates teachers' perceived use of four types of AV input (video only, video with subtitles, video with captions and video with enhanced captions) and factors influencing teachers' perspectives on these types of input for in-class and out-of-class learning. Questionnaire data were collected from 193 L2 teachers across the globe about their perceived use of AV input. Teachers reported that they use video and captioned video most frequently in both classroom and out-of-class contexts. Logistic regression analyses revealed that teachers' perceived importance and comfort using specific AV input types were the two most important factors explaining teachers' reported use. Complementarily, open-ended responses were analyzed qualitatively to identify teachers' additional reasons for (non)use of such input.

With the overwhelming "Anglocentric" or "alphabetocentric" science of reading, the current review aimed to add to the science of reading acquisition from the perspective of abugidic writing system, distinct from the well-research alphabetic writing system in multiple dimensions of orthographic complexity, as proposed by Daniels and Share (2018), such as linguistic distance, spatial arrangement and non-linearity, and omission of phonological elements. Abugidic writing system is featured with scripts where each base consonant symbol denotes a consonant with an inherent vowel (/a/) and has billions of users in south Asia (e.g., India, Nepal, Sri Lanka), southeast Asia (e.g., Thailand, Laos, Cambodia), east Asia (parts of China) and Africa (Ethiopia and Eritrea). The current review describes the orthographic feature of Indic (Brahmi-derived) and Ethiopic (Ge'ez) scripts within the abugidic writing system and synthesizes existing findings on the literacy acquisition patterns specific to each script. Further, we elaborate on the multilingual and biscriptal language and literacy environment featured with the abugida-writing societies and discuss the theoretical implication for considering multilingualism and biscriptality as an inseparable sociolinguistic factor when understanding the literacy acquisition of the abugidic writing system in particular and literacy in general.

A challenge in building the biomedical engineering human factors course at Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences was integrating meaningful direct experiences with medical products. The instructor also noticed a significant gap between the topics in the course and their surrounding clinical context, a low-income setting. Recognizing that devices should be designed and evaluated in the context of the local users' needs and situations, new hands-on modules were created and implemented in this BME human factors course. Students were asked to critically evaluate and make recommendations to improve the human factors aspects of the software and hardware of the IMPALA, a vital signs monitoring device developed for use in Malawi. Engaging with this medical device, students observed and understood many issues discussed in human factors, including the design of ports, controls, and other user interfaces. The collaboration between the course and the IMPALA project harnessed the local expertise of students to improve the design of a new patient monitoring system. Thus, the IMPALA project itself benefited from this collaboration. Second, students greatly benefited from applying the class concepts to the IMPALA. Students were engaged far more during the interactive components than during the lecture components. Many students successfully translated their knowledge on human factors to their final-year design project.

A recent global reconnaissance of Christian higher education found a number of key themes that shaped current developments, such as the pressing challenges of secularization and nationalization but also the advantages of privatization and massification. This article provides an update to this older analysis by taking a birds-eye view of trends within the past 70 years of global Christian higher education. It reveals that privatization and massification trends do not predict new developments in countries and outliers always exist. Furthermore, it highlights some findings missed in previous analyses related to the importance of indigenous Christian groups and Christian general education.

In this essay, I examine coloniality as a racializing force within international education curricula. I focus on the British-developed Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) curriculum, previously known as the Cambridge International Education (CIE) curriculum. Using the CAIE as a specific case, I discuss how international curricula serve as vehicles of coloniality and simultaneously reproduce racialized narratives about Sub-Saharan Africans. The persistence of CAIE is implicated in the ongoing project of coloniality, sustaining and reproducing racial hierarchies and the marginalization of Sub-Saharan African communities. I contend that CAIE privileges a singular way of thinking and being in mathematics and uses assessment practices to perpetuate coloniality. By recognizing the ways in which coloniality and racialization are interconnected, we can better understand the complex systems of power and privilege that shape international mathematics curricula.

Public libraries constitute an important part of social life and are crucial for supporting the educational system in any society. However, in many African countries, awareness of the role that public libraries can play in strengthening the social contract is largely unrecognized. This may be partly due to the social background that was/is based on oral tradition, to which libraries can adapt in order to sustain the tradition. In the current era, with the fast advancement of technologies, the library's role has changed from a passive institution to an active one by creating new interactive services and activities. The human right for each and every person to have access to information, education, and knowledge plays a significant role in the inclusion and integration of citizens for their lifelong learning and continuous development. Countries' development relies on the participation of each citizen, who needs equal opportunities and quality education, including the right to benefit from public institutions such as libraries. Hence, this article explores the roles of public libraries in enhancing educational systems and social inclusion in Africa and provides some of the challenges and obstacles faced in this concern. It also examines some remedies and recommendations that can help strengthen social inclusion, particularly in certain African developing countries, as they aim to support the development of educational systems in isolated areas.

There are many well-developed screening tools for both intellectual disabilities and autism, but they may not be culturally appropriate for use within Africa. Our specific aims were to complete a systematic review to (1) describe and critically appraise short screening tools for the detection of intellectual disabilities and autism for older children and young adults, (2) consider the psychometric properties of these tools, and (3) judge the cultural appropriateness of these tools for use within Africa. Six screening tools for intellectual disabilities and twelve for autism were identified and appraised using the Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) guidelines. We identified two screening tools which appeared appropriate for validation for use within African nations.

Theoretical roots of higher education institutions (HEIs) and Stakeholder Analysis date back to mid-1990s and research was focussed on the role of HEIs in society and sustainable development. While various studies have been published about 'triple-helix model' - bringing government, academia, and industry closer, the concept of HEIs and Stakeholder Analysis needs a comprehensive review of the work carried out till date. Bibliometric and content analyses were performed, incorporating citations from Scopus' database during last 25 years. Thematic mapping was carried out and evolving trends were identified. Findings and analysis of this research disclosed that during the last 25 years there has been a growing interest among scholars towards Stakeholder Analysis and HEIs. It was also noted that majority of research pursuits concentrated in western countries such as USA and UK, while Africa, Asia and South America were under-represented. This work will not only lay a foundation for academics to carry out further research, but it will also give new insights to the policymakers which would enable them to device strategies aiming at enhanced participation of universities/HEIs in the local, regional, and national development.

The concept of "Botho/Ubuntu" emerges as a balancing paradigm poised to drive cognitive justice in psychological discourses. A paradigm is a universally recognized scientific model that represents a worldview of the nature of the world. There are enduring concerns about the privileging of Western European paradigms, ontologies, epistemologies, and axiologies over their African counterparts. In this article, we present the "Botho/Ubuntu" paradigm as a strong contender for the promotion, and humanization of epistemologies in psychology. The 59th annual conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) in Washington, DC in 2015, whose theme was "Ubuntu! Imagining a Humanist Education Globally," as well as the World Council of Comparative Education Societies' (WCCES) recent book, "Comparative Education for Global Citizenship, Peace and Shared Living through Ubuntu," are examples through which "Ubuntu" began to emerge as a paradigm poised to deliver cognitive and epistemic justice in the area such as psychology. We use Critical African Psychology as a lens through which we interrogate cognitive injustice. We conclude by demonstrating that Botho/Ubuntu paradigm might serve as a driver of cognitive justice in psychology and makes inroads into major discourses driven by African scholars.

This PRISMA scoping review identifies the emerging evidence on the relationship between the philosophy of ubuntu and the principles of inclusive education. The searches in this scoping review were conducted in AERD, Scopus, BASE EBSCO Host and Google Scholar to find the relationship between the philosophy of ubuntu as an African traditional knowledge system and the principles of inclusive education. Seven of the studies were included from a total of 134 articles published in Africa from January 2021 to December 2022 in English. Articles were excluded from review if they were published outside Africa, not in English, and from the period before January 2021. Data were thematically analysed following the thematic approach by Braun and Clarke (2021). Results organised by themes indicate that there is a very strong relationship between the philosophy of ubuntu and the principles of inclusive education. The thematic data analysis in this study indicated that both the philosophy of ubuntu and the principles of inclusive education are based on 1) equality, 2) unconditional acceptance, 3) enabling learning environment, and 4) respect for human diversity. The implication of this study is the recognition and adoption of the philosophy of ubuntu at inclusive education systems in Africa.

This article applies cultural translation (Kramsch and Hua 2020) and geohistorical frameworks (Braudel 1949; Scott 2018) to analyze the interplay between linguistic, cultural, physical, and ideological proximities and distances in immigrant advocacy and outreach efforts. Data are taken from 'small stories' (Georgakopoulou 2010, 2015) shared by directors of immigrant-serving organizations in a small metropolitan area in the USA during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. These stories demonstrate directors' situated perspectives on new and changing demands for communicating information in the face of persistent challenges associated with the digital divide, reaching clients with limited literacy and who speak indigenous languages of Central America and Africa, and cultivating trust among staff and between staff and clients around COVID-19 mitigation and relief. Findings trace how local, state, and national policies were taken up by individual participants and the communities they serve and bring to light the value of applied linguistics research in amplifying the complexities of language access in times of crisis as well as community resilience that are often hiding in plain sight.

The purpose of this study is to explore the current status of micro-credentialing policies and practices in Middle Eastern and North African universities. Using a quantitative approach and a comprehensive questionnaire based on recent work by the Australasian Council on Open, Distance, and e-Learning (as reported by ACODE, Survey of micro-credentialing practice in Australasian universities 2021: An ACODE Whitepaper--October 2021, 2021), the study investigates areas such as standards, policies, adoption rates, integration into the curriculum, credentialing engines, and professional development. The findings indicate that micro-credentialing is still in its early stages in the region, with most universities initiating micro-credentialing within the past four years. The lack of a favorable policy ecosystem and standards for learning design, content, delivery, assessment, sizing, and issuance are identified as significant hindrances to the adoption of micro-credentials. To advance the micro-credential market, the study recommends that stakeholders collaborate and create quality standards, accountability mechanisms, financing strategies, and documentation frameworks that promote interoperability. The study suggests that improving policies for micro-credentials could help legitimize them and promote a more unified vision of micro-credentials as a crucial component of the national educational strategy.

We provide a design case using applied trauma-informed frameworks to guide the design and usage adoption of an online support and mentorship platform for African applied science PhD scholars. In the Rsif context, scholars traverse countries, systems, and cultures to obtain their PhDs. The project objective was to create an online system to support their doctoral journeys. We will describe the program, introduce our team, summarize the literature guiding our selection of support objectives and overview the features we integrated into our platform design. After this, we will discuss our platform adoption approach and summarize the results of this project. Finally, concluding with a reflection on bringing trauma-informed frameworks into other learning ecologies.

Data from 83,423 parent reports of temperament (surgency, negative affectivity, and regulatory capacity) in infants, toddlers, and children from 341 samples gathered in 59 countries were used to investigate the relations among culture, gender, and temperament. Between-nation differences in temperament were larger than those obtained in similar studies of adult personality, and most pronounced for negative affectivity. Nation-level patterns of negative affectivity were consistent across infancy, toddlerhood, and childhood, and patterns of regulatory capacity were consistent between infancy and toddlerhood. Nations that previously reported high extraversion, high conscientiousness, and low neuroticism in adults were found to demonstrate high surgency in infants and children, and countries reporting low adult openness and high adult neuroticism reported high temperamental negative affectivity. Negative affectivity was high in Southern Asia, Western Asia, and South America and low in Northern and Western Europe. Countries in which children were rated as high in negative affectivity had cultural orientations reflecting collectivism, high power distance, and short-term orientation. Surgency was high in Southeastern and Southern Asia and Southern Europe and low in Eastern Asian countries characterized by philosophies of long-term orientation. Low personal income was associated with high negative affectivity. Gender differences in temperament were largely consistent in direction with prior studies, revealing higher regulatory capacity in females than males and higher surgency in males than females, with these differences becoming more pronounced at later ages. [This article was written with 486 additional partners in the Global Temperament Project.]

Gender differences in early childhood development are under-researched in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where almost 90% of the world's young children live. This study examines the direction, magnitude, and variation of gender similarities and differences in 3- and 4-year-olds' early childhood development in 71 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Moreover, we explore whether country-level gender inequality correlates with gender differences in early development. We analyzed Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI) data from UNICEF's Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys and the Demographic and Health Surveys between 2010 and 2019 (n = 226,980). Using logistic regression, we estimated children's odds of being developmentally on track in literacy-numeracy, approaches to learning, social-emotional, and physical domains. We also used meta-analytic regression to examine associations between early childhood development and country-level indicators of gender inequality. In approximately one-half of LMICs, odds of being developmentally on track did not significantly differ for girls and boys; in countries with significant differences, girls were more likely to be on track than boys (odds ratio [OR] = 1.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.18-1.24], p < 0.001). Differences favoring girls were largest in the social-emotional domain (OR = 1.27, 95% CI = [1.24-1.30], p < 0.001). Country-level gender development index explained a substantial amount of variation in gender differences across countries. Overall, findings suggest that when gender differences exist, girls are more likely than boys to be developmentally on track, particularly in the social-emotional domain and in countries with greater gender equality.

This article discusses the UNESCO concept of learning city in relation to the peculiarities of the African city. After reviewing earlier theoretical frameworks recommended for the promotion of learning city projects within sub-Saharan Africa, the article comes to the conclusion that those earlier theoretical frameworks are prescriptive. Upon further analysis of the peculiarities of the African city, the article opines that only within a reflexive theoretical framework that is supported by traditional African pedagogies would a learning city project in sub-Saharan Africa succeed.

In this study, we examined articles related to academic quality assurance research in the sub-Saharan African (SSA) higher education context to identify internal and external mechanisms put in place to improve the quality of education. To achieve the objective, the study reviewed published studies to bring to light the standard quality benchmark indicators describing how quality assurance has been promoted in SSA starting from 2012 to 2022. Based on this premise, 143 articles were included in the review in accordance with the set criteria for inclusion. The study found that most of the SSA higher educational institutions give extra attention to the building of human resource capacity and neglected other important practices such as internationalization and the "building of industrial collaborations," though these were major ingredients for promoting quality assurance. It also came to fore that, amidst the efforts to achieve quality standards in teaching and learning, insufficient funding, lack of efficient academic staff, poor implementation of educational policies, and unstructured program for training and re-training of staff were the major hinderances to the promotion of quality assurance in higher institutions in the sub-Saharan African region. Based on the findings, recommendations were made for policy, practice, and future research in higher education delivery in the sub-region.

This article investigates the educative practices of African lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI) activists who contest claims that homosexuality is un- African and imported from the West. We situate this work within a theoretical framework about cultural contestation and how NGOs influence cultural change. Using data from interviews with nine NGO activists from eight African countries and a survey of 31 African NGOs, we explore the rhetorical strategies activists use to debunk claims that homosexuality is un-African. Activists cite examples of indigenous homosexuality in Africa and present examples of contemporary homosexual African individuals. These rhetorical strategies reflect a conceptualization of "African cultures" as rigid and unchanging - a conceptualization that differs from common scholarly assertions of the mutability of culture. We demonstrate how activists use this information to educate LGBTI people and their families, religious and community leaders, and the wider public through informal conversations, workshops, radio interviews, and documentaries.

In sub-Saharan African countries, teenage pregnancy received less attention and weak policy responses, and the pooled prevalence of teenage pregnancy is not yet studied. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the pooled prevalence and determinants of teenage pregnancy in sub-Saharan African countries. A total weighted sample of 96,185 teenage girls were included in the study. A multilevel modified poison regression analysis model was fitted to identify factors associated with teenage pregnancy. Finally, the Adjusted Prevalence Odds Ratio (APOR) with its 95% confidence interval was reported. Statistical significance was declared at p-value <0.05. The overall pooled prevalence of teenage pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa was 21.36% (95% CI: 21.10, 21.62%). Being 18 to 19 years (APOR = 1.70, 95% CI [1.64, 1.77]), teenager's mother is working (APOR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.13), married adolescents (APOR = 5.54, 95% CI [5.01, 6.12]), media exposure (APOR = 0.96, 95% CI [0.94, 0.99]), middle and high wealth index (APOR = 0.96, 95% CI [0.93, 0.98]), and (APOR = 0.79, 95% CI [0.75, 0.83]), low-middle-income countries (APOR = 0.79, 95% CI [0.63, 0.92]), upper-middle-income (APOR = 0.61, 95% CI [0.41, 0.80]) and the Central African region (APOR = 1.46, 95% CI [1.29, 1.64]) were the factors found to be associated with teenage pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy in SSA was unacceptably high. Age, adolescent marital status, teenager's mother's working status, media exposure, wealth index, countries' income, and regions of SSA had a significant association with teenage pregnancy. Therefore, addressing geographical disparities and socio-economic inequalities help to reduce teenage pregnancy.

Research has shown a mixed relationship between education and vaccination rates. In the current analysis, we aimed to determine the relationship between educational level and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination rates. We performed a cross-country analysis on data from 133 countries. Correlation analyses showed that higher and better education was associated with higher COVID-19 vaccination rates. When we performed the regression analysis including the education, health system, and economic development variables, education-COVID-19 vaccination relationships were mostly reversed. In particular, in wealthy countries, as the mean years of schooling decreased and the pupil-teacher ratio increased, COVID-19 vaccination rates increased. In less affluent countries, with greater education expenditures, COVID-19 vaccination rates decreased. We explain these contradictions by describing links between vaccination rates, life expectancy, and education-related variables. Our findings may aid in promoting more effective uptake of COVID-19 vaccination.

This article examines the key role that adult learning and education (ALE) has played and continues to play in addressing the challenges faced by critical engagement with identities and crossing borders in the Mediterranean region. Despite the great cultural, economic and educational diversities characterising the region, the author explores whether a distinctive and recurring pattern of ALE exists or is likely to emerge. His analysis highlights historical and contemporary landmarks (features) of ALE in the region which exist alongside others from "mainstream" European education put forward by such funding agencies as the European Union (EU). While the landmarks are distinctive, they do offer recurring patterns which are characteristic of social-purpose ALE provision in the region. Much can be drawn from ALE in the Mediterranean, together with useful insights from other parts of the world, to foster intercultural engagement in response to mass migration in the region.