The COVID-19 pandemic has enforced higher education institutions to adopt emergency remote teaching (ERT) as a substitution for traditional face-to-face (F2F) classes. A lot of concerns have been ...raised among education institutions, faculty, and students regarding the effectiveness of this sudden shift to online learning. Various digital platforms and ICT initiatives are accessed by academic authorities, teachers, and researchers around the clock. The Learning Management System (LMS) has emerged as a crucial resource for all institutions of higher learning during the current crisis and has taken center stage in web-based learning. Jazan University switches to an online learning environment after normal classes were suspended. This study aims to statistically investigate the academic activities, utilization, and satisfaction of Blackboard Learn and Collaborate of pre, during, and post-COVID-19 pandemic amongst the faculty members and students at Jazan University, Saudi Arabia. The study’s primary findings are a contribution to the online execution of educational information, providing students with the appropriate support from faculty members and teaching assistants, as well as having a backup plan in place for unanticipated problems with the online educational system.
In this paper, an attempt was made to locate the role of internationalisation in African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is argued that comprehensive international, intercultural, and global ...dimensions in the affairs of African tertiary institutions provide for a more nuanced and diversified higher education landscape. Through a desk study approach, dwelling mainly on existing literature, the paper examines the issues of internationalisation from the perspectives of diversity and inclusion, as well as the roles of the relevant key players within those institutions to practically deliver internationalisation strategies that will put the institution on a global pedestal while remaining locally and regionally relevant. More importantly, strategies for achieving comprehensive internationalisation are discussed drawing inferences from literature and documentary sources. The interrogation of these sources in relation to the expectations of the current and future HEIs to remain socially relevant and sustainable is carried out. HEIs in Africa must contribute to socio-economic change and engage with their quad-helix and eco-system partners to ensure that high end skills training, knowledge production, entrepreneurship and innovation are accelerated. In so doing, African HEIs must embrace diversity in its fullness including welcoming differences in gender, race, culture, nationality and providing platforms of engagement that allow for inclusion, and breaking silos to allow for a nuanced agenda of internationalisation.
This study aims to provide a bibliometric overview of quality assurance (QA) research in higher education institutions (HEIs) from 1993 to 2022 and to identify significant trends. Scopus was utilised ...to retrieve data from 321 selected articles from 191 different sources. The methodology included science mapping with bibliometric indicators such as citations, co-citation analysis, and bibliometric coupling. Analysis of the data was done using VOSviewer and R-package using Biblioshiny. The findings indicate an increase in the number of articles and authors per paper that highlight QA key issues, the most promising QA practices, and the topics for future research. This study has significant importance to orient HEI's QA process towards the assessment of the university's societal impact.
•The study provides a bibliometric overview of quality assurance in higher education institutions (HEIs) from 1993 to 2022.•Scopus retrieved data from 321 selected articles from 191 sources.•The methodology included science mapping with bibliometric indicators such as citations, and bibliometric coupling.•Analysis of the data was done using VOSviewer and an R package using Biblioshiny.•Findings highlight key QA issues, the most promising QA practices, and topics for future research.•The study orients HEI's QA process toward the assessment of the university's societal impact.
The aim of this research was to explore the soft skills acquisition of lecturers and to thus determine the importance of soft skills in the teaching profession. A mixed method was employed utilizing ...a questionnaire and interview protocol as research instruments. In total, eight lecturers and 163 students from four programs of an international college in Khon Kaen, Thailand were selected using a purposive sampling method. The quantitative findings indicated that teamwork and lifelong learning skills were the most important soft skills acquired by lecturers from all of four programs, except for tourism management. In addition, the qualitative findings revealed the importance aspects of soft skills acquisition are: (i) delivery of effective and quality teaching; (ii) career development and enrichment, and (iii) managing student skills. In summary, the findings contribute to and substitute for training and provide significant pronouncements towards the knowledgeable and dexterous development of the country as a total.
Purpose
There is a growing urgent concern in involving higher education institutions (HEIs) towards an international effort in implementing a more suitable role as conductors of sustainable ...development. This paper/study aims to present the application of light emiting diode (LED) technology in an HEI assuming technology innovation as part of a larger institutional innovation management strategy addressing multiple dimensions in sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
Investments in LED technology are analyzed for their impact on consumption results and quantitative comparisons between 2008 and 2022 are impaired with detailed information on the types of luminaires and the amount of installed energy.
Findings
The collected data shows a clear economic advantage of using LED technology, and the results subsidize institutional planning, considering not only ongoing technological innovation, but also educational components and community involvement in the organization sustainability strategy.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to a specific HEI and further comparative research should be carried out.
Practical implications
A holistic approach on sustainability objectives encourages further investment in environmental-friendly technology, example to other HEIs.
Social implications
The strategic vision of innovation is confirmed with the involvement of the community, at various levels, such as the academic community, local community, scientific international community.
Originality/value
This study addresses the lack of examples in the literature of structural planning and management systems that see sustainability as a strategy built in HEIs. The elaboration of an environmental sustainability plan places environmental sustainability at the confluence of themes such as education, investigation, use of natural resources, waste separation. For each topic are listed measures, actions, environment improvements, institution improvements and their results.
Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0 are reshaping the way organizations function and interact with the communities they serve. The massive penetration of computer and network applications forces ...organizations to digitalize their processes and provide innovative products, services, and business models. The education market is suffering changes as well, but universities seem slow to react. This paper proposes the application of an integrated digital transformation model to assess the maturity level that educational institutions have in their digital transformation processes and compares them to other industries. Particular considerations to address when using the model for higher-education institutions are discussed. Our results show that universities fall behind other sectors, probably due to a lack of effective leadership and changes in culture. This is complemented negatively by an insufficient degree of innovation and financial support.
Purpose
As UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) are integrated across Asia-Pacific Higher Education Institutes (HEIs), the purpose of this descriptive and exploratory study is to investigate ...undergraduates’ own self-stated commitment to the SDGs and their perceived feasibility by the 2030 target.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-methodology approach covered quantitative and qualitative approaches facilitated by purposive selection of an Asia-Pacific HEI via a Japanese liberal arts college where a questionnaire survey was administered in Autumn 2021. Responses were monitored from freshmen students in twin courses within the same major (introduction to “Environment” and “Development” studies, respectively; n = 177) that both integrated SDGs within their respective curricula.
Findings
Students in both classes rated the SDGs as a useful learning tool but were sceptical of their feasibility by 2030. A self-stated commitment was high, especially among environment studies students. Multiple regression was run to predict SDGs commitment from gender, major, perceived SDGs’ usefulness and feasibility. These variables partially predicted SDGs commitment but only gender and major variables added statistical significance. Moreover, the same variables were less equivocal in terms of predicting the self-stated belief that the SDGs could be achieved by 2030.
Practical implications
The findings can inform instructors of students’ perceptions towards SDGs. Significant differences raise academic and applied discussion points, such as how to engage male students, for example, by setting up sustainability “business case” practicums.
Originality/value
As global HEIs grapple with effective ways to vertically integrate SDGs into a university’s curriculum, students’ opinions are often underrepresented. This paper’s originality and value address these gaps by exploring a holistic student-centric perspective on SDGs in the context of commitment. This paper also has implications for more effective cross-curricula integration of the SDGs.
Higher education in today’s economy plays an important and integral role in all aspects of social development. Its importance lies in the formation of highly qualified personnel, the development of ...innovations, the support of scientific research and the increase of the country’s competitiveness. Higher education provides an opportunity for students to acquire specialized knowledge and skills that they can be used in economics. Qualified graduates contribute to increased labor productivity and the creation of innovative products and services, which fosters economic growth. In addition, universities are important centers of scientific research that produce new knowledge and technologies that affect the development of the economy. They contribute to the commercialization of innovation and the creation of startups. Overall, higher education is a key to creating a knowledge-based economy that is becoming dominant in the modern era. Therefore, investment in higher education should be considered as a strategic step for sustainable economic development and improving the quality of life of citizens. Improving the quality of higher education is a necessary and urgent task in the modern world for a number of key reasons. High-quality higher education forms a highly skilled workforce that meets the needs of the labor market. Changes in the economy and technology require new skills and knowledge, and only higher education can ensure their acquisition. Higher education stimulates research and innovation, which supports a country’s economic development and competitiveness in a global context. Higher education also contributes to the development of critical thinking, creativity and civic engagement, being important aspects of the formation of civil society and democratic governance. Quality education increases the level of social equality by providing equal educational opportunities for different social groups. All these aspects verify the importance and necessity of improving the quality of higher education as a pivotal factor for the development of society, increasing the efficiency of the economy and preparing citizens for the challenges of the modern world. Improving the quality of higher education is important for ensuring competitiveness, developing innovations, supporting research and preparing citizens for global challenges, ensuring the sustainability of society’s development.
Elaboration and implementation of investment programs for the development of modern universities, cooperation with the business sector, public investment aimed at modernization of the educational ...environment, implementation of grants, etc. can now be considered as structural components of investment activities of higher education institutions in the context of strategic planning. Therefore, the process of active reform of the educational sector of Ukraine and its integration into the European educational space require a review of approaches, methods and forms of management of education and educational institutions, in particular on investment policy. The purpose of the study is to analyse and summarize the legislative aspects of introduction of the investment programs for the development of higher education institutions as an element of state educational policy. The subject of the study is the regulatory framework for investment activities of higher education institutions in Ukraine in the implementation of investment programs for their development as an element of state educational policy. The following research methods were used: terminological analysis (definition of the conceptual apparatus of the research), systematization of normative legal acts (study of normative provision and state of the researched problem), classification method (ranging of normative legal acts by branches of human activity). The practical importance of the study is in description of the current state of regulatory and legal support of Ukraine's investment policy in higher education. As a result of the study, we concluded that the investment activity of higher education institutions is determined by laws and subsidiary laws that regulate general aspects of Ukraine's investment policy at the state level and insufficiently regulate the development of investment opportunities at the institutional level. There is no concept of investment and investment activity in the regulations in the field of higher education at all. However, at the present stage of development of the studied branch it is important to specify the provisions of regulations and scientific concepts of Ukrainian investment policy for higher education. Thus, the analysis of regulations on investment activities of higher education institutions and the search for weaknesses in them will help improve the current legislation of Ukraine, identify priority areas for investment in education at the institutional level and consolidate investment opportunities of higher education institutions.
As an answer to the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, organizations are increasingly making efforts to account for their carbon footprint. While general guidelines for carbon footprint ...calculation exist, they usually do not consider special characteristics of organisations such as institutions of higher education. Case studies can act then as learning tools, and comparisons between applied methodologies can be used to develop best practices. However, a lack of case studies published in peerreviewed journals limits access to the calculation results. This work provides a case study for a Northern European institution to extend the pool of available calculation methodologies tested under real-life conditions. The carbon footprint calculation of the University of Oulu utilises a hybrid model, combining approaches of Environmentally Extended Input-Output Analysis and Life-Cycle Assessment. The focus of the work was to consider included scopes and categories of emissions that represent indirect and non-energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, such as commuting or procurement of research and laboratory equipment. In 2019, the institution’s emission inventory sums up to 19,072 t CO2e, with the highest share due to the use of district heat on campus. Another goal of conducting this research was to show the limitations researchers might encounter when analysing caused emissions on an organisational level, and how the calculated carbon footprint can help to identify the best mitigation measures and possibilities for universities to reach carbon neutrality. It was found that the availability of information and missing strategies for data collection are prominent limiting factors. Favourable mitigation measures include the implementation of energysaving policies and improved policies for procurements.
•Higher education institutions need to act as forerunners towards carbon-neutrality.•Case studies provide useful examples for calculation approaches.•Carbon footprint of University of Oulu sums up to 19,072 t CO2e in 2019.•Hybrid-model based on LCA and EEIOA used.•Emphasizing inclusion of Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions.
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