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Drawing from the literature on internationalization, higher education marketing and place branding, this paper aims to link the internationalization of higher education to country branding. It explores the impact of internationalization within the higher education system on Egypt’s destination brand equity. This investigation offers insights for decision-makers in both the higher education and country branding sectors.

This empirical paper adopts an exploratory approach and serves as an initial step for researchers. It utilizes a quantitative methodology, employing a survey with 366 responses, to examine the effects of internationalization efforts in higher education on country brand equity.

The results reveal a direct correlation between student engagement and the brand equity of international branch campuses (IBCs), as well as a link between IBCs and Egypt’s brand equity. Notably, the study highlights the mediating role of IBC brand equity in the relationship between student engagement and the overall brand equity of Egypt.

This paper is innovative in its method of assessing the impact of internationalization efforts in higher education, specifically at IBCs in Egypt, on Egypt’s destination brand equity. Additionally, the study identifies student engagement as an antecedent to IBC brand equity.

This study explores the opportunities for a gender-inclusive architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, focussing on the gap between architectural education and practice. This study focusses on three research questions: (1) What factors influence women architects' career retention and advancement in the AEC industry? How can practice outcomes be linked with educational approaches for gender inclusion in the AEC industry? (3) What critical factors can enable structural changes in architecture education, including AEC-related subjects and practice/career pathways towards gender equity?

This paper is based on a systematic literature review (SLR). The established timeframe for selecting papers in this study considered the last 20 years, as various seminal studies in feminism and gender inclusion in architecture emerged in the early 2000s through the definition of keywords used in two prestigious databases. The academic articles selected were filtered through a process of inclusion and exclusion, following criteria for suitability and relevance using a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) diagram.

This study revealed key trends in the literature review consistent with the research questions, including (1) the disproportionate struggles women face at individual, interpersonal and organisational levels and the gender-based bias from entry and progression in the AEC industry that also requires multi-level interventions; (2) traditional architecture education affects female students and educators who find networking, social capital and leadership opportunities to challenge gender-based stereotypes and promote workplace equity, and finally, (3) observe enablers for fostering equity in architecture and education, which should not be limited to policy-driven interventions but structural transformations through transparency, mentorship, leadership, awareness raising and empowerment of women and men, promoting inclusivity and gender equity in the AEC industry.

This study considers a global understanding of gender equity in the AEC industry, regional and country-specific analysis needs to be considered in future studies. The study's focus is on women’s inclusion, acknowledging the limitations of conventional binary gender concepts; future studies need to include the experiences of LGBTI + communities and other underrepresented groups. The literature review considers only academic articles; future research should also consider industry reports, government initiatives and organisational documents for a broader understanding of diversity efforts in business.

This paper observes the issues for gender-inclusive architecture within the context of a male-dominant AEC industry through linking architectural education and practice. Studies rarely focus on this link and address workplace issues. This study highlights this link and extends the discussion through the critical literature review, providing a new ground for geographic-specific or intersectional studies.

This qualitative study aimed to explore school principals' perceptions of social justice in a centralized school setting in Kuwait, as well as the challenges they face when promoting equity and equality for students' learning in schools.

Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 18 public school principals from Kuwait's six educational districts.

The results revealed that principals' experiences and unique perspectives shape their definitions of social justice within their schools. Some school principals see social justice as ensuring fairness and equal opportunities for every student regardless of their backgrounds. Others focus on creating an inclusive and supportive environment. The results also showed that limited resources, institutional barriers, limited autonomy, lack of training, and some ministerial laws are among the challenges that school principals face in promoting equity and equality.

The findings are informative to policymakers and other educational stakeholders. Practical suggestions are provided to improve school principals' social justice leadership practices.

This study adds to the empirical knowledge of school principals' role in promoting equity and equality for student learning in a centralized school setting and attempts to reduce the social justice leadership gap in schools.

The enrolment rates of students with special needs (SwSN) decrease from primary to secondary education and decline steeply in higher education. The incessant impact of stigma and misconceptions about their capability in academic performance acts as a major roadblock for students with mental health conditions (SwMHC) while seeking and pursuing higher education, in addition to the host of other challenges faced by all SwSN. SwMHC are the least represented in higher educational institutions (HEIs) and are seldom considered when it comes to the provision of support and accommodation. Policies across countries aim to make education accessible and inclusive for SwSN, including India. This study aims to appraise the current policies and legislation in terms of the support they provide for SwMHC.

This study is a “document analysis” of all policies, legislation, schemes and guidelines that impact the higher education of SwMHC to recognize the existing provisions that are likely to impact the higher educational outcomes for SwMHC.

The issues of access, accommodation, equity, inclusion, and financial support are appropriately handled by the current policies and legislation. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 serves as a holistic guidebook and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPDA) 2016 provides the legislative framework for realizing education as a ‘right for all.’ The RPDA ensures open gateways of HEIs for all SwSN through reservations and mandating necessary support and accommodation. NEP guides inclusion and equity in higher education. The ‘University Grants Commission’, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, is a crucial stakeholder in achieving the vision of supportive policies by formulating requisite guidelines and monitoring their implementation.

The study involved document analysis spanning macro to micro level, i.e. from national policies and legislation to policies and guidelines of autonomous or statutory organizations to institutional-level policies and documents.

To provide insights around navigating, coping and tackling racial inequalities at university through three key areas: peer support through sharing stories, motivating others in the call to action through developing an anti-racist socially just consciousness and student staff co-creation to build belonging and community at university.

Varied approaches are included around pedagogy, curriculum, peer support, using creative outputs, sharing stories and valuing student wisdom through co-creation underpinned by empirical research.

I concede that establishing race equity in higher education continues to be an ongoing struggle, complete with trials, tribulations and trauma. As “The Forced Silence” outlines, to affect any changes in the institution or in the community and wider society, the changes have to take place at the peer level initially, as it is people and individuals who make up the system. This means that tackling racism is everyone’s business and we all have a responsibility for this work. Privileged folks who are seemingly disaffected by racial discrimination are indeed misguided, as racism is an illness in society and significantly harms our global community. Within higher education institutions, educators occupy a position of power (Hearn, 2012), which I argue we must use in a socially just manner to support all our students to succeed. By embodying and enacting care, compassion and respect within our practice, we can then instil the same in our students, just as we would do for our own children. Our students, just like our children, can then go into society as holistic and socially just conscious members of our community, which I argue is even more important than graduating with a good university degree.

I use a range of original poetry and theory with a view to supporting my academic professional practice in higher education.

Vocational education and training (VET) in Australia has for some time been driven by an agenda of “reasonable adjustment”, in which practices are modified to ensure equitable access and participation by disadvantaged students. However, the growing marketization of VET has instead encouraged the use of more flexible approaches to attract and retain students from diverse backgrounds. They have thus paralleled and confounded reasonable adjustment practices for inclusive development. This study sought to identify the moral dilemmas experienced by VET teachers arising from implementing reasonable adjustment practices.

This phenomenological research project used in-depth conversational interviews with 19 experienced VET teachers from a diversity of teaching fields to identify moral dilemmas experienced as arising from changes in their workplace contexts.

One of the identified dilemmas was responding flexibly to heightened student diversity, to which study participants largely responded by prioritising the economic imperative over social inclusion. Well-intended actions thus led to unintentionally damaging outcomes, raising important ethical questions about the relative value of economic and social development outcomes and the role of reasonable adjustment in their attainment. The study also highlights the lack of appropriate VET teacher training in managing ethical conflicts to minimise risks to themselves and their employing organizations.

As a case study of inclusive development policies in practice, this research may be seen as a cautionary tale for inclusive development policies in other countries with similarly strong VET economic and socially inclusive development policies for sustainability. The paper thus opens a dialogue for critical reflection on the current problems in a reasonable development approach in the field of comparative and international education. Those two parallel agendas have presented VET teachers and trainers with ethically challenging situations in which the economic and social development imperatives are experienced as being conflict with each other.

This comparative study aims to examine the role of Socio-Economic Status (SES) on the academic performance of university students who hold both the status of Residential College (RC) and non-RC. The study further investigates whether the RC is able to offset the effects of SES on students' learning performance to ensure education equity and inclusion in China.

Data are collected through a questionnaire given to RC and non-RC students enrolled in three public universities in China. A quasi-experimental design is implemented to investigate the potential correlation, if any, between SES, RC and academic performance.

The results reveal that SES influences academic performance of RC students. Furthermore, the findings strongly suggest that RCs negatively moderate the effect of SES on academic performance.

This study examines RCs within a specific type of university in China, which may limit the generalizability of findings. Additionally, it uses a quasi-experimental method and relies solely on quantitative data, which may also introduce limitations.

Provided in this study is evidence that RCs can be an innovative way to bolster inclusive and equitable quality education for students from diverse backgrounds in China.

This study enriches the existing literature by exploring the relationships between RC, SES and academic performance in China. In addition, it provides significant references to whether RC can fulfill students' education equity and inclusion.

In this article, we highlight ways in which disability critical race theory (DisCrit) (Annamma et al., 2013), inclusive education and community-based participatory research (CBPR) can be used within professional development schools (PDS) to provide students with disabilities with more access to inclusive classrooms. At a grade 4–6 elementary school, we developed a model of a critical PDS to promote inclusive education and facilitate the transition of students of color with disabilities from self-contained to inclusive classrooms. We conducted semi-structured interviews and used action plan meetings with school administrators, teachers, professionals and students with disabilities and their parents to assess the impact of our critical PDS model. Findings suggest this model had a positive impact on administrators’ and teachers’ critical consciousness, ideological and instructional practices, students of color with disabilities’ social, academic and personal outcomes, as well as a schoolwide culture of inclusion and social justice. This study can inform tailored professional development efforts to improve educators’ inclusive practices.

We conducted semi-structured interviews and used action plan meetings with school administrators, teachers, professionals and students with disabilities and their parents to assess the impact of our critical PDS model.

The findings of this study suggest this model had a positive impact on administrators’ and teachers’ critical consciousness, ideological and instructional practices, students of color with disabilities’ social, academic and personal outcomes, as well as a schoolwide culture of inclusion and social justice.

This study can inform tailored professional development efforts aiming to improve educators’ inclusive practices.

We developed a model of a critical PDS to promote inclusive education and facilitate the transition of students of color with disabilities from self-contained to inclusive classrooms.

Gender disparity is a global phenomenon where females outnumber male participants. It has been observed that males are the early leaver from higher education, thus reflecting a severe concern about social instability. Malaysia is a prominent example where females outnumber males in higher education. In this context, this paper aims to examine the effect of individual, social and financial factors on the higher education self-efficacy of male and female students. It develops a comprehensive understanding of gender-based decision factors in pursuing higher education.

The hypothesis was formed based on a comprehensive literature review following the hypothetico-deductive positivist approach. These hypotheses were tested based on a sample of 250 respondents. A multiple regression analysis was deployed to test the relationship between the dependent variable and its predictors.

The results suggest that male and female students’ self-efficacy depends on five determinants, i.e. family influence, peer influence, career expectancy outcome, gender roles and institutional factors. Male students tend to be influenced more by these five determinants than females. Additionally, male students with better financial backgrounds are more likely to have higher self-efficacy, whereas gender roles negatively affect male and female students’ self-efficacy for higher education.

The breakout of COVID-19 resulted in the selection of limited students in Malaysia. Due to restricted movement orders, it was impossible to reach out to the students for data collection. Future research could include a broader area to include multiple other regions of Malaysia. For a broader aspect, the study could be conducted in other areas/countries where the problem of less male participation exists.

The relationship between higher education self-efficacy is assessed with social, financial and institutional factors for male and female students. It will enable the stakeholders and policymakers to make better decisions in increasing the self-efficacy of students to attain equity in higher education institutions.

The finding of this paper will assist in increasing male participation in higher education institutions to avoid any social instability.

This paper contributes to the literature in understanding the causes of gender gap reversal, focusing on Malaysian higher education institutions. It also provides empirical evidence to look at potential factors that affect the higher education self-efficacy of male and female students.

The objective of this study is to explore Generation Z’s interpretation of educational practices at the secondary education level. By examining the expectations of Generation Z, this study aims to provide insights for teachers and decision-makers to improve educational and instructional practices.

The specific approach employed in this study is Transcendental Phenomenology (TPh), which focuses on uncovering the perceived experiences, thoughts and evaluations of the Gen Z generation toward formal education. For this study, the maximum variation sampling strategy, which is one of the purposive sampling methods, was utilized. In line with the nature of the design, one-on-one interviews were conducted to collect data. Thematic analysis, a commonly used method for identifying recurring patterns of meaning, was applied to analyze the data. Peer debriefing or analytic triangulation, Data saturation, Triangulation and member checking techniques were operated to support the validity and reliability of the study.

In the light of the data analysis, four themes emerged: expectations from teachers, curricula, school administration and School Counseling Service (SCS). Gen Z expects from teachers “to be democratic, to adopt novel teaching approaches and technology, to have affective qualities, to be attentive to arts and sports, to conduct qualified assessment.” Gen Z has also expectations regarding the curricula in practice such as “functionality, extracurricular activities, and instructional practices.” The expectations of the students from school administration include “administrative expectations,” “expectations regarding the learning environment” and “social expectations.” The participants had expectations regarding School Counseling Service (SCS) such as “professional guidance,” “academic guidance” and “career guidance.” “Career guidance” includes “introduction of career paths,” “academic guidance” includes “introduction of university programs,” “exam guidance” and “teacher training” and “personal guidance” includes “accessibility,” “equity in guidance services,” “communication” and “functionality.”

The research is limited to the volunteers included in the study. In addition, the study includes only senior high school students, 12th graders, representing Gen Z. In addition, the study includes only Gen Z living in a metropolitan city. The methodological limitation of the study is that only one-to-one interview technique was used for data collection. The main reason behind such a choice is that the most appropriate technique for data collection in the phenomenology method is one-on-one interviews in order to explore individual interpretation.

The research sheds light on many different points in terms of different applications. One of the results obtained in this context is curriculum. Gen Z criticizes the limitation of the program to only in-school learning and states that extracurricular practices should be included. Findings also presents implications regarding learning environments. There is a growing emphasis by Gen Z on the adoption of green, comfortable and interactive learning spaces. The Generation Z population expects teachers to possess digital competence (DC) and utilize it in their teaching practices. This shows that teachers' teaching competencies need to be upskilled.

It is crucial for policymakers to support the development of teachers' digital skills and encourage their integration into teaching to enhance instructional productivity, promote innovative learning, increase instructional appeal, foster teamwork, improve communication and facilitate innovative learning. The research reveals that Gen Z is a social phenomenon and needs to be recognized and their learning needs explored. In this context, it is imperative that the preferences and learning needs of Gen Z are considered in the learning environment, content, method-technique and assessment stages, especially in formal education practices.

The current research is important both in terms of filling the research gap in the literature and making inferences about the learning preferences of the GEN Z generation. In addition, it raises awareness in terms of the return on educational investments, providing sustainable motivation for learning and school and increasing the quality of learning outcomes. While the study reveals certain implications, further research is required to investigate the competencies of teachers, the effectiveness of teaching materials, instructional practices and designs and learning environments. Future studies should particularly concentrate on the personal preferences, motivation, engagement and learning preferences of Gen Z at the secondary level. Authorities, including teachers, ought to reassess their perspectives and adapt their practices in order to better meet the needs and expectations of Gen Z.