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The main purpose of this research was to investigate the phenomenon of shadow education in Greece. In this research, the quantitative research method is combined with the qualitative method. The results showed that the liberalization of education during the recent decades was accurately implemented in the institution of shadow education. Knowledge is becoming a commercialized product and the choice for private education is made through private-financial criteria. Restrictive and maladjusted educational policies and decisions relating to individuals' needs support the development of this institution, highlight the exchange value of academic credentials of the individual, and exacerbate social inequalities.

Social relationships in the school context -- particularly teacher-student relationships and peer relationships -- are related to students' positive attitudes toward school, and consequently are of great importance regarding various aspects of learning and instruction. This can be concluded from studies that examine the influence of social integration on motivation, learning emotions, and positive attitudes toward school as an institution. Additionally, social relationships are closely related to the teacher's style of instruction and student perceptions of the learning environment provided. However, there is little research so far, on the extent to which positive social relationships mediate correlations between aspects of teaching quality i.e., classroom management, and students' positive attitudes toward school. Both classroom management and school-related social relationships are constructs that are assumed to be perceived similarly by students within one school, who experience similar conditions in regard to the intensity and frequency of common lessons. However, there are few research findings regarding shared assessments of classroom management and it's correlations with teacher-student relationships by students within one school or class, and to date no results regarding the shared assessments of peer relationships. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the correlations between students' individual and aggregated assessments of social relationships in school and classroom management, with their positive attitudes toward school. The sample consisted of N = 453 polytechnic school students in Upper Austria, from which a weighted dataset was derived. The findings from multilevel mediation analyses support the assumption of the mediating role of both teacher-student relationships and peer relationships regarding the correlation between classroom management and students' positive attitudes toward school. However, significant correlations were found only at the individual student level.

Regional Technical Colleges, later Institutes of Technology, were developed just over fifty years ago in response to a perceived gap in knowledge, skills, and competencies required to promote market growth and success (Thorn, 2018). It was envisaged that this change to Ireland's higher education landscape would be capable of continuing adaptation to the social, economic, and technological changes (to meet the needs of employers and students (Steering Committee on Technical Education Report to the Minister for Education on Regional Technical Colleges, 1967, 11). Fifty years after this initiative began, the presented paper wishes to reflect and review what is occurring within today's higher education landscape, posing the question: Did the newly introduced additional higher education institute type evolve from their modest beginnings? Specifically, did they, as suggested by the Steering Committee on Technical Education Report to the Minister for Education on Regional Technical Colleges (1967), avoid the dichotomy and provide students with an opportunity to study in a variety of fields close to their home, or has something else emerged and evolved that is in contradiction to this ambition. This research paper examines these questions using available Higher Education Authority data, considering what this means for student access, equity, and choice within Ireland's higher education system. The findings of this review suggest that while increased student participation in higher education is evident, the choice for today's aspiring student is less noticeable or possible within some fields of study because of the socially constructed configuration of Ireland's higher education system.

More U.S. community college students are enrolling without the requisite reading skills to be successful. Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students are following a similar pattern with a little less than half requiring remedial instruction when entering college. College-age readers were the first population that we studied to learn about reading and reading instruction. The present study revisits this notion with DHH students at the forefront. We wanted to know what skills DHH readers have when they enroll in community college and what skills secondary teachers could focus on to prepare them. Based on the Degrees of Reading Power assessment given to DHH first year students prior entering community college (N = 409 participants), DHH readers would benefit from instruction in three important areas of reading comprehension: key ideas and details, craft and structure, and integration of knowledge and ideas. We discuss instructional ideas and future directions.

Learning experiences are widely recognized as crucial in developing students' attitudes towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Vocationally-oriented polytechnics and universities provide distinct learning experiences that may significantly influence students' STEM self-efficacy, expectancy-value and career interest. The study explores how the unique learning experiences shape students' STEM attitudes among 487 students during their fourth semester at vocationally-oriented polytechnic and university. The S-STEM survey was adopted as the measurement instrument. The result showed that university students displayed a more favorable overall STEM attitude compared to students enrolled in vocational-oriented polytechnic. University students demonstrated greater STEM self-efficacy than polytechnic students, but no significant difference in STEM expectancy-value was detected between the two groups. From the perspective of intergroup comparison, university education consistently fostered students a heightened sense of STEM self-efficacy, expectancy-value and career interest in science, whereas vocationally-oriented polytechnic education boasted its unique strengths in cultivating robust attitudes and career interests towards science and engineering/technology. However, students in both institutions exhibited a relatively less positive attitude towards learning mathematics. The findings highlight the importance of learning experiences in shaping students' STEM attitudes and career interests.

The objectives of this research were 1) to study components and indicators for adaptive leadership of the division heads in technical colleges, 2) to study the current conditions, desirable conditions, and needs to develop adaptive leadership of the division heads in technical colleges, 3) to create and develop the model development for adaptive leadership of the division heads in technical colleges, and 4) to study the results of using the adaptive leadership of the division heads in technical colleges. The methodology was research and development conducted in 4 Phases as follows according to the objectives. The results of the research found that 1) the components and indicators of adaptive leadership consist of 7 components and 25 indicators, the results of assessing the suitability of the components and indicators overall are at the highest level. 2) The current conditions of the adaptive leadership of the division heads in technical colleges overall are at a high level, the desirable conditions overall are at the highest level, and the overall need for developing the division heads in technical colleges, the PNI modified mean is 0.23. 3) The model development for adaptive leadership of the division heads in technical colleges consists of 1) Principles, 2) Objectives, 3) Contents of activities, 4) Method of Leadership Development, and 5) Evaluation. The results of the model evaluation overall are appropriate at a high level, and the possibility, and utility overall are at the highest level. And the evaluation results of the manual for using the format as a whole are appropriate at the highest level. 4) The results of a study of the use of the model development for adaptive leadership of the division heads in technical colleges found that 1) the adaptive leadership behavior of the division heads in technical colleges before using the model overall average mean is at a moderate level, and after overall mean is at the highest level that higher than average before are statistically significant at the 0.05 level, and 2) The results of the division head's satisfaction assessment as a whole is at the highest level.

The need for competent and qualified trainers is of paramount importance for an effective technical training system that, in turn, helps to produce competent and employable graduates for the country's economy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of trainers' competence on the employability of polytechnic college graduates in Dire Dawa. The study employed a descriptive-correlational-explanatory research design with a quantitative research method. The sample for quantitative data consisted of 351 randomly selected graduates, trainees, trainers, and administrators. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that trainers' competence was positively correlated with graduates' employability. Specifically, predictors such as knowledge-related competence, assessment-related competence, skill-related competence, and managerial competence were found to have significant and positive effects on the employability of polytechnic college graduates in Dire Dawa. Therefore, the study recommends that the Dire Dawa city Labour Skill and Technology Development Bureau and Polytechnic colleges should give greater emphasis on improving trainers' competence, which in turn enhances the employability of graduates.

This study investigates the relationship between the transformational leadership of academic leaders and the job satisfaction of academic staff in polytechnic colleges located in the North Shewa Zone of Ethiopia. This study used a correlational research design and simple random sampling techniques to select 264 academic staff members. Respondents completed a rating version of the multifactor leadership questionnaire and a job satisfaction survey. Data analysis uses descriptive and inferential statistics like Pearson correlation and linear regression. The study found that transformational leadership was found to positively correlate with and predict academic staff job satisfaction, though it was weak. The findings also revealed that academic staff was dissatisfied with their jobs, despite perceiving their leaders as having a moderate degree of attributes of transformational leadership style. Educational planners can use the findings to transform administrative and academic leaders' leadership programs. Leadership training boosts academic staff morale and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction also improves staff retention and minimizes turnover. Thus, academic leaders should grow themselves and seek opportunities to improve their transformational leadership skills. To better understand the leadership style elements that have the greatest impact on job satisfaction, further research is necessary due to the limited variability or unexplained variance in the ability of transformational leadership styles to predict job satisfaction. Further investigation is also needed to explore the mediating factors that impact the link between two variables in an Ethiopian context.

This article presents the findings of a comprehensive skills-and-competencies analysis conducted among incoming Engineering and Health Sciences freshmen at a leading technological university in Mexico. The primary objective was to determine whether these students possessed an ideal competency profile that would effectively prepare them to meet the evolving demands of their future professional training. The study focuses on evaluating complex thinking macro-competency, recognizing its critical importance in equipping individuals to tackle the multifaceted challenges and intricacies they will encounter in their academic and professional journeys. More precisely, this research focuses on the assessment of scientific thinking as a meta-competency of complex thinking macro-competency and considered a cornerstone competency essential for success in the fields of Engineering and Health Sciences. The statistically significant findings demonstrated marked disparities in the perception and development of complex thinking macro-competency and, specifically, in the meta-competency of scientific thinking among incoming students in the Engineering and Health Sciences domains, as opposed to their counterparts in Humanities and Social Science. This observation gains particular importance in the context of the requisite competency sets for career paths in Engineering and Health Sciences, accentuating the students' proficiency and preparedness to excel in their selected fields. These results emphasize the criticality of conducting competency assessments at early stages and advocate for the modification of educational methodologies to foster the specialized competencies vital for prospective success in these disciplines. The results are analyzed in terms of their suitability for aligning educational goals with the evolving demands of the Engineering and Health Sciences fields. Overall, this study centers on the fundamental aspects of education, highlighting its importance not only due to its relevance but also for its capacity to drive meaningful changes in the future landscape of higher education.

This research paper attempts to investigate the organization and effectiveness of vocabulary notebooks by distinguishing several benefits the implementation of this technique brings in the acquisition of technical terminology through an "English for Specific Purposes course". When tackling with language learning, it is needless to emphasize the noteworthiness and the importance of vocabulary in this process. Appertaining to technical terminology, this plays entirely pertinent. Various studies have concluded that vocabulary notebooks (henceforth VN) efficiently expose different learners' strategies within this single strategy, which led us to research VN. These research data were obtained mainly by applying the observational research technique, a vocabulary oral and written exam, and a comprehensive questionnaire on the effectiveness of the Vocabulary Notebook. Mechanical Engineering, Textile Engineering, and Hydrotechnical Engineering students at the Polytechnic University of Tirana were selected to obtain the data. The observation is partly overt and partly covert. Students of Mechanical Engineering and Textile Engineering (75 students) are the treatment group wherein the Mechanical Engineering students are an overt group and the Textile Engineering students serve as the covert observational group while on the other hand, the Hydrotechnical Engineering (45 students) students are the control group. The data were obtained during and at the end of the semester. Throughout the observation all along the 1st semester, it was perceived that most of the students organized their VN by utilizing mainly Microsoft Word downloaded on their Smart Phones, while the rest used the traditional paper notebook to organize their technical VN. The organization of the VN reflected the strategies each of the students implemented to learn technical terminology. At the end, students were tested on their acquired terminology through an oral and a short-written exam and then a questionnaire was handed to them. The students of the overt group making use of a digitalized form of a Notebook resulted to have acquired most of the technical vocabulary. In the main, the overt group outperformed the covert group on the acquisition of technical vocabulary, while the control group's score on the oral exam was significantly below, compared to the all-inclusive treatment group. Students' questionnaire revealed that overall students had a positive approach to this strategy and they embraced the autonomy acquired throughout the semester by implementing this strategy. With the exception of the effectiveness on vocabulary acquisition, which was on higher levels, this strategy proved itself once again to be an enhancer and promoter of learner autonomy. [Note: The page range (315-334) shown is incorrect. The correct page range is 315-333.]

Active teaching-learning methodologies are a reality at the School of Education and Social Sciences of the Polytechnic of Leiria (Portugal), namely through the articulation with institutions of the community. The qualitative research presented in this article intends to analyse the perception of the students who are attending the Higher Professional Technical Course in Sociocultural and Sports Intervention, specifically concerning the importance of these methodologies in a project carried out with the District Hospital of Leiria. During the development of this partnership, 42 students were challenged to collaborate throughout the training process and, at the end, they were asked to write a report, which was considered the data collection instrument. These individual reports include descriptions, analyses and reflections that were processed through content analysis, using categories, and adopting an exploratory approach. The results showed that the students considered that this methodology of teaching-learning allows them to acquire know-what, know-why and know-how competencies. Moreover, they admit that the articulation with external institutions contributes to a better acquisition and mobilisation of practical knowledge that they will be able to apply to different situations, spaces and times in their future professional lives.

Research on senior leadership in higher education systems is urgently needed, particularly in the context of system-wide transformations. This study focuses on a critical juncture in Ireland, during which Institutes of Technology (IoTs) collaborated to undergo 'redesignation' as Technological Universities (TUs). Based on interviews with the fourteen presidents of the IoTs, this research employs the Community of Practice framework to analyse their interactions, strategies, and approaches to a policy-initiated, systemic change. Despite decades of pervasive competition, these senior leaders formed a community of practice as they worked collectively to achieve the common goal of TU status. Four key themes emerged: "Embracing a more expansive external role;" "Acknowledging obstacles to collective leadership;" "Forming groups, collaborating and competing;" and "Leading calmly and fostering unity." The findings of this study advance our understanding of three interconnected fields: senior leadership practices in higher education, the interplay of collaboration and competition in higher education; and the facilitation of policy-induced systemic change within higher education systems. Our findings have significant implications for institutional leaders, policymakers and scholars aiming to comprehend and improve leadership practices in higher education.

This paper focuses on two aspects of gender inequality in Irish higher education: inequality in participation by gender and inequality of performance by gender, institution and subject. We use a rich set of data from the Higher Education Authority of Ireland which detail inter alia enrolment in institutions of higher education--Universities and Institutes of Technology--and record the class of degree received by graduating students, by subject and gender. The first aspect was the participation of women. Although more women enrolled as full-time undergraduates in universities than did men, the reverse was the case in the Institutes of Technology. This had much to do with the subject structure of universities vis-à-vis the Institutes of Technology in tandem with the subject preferences of women and men. The second issue was inequality in performance. A major conclusion of this paper is that "after" enrolment there was little difference between the success rates of women and men in receiving first-class degrees in the different subjects but there was considerable difference between the institutions.

This article reports on the self-perceived impacts of service-learning experiences from the perspective of alumni who graduated from a technical university in Taiwan. Drawing on the alumni responses in a focus group interview, the study investigated how the respondents perceived the impacts of participation in a service-learning project. Findings suggest that these experiences fostered a lasting change in the alumni personal development, communication skills, ability to adapt and persevere, learning attitude and commitment to service. In addition, the alumni reported not just these practical and personal benefits derived from the service-learning experiences, but also critical transformation that empowered them to face challenges after college.

Immigrant students are served in adult basic education programs across the country. This includes internationally trained professionals who often face nonrecognition of their foreign credentials and experience, leading to underemployment and a devaluation of skills. This article explores this issue from the perspective of a local program at Georgia Piedmont Technical College, where staff are attempting to create solutions to address the problem. Strategies implemented include credential evaluation, college and career pathway opportunities, and diverse funding sources.

In higher education, a need is felt to redesign curricula to better prepare students for the evolving 'world of work'. The current exploratory study investigated first-year (N = 414) students' approaches to learning, well-being and perceptions of their learning environment in the context of an innovative educational concept: design-based education. Also, the relations between these concepts were explored. Regarding the teaching--learning environment, it was found that students experienced peer-support to a large extent whereas alignment in their programs scored lowest. Based on our analysis, it seems that alignment did not influence students' deep approach to learning however, as this approach was predicted by their experienced relevance of the program and feedback from the teachers. Student well-being was predicted by the same elements that also predicted their deep approach of learning, and also alignment appeared to be a significant predictor of well-being. This study provides first insights in students' experiences of an innovative learning environment in higher education and raises important questions for further, longitudinal, research. As the current study already shows that certain aspects of the teaching--learning environment can be used to impact students' learning and well-being, answers can help in (re)designing new learning environments.

There is a sedimented understanding that developing digital abilities is key for today's knowledge society. Accordingly, governments have invested vastly in formal education aimed at developing them. Policies and directives driving this venture need to be examined. Otherwise, their potential risks being thwarted. By means of a post-foundational discourse analysis, six moments central to the political enablement of Chile's State Technical Formation Centres underwent a synchronic heuristic discourse analysis as understood under relational-ontology. These Centres are part of Chile's tertiary Technical and Vocational Education and Training system and were created as a means for the State to regain presence within such a system. Findings show unquestioned facts which lead to the articulation of two prominent myths. Added, two salient discourses are articulated to the myth: education is either articulated with statements that would frame education as a right or with development statements. Furthermore, despite these documents articulating today's world as being driven by information and technological developments, there is no mention, definition or even acknowledgement of digital abilities. Accordingly, the development of these rhetorically articulated indispensable abilities, within these Centres, is left to chance. Findings shed light on how mythification of discourses can lead to hindering consequences.

Enrollment of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in postsecondary education in the United States has been increasing over the past three decades (Chee, Shorty, and Robinson Kurpius 2019). The Tribal College Movement began more than 40 years ago with the establishment of the first tribally-controlled community college in 1968. United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) was established in 1969. Today, there are 37 tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), many of which are located on Native American Indian reservations. TCUs, including UTTC, are specifically designed to support the cultural and educational needs of AI/AN students, many of whom come to college with several factors that put them at risk to college success. Located just outside the city limits of Bismarck, ND, UTTC was founded as a workforce development training center. The purpose of this workforce development training center was to provide a community in which American Indian people can acquire an education and obtain employment. This article discusses how UTTC leverages data for continuous improvement.

Higher education institutions worldwide have embraced remote as a response to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the imposition of stay-at-home protocols. While this shift from the conventional face-to-face mode to remote learning platforms represents a notable innovation in the education circles, we contend that implementing online learning in these times requires faculty to be adequately prepared to use online tools to facilitate learning among students effectively. In this case, a study conducted at a vocational -- a rural community college in South Africa -- we explore the readiness of lecturers (N = 15) to use an institutionally-designed Learning Management System (henceforth referred to as MLMS) to engage their students in learning. The study revealed that the participants were largely unprepared to use the MLMS for teaching. This lack of readiness was influenced by the (poor) MLMS design, lack of user expertise, and inadequate technological resources for lecturers and learners. It emerged from the findings of this paper that the MLMS needs upgrading to improve its effectiveness for online and teaching purposes. The findings suggest that the college should seek the buy-in of lecturers by providing them with further training on the use of the MLMS.

This study developed a realistic, interactive English blockade-running game that integrates virtual environments and mobile devices to conduct a collaborative and competitive contest to promote English learning among technical college students. In addition, it also explored students' learning effectiveness, perception of peer collaboration, and the use of grouping strategies for collaborative learning. This study adopted a quasi-experimental design and separated 120 participants into four groups (Baseline, Smartphone, Collaborative Learning, and Smartphone + Collaborative Learning). The procedure included the pretest, English blockade-running contest, peer collaboration perception questionnaire, focus interview, and the posttest at the end of the semester. Our findings in terms of learning effectiveness, the Collaborative Learning Group and the Smartphone + Collaborative Learning Group exhibited significant improvements in their scores. In terms of peer collaboration, we also found that the Smartphone + Collaborative Learning Group reported increased perceptions of collaboration in Take Action and Group Organization dimensions when compared with the Collaborative Learning Group. Regarding grouping strategies for collaborative learning, the Smartphone + Collaborative Learning Group used smartphones to ensure continuous communication between team members during both individual and collaborative blockades. Team members performed their respective duties, jointly participated in the contest, and worked together to overcome the challenges of the different blockades. The implications and research limitations are also discussed in this paper.

Faculty members play a valuable role in the reputation of higher education institutions and adult learners' academic success. It is imperative for faculty members to be adept at using the institution's learning management system to maintain their instructional materials and teach using a technological system. The purpose of this study was to examine the learning experiences of faculty at a state technical college who were required to participate in a new technology adoption of the Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS). A qualitative case study design was used that consisted of semi-structured interviews with eight participants, document review, and observational memos. The findings revealed that the initial training meeting was basic, the training packet was burdensome to complete, the institution's webinars and tutorials were underutilized, and participants designed their own training strategies to learn the system. Two conclusions emerged that indicated: (1) the formal learning methods were insufficient and sufficient and (2) faculty's informal learning strategies created a process of self-directed and collaborative learning approaches that more directly served their needs.

Internships are widely promoted high-impact practices that can have positive impacts on students' academic and post-graduate success, yet how specific features facilitate these outcomes is understudied. Instead, internships are often studied in terms of mere participation, without recognizing that these experiences are complex pedagogic spaces shaped by professional cultures and decisions about instructional design. In this sequential mixed-methods study we use sociocultural learning theory to interpret data from online surveys (n = 435) and focus groups (n = 52) with students at five institutions. Stepwise linear regression analyses of demographic and programmatic variables associated with intern satisfaction, developmental value, and career adaptability indicated that first-generation status, sex, race and income level, and supervisor behaviors were significantly associated with satisfaction and development. Analyses of qualitative data revealed that features of positive (clear communication, availability, feedback) and negative (unavailability, inattention to learning) supervision impacted student experiences. These findings reveal that internships should be designed with careful attention to task scaffolding, student autonomy and supervisor assistance, depending on the professional context and situation. These results highlight the need for colleges and employers to design internships as mentored and culturally shaped learning spaces, provide supervisor training, and consider the cultural backgrounds of students when matching them to internships.

In the performative meritocracy of Singapore where academic achievement is seen as the key to success in the society, vocational education is seen as inferior in the education system. This paper examines the educational experiences of vocational youths who went through the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), an institution that is often not seen as a school of choice. We investigate the life and educational experiences of ITE graduates examining interview data collected through the Biographical Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM), which elicit lived experiences in narrative form. Through studying the graduates' biographical learning narratives, we explore the opportunities and challenges to human flourishing. This study has implications for enhancing the ecology of learning as well as VET standing in Singapore and beyond.

Interprofessional education (IPE) is a method that can support the collaboration of two or more health professions to create ideal teamwork. This study aims to evaluate the implementation of interprofessional education (IPE) in the learning process among three (3) departments of health professions in the Health Polytechnic of the Ministry of Health Jayapura. In this exploratory qualitative study, the data were collected from second and third-year students of health profession at The Health Polytechnic of the Ministry of Health, Jayapura. They were tasked with understanding the scenario of patients with malaria, they used the Maastricht seven jump method for PBL: (1) Clarify Concept, (2) Define Problem, (3) Discuss analyze a problem, (4) Identify Possible Explanation/solution, (5) Set Task/Learning Objective, (6) Research Solutions, (7) Synthesis Results/Solution/ Reflect. Data collection is conducted with in-depth interviews and document analysis conducted on interprofessional education competencies. The fully transcribed data from both the process were thematically analyzed. The qualitative data analysis, showed there are gaps in the implementation of interprofessional education learning activities as well as commitments to the implementation of programs that are not adequate. The implementation of interprofessional education at the Jayapura Ministry of Health Polytechnic can be implemented by learning various problem-solving strategies.

Education and training are critical components for the development of high-quality human resources. Teachers are the most important factor in determining the overall quality of education and training system in any country. As a result, in order to improve the quality of human resource training, it is necessary to first improve the quality of teacher education. It is necessary to have a contingent of teachers who are capable of teaching according to the approach to practicing competence; that is, they must know how to accurately determine the standards of practice competence of the students and then design programs, organize teaching, and evaluate teaching results according to those competency standards in order to train qualified human resources to practice. This study resulted in the development of a scale to evaluate teaching in the direction of approaching the performance capacity of technical pedagogy universities. The results also revealed that both lecturers and students had access to competency-based education during the entire academic duration. The old methods, on the other hand, were still used extensively and frequently up to 90-100 percent of the time in the teaching process. Fifty to one hundred percent of modern methods and materials, however, have not yet been fully explored or utilized. The study recommends arranging adequate funds to universities for conducting additional research into other aspects of teaching and learning to ensure performance improvement.

The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) has developed and deployed a set of distinctive and dynamic capabilities in alignment with the UAE national agenda. These capabilities drive an ambitious strategy that anticipates and ensures future readiness; creates student-centric value; enables and empowers human capital; exploits the full potential of digital enablement; leverages through smart partnerships and resource optimization; builds capacity for knowledge exchange; and synergizes through collaboration, co-creation, and stakeholder orientation. This study presents HCT's methodology as a case study to develop its capabilities portfolio, structure, main connectors (internal and external forces), and business operational model and capabilities dynamics that support HCT's continuous transformation and leading position. The study proposes a model and practices to develop and unify standards for higher education institutions (HEIs) in their journey towards building distinctive and dynamic capabilities and achieving excellence maturity.

The training programs that polytechnic students undertake focus on practical and real-world application skills for their future careers. In the process, students need career counseling that strengthens their career decision-making. Web-based career counseling has a great deal of potential for increasing students' career decision-making capabilities in a significant way. This study's purpose is to investigate the efficacy of web-based career counseling in enhancing prospective polytechnic students' career decision-making. The research used an experimental research design. A simple randomization strategy was used to assign the 37 polytechnic students from a Nigerian polytechnic to either the web-based career counseling group (n=18) or to the control group (n=19). The data was gathered using a career decision-making scale. The duration of the web-based career counseling intervention was 6 weeks; each online session took place two times per week and a two-week follow-up was done after three months. The duration for each web-based career counseling session was 75 minutes. It was found that web-based career counseling intervention significantly enhances students' career decision-making, and as a result, career practitioners and counselors can benefit from similar research endeavor as they continue to support students in their career development journey.

Academic stereotype threat of Chinese adolescents in vocational education is underexamined. The present study aimed to gain an understanding of the effects of academic stereotype threat on academic engagement by examining the potential mediating role of academic self-efficacy and moderating role of perceived social support. A total of 1152 Chinese adolescents (448 boys; mean[subscript age] = 18.26, SD = 1.20) in higher vocational schools completed a survey questionnaire assessing academic stereotype threat, academic engagement (i.e., vigor, dedication and absorption), academic self-efficacy, and social support (i.e., family support, friend support and teacher support). Findings supported the mediating effect of academic self-efficacy, indicating that academic stereotype threat decreased academic engagement by undermining academic self-efficacy. Furthermore, the relationship between academic stereotype threat and academic self-efficacy was moderated by teacher support. Specifically, the negative effects of academic stereotype threat on self-efficacy was weaker for adolescents who perceived high levels of teacher support. This study contributes to the educational/psychological research on academic engagement by providing evidence for the adverse effects, potential mechanism and protective factor of academic stereotype threat in Chinese adolescents of higher vocational education. Implications for further investigations and intervention development are discussed.

Mathematics is one of the most emphasized subjects and has grown immensely to provide a strong base for programs in science, engineering and technology. Training students in this field will give them the opportunity to improve their high order thinking skills (HOTS). But the students' HOTS level is at low stage due to the learning approaches employed in classrooms. As a result, the study aimed at looking into the effect of inquiry-based learning (IBL) in improving polytechnic students' level of HOTS. Quasi-experimental design was used in this study involving two sampled National Diploma II classes. There were 73 students participated in this study (36 students for experimental group and 37 students for control group). HOTS questions and worksheets based on IBL are the instruments used for this study. At the [alpha]=0.05 (p=0.000) level of significance, the results of the independent-sample t-test revealed a significant difference between the mean post-test scores of the experimental group and the control group. Moreover, the students' overall HOTS level was discovered to be (applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating) improving through this approach. In conclusion, IBL can have a positive effect on the HOTS of polytechnic students in mathematics classroom.

The purpose of the research was to discover the views of three groups of International students who were undertaking their Higher Education (HE) in a publicly-funded college, rather than a university setting. A comparative survey was undertaken by International students attending an American Community College, an Australian Technical and Further Education Institute and a group of English colleges which offer Higher Education. All three groups were satisfied with their provision. The college setting was perceived to offer higher levels of support than would have been available at a university, plus enhanced employability prospects and lower fees than those charged by a university. The status of an Australian, English or American HE qualification was important, as was the reputation of their particular college. The market for International students is highly competitive and largely driven by universities. The English experience suggests that colleges should focus on the marketing of specialist courses. In all cases, the fact that teaching staff were primarily teachers, rather than researchers was highly valued by respondents, as was their currency in their subject. However, there were strong feelings about value for money and the ability to engage with Home students and wider Australian, British or American culture. International students choose to study abroad because they want to broaden their own horizons and learn more about other cultures: many respondents found these opportunities to be limited. In order to help address this, an International student recruitment Checklist for senior college staff is presented as part of the research findings.

This research paper sought to review the way and manner the conversion of polytechnics in Ghana to technical universities were done to ascertain whether the process conformed to standard best practice. The inequality in terms of placement of polytechnic graduates in the public sector as compared to the traditional university graduates, lack of direct academic progression for polytechnic graduates with Higher National Diploma, low enrollment and the departure of experienced staff from the polytechnics to the traditional universities due to poor conditions of service leaving the polytechnics with less staff compelled the government to initiate the reform. Institutional reform has been a long-standing practice in the educational sector; however, the implementation of new policies remains a challenge to many public institutions in Ghana. The one-size-fits-all approach to managing change must give way to a multi-faceted approach that takes into consideration the diversity of the various stakeholders affected by the change. The adoption of an appropriate change model and proper engagement of stakeholders as well as handling the transition as a project rather than treating it like the usual work of the ministry of education would have eased the tension and agitations which characterized the conversion process. Despite the conversion period spanning almost four years, the stakeholders are yet to reap the full benefits of the reform.