Search Results for
"Higher education"

In today’s competitive economy, the war for talent has intensified. Organizations are increasingly investing in student engagement initiatives to build a robust talent pipeline. Among these initiatives, the offering of internship placements is a popular choice as it not only helps identify suitable talent, students can also benefit with valuable opportunities to develop work-related skills and gain experience. However, ensuring mutually beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders involved remains a challenge due to diverging expectations among stakeholder groups. This study aims to enhance our understanding of high-quality internship design by applying stakeholder theory (ST) and the expectancy theory of motivation (ET) as theoretical frameworks. Qualitative research methods were employed, including semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders from higher education institutions, human resources managers, and front-line supervisors as well as a focus group with graduating business students. Thematic analysis of the data revealed several key themes related to stakeholder priorities and interests. The findings of this paper contribute to the fields of ST and ET by addressing an under-researched area: the motivations of supervisors as crucial stakeholders in delivering the internship experience. Scholars and practitioners have largely overlooked this aspect. From a managerial perspective, the findings highlight opportunities for fostering more synergistic partnerships between stakeholders, not only at the institutional level but also among internal stakeholder groups, including top management, human resources functions, and front-line supervisors. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2024.

Information related to student services in higher education must be produced and disseminated in various forms. Covid-19 pandemic, student services with a remote model related to this question and answer become very important. To carry out this automation process, the advanced cosine similarity method is used to check the similarity of the questions to the database and statistics to calculate the similarity value of each word. The proposed paper proceeds with three phases. The first stage to solve this problem is the data processed in question; the professional next step is word insertion. It converts alphanumeric words to vector format. Each word is a vector that represents a point in space with a certain dimension. The recommended advanced cosine similarity data still must be analyzed into a statistical approach. We will measure accuracy to get results so that optimal results and answers are obtained, research procedures are carried out based on literature study, initial data collection and observation, system development, system testing, system analysis, and system evaluation. This research implemented in universities with student chat automation applications providing an accuracy 83.90% given by natural language question answering system (NLQAS) so that it can improve excellent service in universities. © 2024, Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved.

This literature review aims to determine the work readiness of undergraduate graduates to meet the qualifications required by employers in the world of work. The method used in this paper involved searching for all studies that examined work readiness and were published from 2019 to 2023. 5 out of 200 studies found on Google Scholar and Scopus were included in this review. Research findings show that programs in higher education, including internships and soft skills training, play an important role in increasing graduates' work readiness, demonstrating that the MBKM Program has effectively developed the skills and competencies required by the world of work. Research discussions highlight that these programs, including internships and soft skills training within the MBKM Program, are crucial for ensuring the relevance of education to job market needs. This research presents novelty by exploring and identifying the factors that influence the job readiness of prospective undergraduate graduates after participating in the Independent Campus Learning Program (MBKM), thus offering a new perspective in the context of higher education in Indonesia. The implications of this research are significant for curriculum development and learning programs in universities, which must continue to develop programs that support the development of soft skills and hard skills to increase graduates' work readiness. © 2024 by the author(s).

The Ministry of education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia launched the Learning Freedom, Independent Campus policy at the beginning of 2020. The aim of this new strategy is to give universities the chance to adapt learning, so that higher education learning activities are more adaptable and reinforce students’ core skills. Various universities are developing service-based learning, which is implemented through three learning models, namely, humanitarian projects (HP), thematic work lecture (TWL), and teaching assistance (TA). This study aimed to describe students’ involvement in service-based learning and its impact on students’ core skills. The population of this study were students from major state universities in East Java who had participated in HP, TWL, and TA. The sample was determined using systematic random sampling. Data analysis was carried out using a descriptive approach and multivariate analysis. This study found that students were highly involved in HP, TWL, and TA. Overall, the service-based learning model strengthens students’ core skills. Sequentially, HP, TWL, and TA are service-based learning models that effectively strengthen students’ lifelong learning, communication, and problem-solving skills. Meanwhile, TWL is very effective in strengthening students’ teamwork skills. Further research is recommended to elaborate and validate specific skills as part of the core skills components. This research does not discuss in detail students’ involvement in service-based learning, and their core skills as influenced by gender, academic ability, socioeconomic background, and departmental differences. This was a limitation in this research, so further research is needed. ©Authors.

This chapter navigates and curates real-time, voiced stories from a time of uncertainty and crisis from Aotearoa/New Zealand into a narrative of its own that captures a snapshot of the era. The small island nation bore the weight of a double barrel crisis occasioned as much by unprecedented reform in higher and vocational education as by COVID-19. These twin towers of crises forced education leaders to shift uneasily from pivot to pivot, particularly in the Polytechnic sector where a single national body to be named Te Pūkenga ('being skilled or proficient') was implemented to absorb 16 autonomous but sometimes dysfunctional polytechnic institutions. Grounded by practitioner experiences of national governance and public-sector leadership in the time of COVID-19, the chapter recounts the effects and consequences of this unforeseen concatenation of adverse circumstances. The chapter moves beyond the rise of the pragmatic yet ideal visionary leader as represented by Dame Jacinda Ardern, to explore practitioners' shifts in thinking and ways of working whilst outlining lessons learned for the future. Considering, too, the sector's resolved application of the principles of the national foundation document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi/The Treaty of Waitangi, the chapter considers successful leadership traits required for the enduring pandemic era in Aotearoa/New Zealand's imagined future. Dominant amongst these traits is the ability and willingness to communicate decisions, humility to draw on collective expertise, and authentic, not merely mandated, application of aroha (empathy, compassion). The chapter ultimately embodies a narrative case study of unsuccessful reform during a pandemic when strategic crisis leadership traits are missing in action. © The Author(s), 2024. All rights reserved.

This chapter demonstrates how higher and vocational education have long faced and continue to face a more insidious crisis than COVID: coping with the fallout from neoliberal capitalist ideology and its hand-maiden, the political and corporate logic of new public management (NPM). The disruption of the pandemic, together with digital ruptures, contribute to a feeling of perma-crisis experienced by workers in the university akin to long COVID. Drawing on vast literature and voices from lived experience expressed as autoethnography, the chapter examines how crises experienced as consequences of capitalist, corporate neoliberalism have transmuted into a real and present crisis of neoliberalism, which is itself the disease. Using pathology as a metaphor for the spread of disease, the study draws on scholarship to understand the schizophrenia of higher education and the ways it audits multiple users to death, sometimes literally, via vested and unsustainable corporate models of performativity. It also examines the types of living dead within what commentators have dubbed 'the zombie university' and suggests that a zombie form of Foucault's homo oeconomicus is constructed as its most desirable citizen. Although it is increasingly clear that neoliberal logic is returning cockroach-like as the undead in COVID's wake, the paper concludes with a hopeful view of educators protecting their identities and well-being via resistance to regimes of performativity, through collective activism and by applying such strategies as slow scholarship. Managerialists learned little from the reflectivity that COVID could have afforded, but both genuine crisis leaders and authentic educators may yet see hope in fighting for sustainable education with transforming learners at its heart. © The Author(s), 2024. All rights reserved.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of perceived value and academic entitlement on the online engagement of university students. The mediating effect of technostress inhibitor and teacher behavior between perceived value, entitlement and student engagement was also examined. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a quantitative research methodology, with data collected through a survey of 304 undergraduate students from a public university in Bahrain. Findings: The findings showed that perceived value and academic entitlement were significant predictors of online student engagement. At the same time, only technostress inhibitor was found to mediate those associations. An unexpected result was entitlement's positive and significant impact on student engagement. Practical implications: University decision-makers are strongly advised to enhance perceived value and support mechanisms for engagement, address technology-related concerns and improve teacher capacity and students' online learning experience. Originality/value: The study makes a distinct contribution by investigating how perceived value, academic entitlement, technostress inhibitors and teacher behavior influence student engagement in the online higher education context. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Purpose: This study explores the impact of new technologies, such as simulation and virtual reality, on the pedagogy and learning of engineering students. It aims to compare the effectiveness of these digital tools against traditional teaching methods in enhancing student learning experiences. Design/methodology/approach: Utilizing a quantitative research approach, the study involved third-year engineering students from the “Production Management” course at the School of Engineering of Vitoria-Gasteiz. Data were collected through an ad hoc questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS software, focusing on student satisfaction, challenges in adopting new technologies and the evolving roles of students and teachers. Findings: The research highlighted several key aspects. Firstly, it identified the need for adapting teaching methods to incorporate new technologies effectively. Secondly, the integration of simulation and virtual reality was found to facilitate a deeper understanding of real-world problems, as students could engage with these issues in a simulated, virtual environment. Finally, the study emphasized the importance of pedagogical approaches that leverage these technologies to increase student involvement and motivation. The results suggest a positive impact of digital tools on the learning process in engineering education. Research limitations/implications: The study’s scope was limited to one course within a single institution, suggesting the need for broader research across various disciplines and educational settings. Originality/value: This research offers valuable insights into the integration of simulation and virtual reality in engineering education, underscoring their potential to enhance the learning experience and knowledge acquisition among students. © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Alumni feedback has emerged as one of the central pillars of the quality process due to the valuable insights from the alumni in evaluating the academic programs and services of higher education institutions. This study determined the Bachelor of Secondary education (BSED) alumni’s retrospective evaluation of their undergraduate teacher training as to the adequacy and relevance of acquired 21st-century skills. It also sought their satisfaction and recommendations for curricular and service improvements. A survey procedure was used to collect data from 602 BSED graduates from a Philippine State University from 2013 to 2017. Results indicate that overall, the traced BSED alumni were highly satisfied with the pre-service training – both in terms of curriculum and services offered. The 21st century skills they acquired were claimed to be highly relevant to their current jobs. They, however, call for greater exposure with authentic pedagogical preparations and research, and for improved facilities. Moreover, they recommended a regular curriculum review to check on the courses’ relevance, arrangement, and “balance”. Meanwhile, variety, relevance, and practicality were among the discipline-specific recommendations forwarded. In conclusion, the satisfaction of the alumni with their undergraduate training was evident, but there are areas of improvement that the institution must consider. © 2024, Benguet State University. All rights reserved.

Purpose: This study introduces a non-orthodox approach to the dominant policy-based approaches to graduate employability through contextualizing international students’ everyday experiences within their educational and wider structural contexts of the labour market. Design/methodology/approach: The study used narrative frames to collect data from 180 international students from China, Hong Kong, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Nepal at a New Zealand tertiary institution. Narrative frames as a research tool in educational contexts are used to ellicit the experiences of individuals in the form of a story as participants reflect on their experience. The frames use sentence starters to draw responses from participants about their experiences (Barkhuizen and Wette, 2008). Findings: This study argues that, through a socialization process, international students develop identities that fit an ever-changing labour market. This process is catalysed by a higher education landscape that produces career-ready subjects capable of appropriating different social spaces that prepare students and graduates to enter the labour market. Further, it argues that graduate employability should be understood as a complex process through which students and graduates socialise themselves through negotiating the socioacademic spaces by (1) familiarising themselves with the dominant workspace norms, (2) positioning themselves as more career-ready individuals, and (3) imagigining employable selves capable of meeting the needs of the job market. Research limitations/implications: This study has limitations. Only one data collection source has been used. It would have been great to use narrative frames along with interviews. In addition, the data would have been stronger if the researcher could have used classroom observations, which could be a future initiative. Practical implications: This study could provide practical insights to tertiary institutions about international students’ developing capabilities and identities so they could better prepare themselves for the world of work. Further, this study provides insights about some of the challenges that international students face in tertiary contexts to become career-ready. Hence, educators could employ strategies to better support these learners in their everyday learning spaces. This study also has useful benefits for future and current international students and international graduates regarding what investments they need to make so they can better socialize themselves in their tertiary and workplace practices. Social implications: This study has social implications. It helps international students better understand the social, cultural and academic expectations of their host countries. Therefore, they could better socialize themselves into those practices and contribute more effectively to their academic and workplace communities. The study also helps academic and workplace institutions strategize more effectively to address the social and cultural needs of international graduates. The study also contributes to the social and cultural understanding of the teachers that engage with international students on a daily basis by helping them devise activities that better address these students’ and graduates’ needs. Originality/value: The study adds theoretical and methodological value to the debates around graduate employability. It includes the voices of 180 students and unravels their day-to-day experiences of capability building and employability development from their own perspectives. © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited.