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The purpose of this paper is to design a new instrument toward assessing English as foreign language students’ academic buoyancy and to investigate the association between academic buoyancy and three demographic variables of GPA, gender and educational level using the newly-designed questionnaire.

To do so, a new questionnaire consisting of 27 items was designed which measures four aspects of L2 buoyancy, namely, sustainability, regularity adaptation, positive personal eligibility and positive acceptance of academic life. The scale was then translated into Persian and its validity (computed via confirmatory factor analysis estimates) and reliability (computed via Cronbach’s α) were substantiated.

All the items were found to have accepted factor loading. The results regarding the association between academic buoyancy and demographic variables along with the relevant discussion are presented.

Though over the years, researchers have used a variety of methods and scales to measure buoyancy, all of the instruments have been consisted of few items (usually four) which do not include the many aspects related to student buoyancy as one of the tenets of individual differences in positive psychology. Moreover, the same materials were used for distinctive settings of school and workplace in which the individuals adapt different goal orientations and perspectives. Consequently, the need for designing a comprehensive and specific instrument which includes all the aspects of academic buoyancy focusing on EFL students in higher education is manifested.

The unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world and now, over a year later, people are still coming to terms with the mayhem caused by this deadly virus. To curb the spread of the coronavirus, the South African government instituted stringent lockdown measures such as intermittent closure of universities. To resume the academic programme, universities advocated the transition from face-to-face teaching to online teaching. This posed serious challenges for academic staff who were compelled to make sacrifices so that students could receive quality education. This chapter explored the resilience of three academics who made paradigm shifts to their teaching practice.

As the COVID-19 pandemic halted international travel for most academics and both seminars and symposia took place online, this chapter seeks to show three examples where academic cooperation within Latin American Studies allowed research dissemination successfully. Academics have had to show resilience by showcasing their research remotely. This has clear advantages despite the drawback of lacking face-to-face networking opportunities. Considerations such as reduced costs and wider participation; immediacy; commitment and passion; trust and autonomy; and infrastructure are central to understanding how international academic cooperation works and prove that scholars can present their new findings with their colleagues while keeping physical distance.

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is an integral part of hospitality curriculums in Australia. Experiencing stress during WIL is expected, as students try to balance work and other responsibilities. Previous studies have usually examined the negative impact of stress on individuals. By referring to relevant theories, this paper argues the positive impact of stress and reports on a study which aimed to investigate whether stress – experienced by students during WIL – leads to resilience and well-being.

Hospitality students from different backgrounds enrolled at a tertiary institution completed an online survey. This study uses structural equation modelling (SEM), to test the proposed links between stress, resilience and well-being.

The study results show that “academic pressure” (mean score = 3.57) is the most common stressor identified by hospitality students. This was followed by stress caused by “time pressure” (mean score = 3.01). Model testing reveals that experiencing “career development concerns” has a statistically significant association with resilience. Moreover, there is a strong link (β = 0.624) between resilience and well-being.

This study makes a contribution by proposing positive outcomes related to stress during WIL. A handful of studies have looked at similar concepts. However, this paper uses statistical techniques to measure and analyse relationships between different variables. By running an SEM, the authors were able to test a linear causal relationship which identifies stressors leading to a significant impact on resilience. Similarly, the strength of relationship between resilience and well-being is also empirically tested.

In this penultimate chapter, we link the key themes on academic resilience to the changing context of the academic workforce around the world. We provide provocations for individual academics and institutional leaders to reflect on the complexities of the academic landscape and academic identity regardless of contexts and adversities. We include in this chapter powerful reflections for academics and institutions to build academic resilience by tapping into structural or institutional resources, collective solidarities, and personal resources. By offering these reflections, we hope our readers – individuals and institutions – will reflect on strategies to navigate the changing and unstable terrains of academia.

This chapter focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic leadership. Interview data from 13 academic leaders (department chairs, deans, vice-rectors) at two Turkish universities are used to voice their experiences. Two main themes emerged from the analysis: the challenges encountered in an era or uncertainty, and the experience of being in between balance and resilience. While all of the leaders interviewed got through the uncertainty produced by the pandemic, and some thrived, it is clear that universities need to do more to prepare themselves and their leaders for future crises.

This paper is motivated by the gap between the extensive academic discussion of industrial resilience and the limited resilience observed in response to large disruptions. Its purpose is to investigate the relationship between the industrial resilience of manufacturing and service operations and the resilience of the supporting financial, legal and political systems. This research identifies the impact of high or low levels of resilience in these supporting systems on the ability of industrial operations to perform as required in disrupted environments.

The authors combine a multi-disciplinary literature review with empirical data from four exploratory case studies. First, the authors review the literature on resilience in the fields of operations management, finance, law and political science to bring the terminology and concepts of these fields closer together. This review also defines the independent variables of the study: financial, legal and political resilience. Second, the authors use the framework from the literature to analyse data from four case studies of operations in difference contexts and sectors.

Industrial resilience is interdisciplinary, nuanced and complex. High levels of industrial resilience require high levels of financial, legal and political resilience. However, the activities required to improve the resilience of these supporting systems are often outside the locus of control of operations managers. Multiple perspectives on resilience must be coordinated to strengthen the response of industrial operations to large disruptions.

As a conceptual and exploratory study, this paper does not utilise quantitative data or in-depth case studies. The authors demonstrate the importance of an interdisciplinary perspective on industrial resilience and provide a theoretical framework that can serve as a foundation to further studies of resilience. The review of the literature provides a glossary of definitions of resilience that improves clarity in this disparate field.

Managers can apply the findings of this work to start cross-functional discussions in their firms that recognise the multiple dimensions of industrial resilience and improve the resilience of the supporting systems. The exploratory case studies provide concrete guidance for how managers in the fields of humanitarian and development operations, healthcare and manufacturing can improve industrial resilience by considering the interaction with the supporting financial, legal and political systems.

This study is the first to provide detailed conceptual discussion and empirical evidence for the interdisciplinary nature of industrial resilience in the context of public sector and non-governmental organisations. Combining evidence from different contexts and sectors demonstrates the broad industrial value of this work.

This cross-sectional online survey in Oman in April 2021 aimed to assess university students' resilience, stress levels and meaning during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify characteristic profiles.

A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from full-time students at one University in Oman. Outcomes included sociodemographic information, the brief resilience scale, the perceived stress scale-4 and the meaning in life questionnaire to explore the students' profiles.

A total of 964 students participated (response rate = 34.8%), of which 35% had low resilience scores. The average perceived stress, presence of meaning in life and search for meaning in life scores were 7.9 ± 2.3, 24.2 ± 6.9 and 24.9 ± 7.7, respectively. Cluster analysis identified three groups: low-risk and fewer impacts (cluster A, n = 503, 523%), moderate-risk and moderate impacts (cluster B, n = 160, 16.6%) and high-risk and more impacts (cluster C, n = 301, 31.2%). Cluster C students experienced more psychological problems and were at high risk during the pandemic.

The respondents' honesty is a possible error that could influence the results. Low response rates limit its generalizability, and cause-effect relationships among mental health outcomes cannot be discerned.

This study identified three distinct groups of students, each with different levels of severity in their health problems. There is an increased need for education and counseling to support students during this period, and university management should focus on implementing personal precautionary measures and providing high-tech, user-friendly platforms for students to enhance their learning.

These findings suggest that tailored strategies should be developed to address the unique psychological needs of each group. The study provides important information for university management to understand the pandemic's psychological impact on students and develop effective interventions to support their well-being.

Aboriginal students experience disproportionate academic disadvantage at school. It may be that a capacity to effectively deal with academic setback and challenge (academic buoyancy) can reduce the incidence of academic adversity. To the extent that this is the case, academic buoyancy may also be associated with positive educational intentions. This study explores the role of academic buoyancy in Aboriginal students’ post-school educational intentions.

The survey-based study comprises Aboriginal (N = 350) and non-Aboriginal (N = 592) high school students in Australia.

Academic buoyancy yielded larger effect sizes for Aboriginal than non-Aboriginal students’ educational intentions – particularly in senior high school when educational intentions are most likely to translate into post-school educational behaviour.

Post-school education is one pathway providing access to social opportunity. Any thorough consideration of students’ passage into and through post-school education must first consider the bases of students’ academic plans and, by implication, their decision to pursue further study. Identifying factors such as academic buoyancy in this process provides some specific direction for practice and policy aimed at optimizing Aboriginal students’ academic and non-academic development.

Academic buoyancy is a recently proposed construct in the psycho-educational literature and has not been investigated among Aboriginal student populations. Its role in relation to post-school educational intentions is also a novel empirical contribution for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students alike.

The purpose of the paper was to explore students’ learning experiences in culturally diverse urban higher education environments.

The project used an action research method approach with a mixed-method collection of data. The data consist of a survey of undergraduate students from the two different faculties, business and science, in two London institutions (n = 393) and ten focus groups (consisting of 92 students) as well as participant observations. The survey was based on an adapted version of the National Survey on Student Engagement (NSSE) developed in the USA. The authors also piloted the use of Facebook as a learning tool and monitored the effects on communication between students and between lecturers.

The authors identified statistical significance in the items that addressed the development of students’ relationships with others and found that there was a link with specific students’ profiles, that is those students who were non-native speakers of English who were less likely to engage with “others” and the learning environment. Focus groups highlighted the importance of communities of practice and that these communities aided students in developing what can be seen as resilience outcomes.

The findings from the research indicated that resilience can be seen as key to increasing engagement and communication for students. The piloting of social media across a module at each research site indicated that such a tool can be useful in addressing issues of communication, but the introduction of such tools needs to be generated through the students.