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The current structure and content of higher pedagogical education in Russia is a unique interweaving of the traditions of the historical past with post-Soviet and modern reforms of the last 30 years. They reflect the complex process of development of the national teacher training system, each stage of which not only built on the previous one, but also brought something new and more perfect, without denying the previous experience. The current situation in teacher education in Russia is quite diverse and original. Teachers have the opportunity to study in specialised secondary, higher and professionally oriented postgraduate education programmes.

This chapter presents modern higher pedagogical education in Russia as a rather complex and multilevel system. This required a rather in-depth coverage of state policy, structure and content of Federal State Educational Standards. On this basis, the authors planned to achieve a full understanding of the phenomenon of the combination of centralisation and decentralisation of the teacher training process in Russia, where the existing legal and content frameworks nevertheless leave ample opportunities for variability and autonomy in the formation of educational programmes at universities and institutes.

The built environment is a complex sector that demands coordination and cooperation of stakeholders. Construction projects from the complex sector require skills, services, and integration of major disciplines in the built environment. Sustainability of the major disciplines' standards regarding the appropriateness of the built environment tertiary education cannot be over-emphasised in Nigeria. Studies concerning Nigeria's built environment programmes accreditation (BEPA) in the 21st-century education system are scarce. Thus, the study investigated the relevance and perceived factors hindering Nigeria's BEPA in the 21st-century education system. Also, the study proffered measures to improve Nigerian built environment tertiary education accreditation ranking.

Data were sourced from elite virtual interviews across Nigeria. The interviewees were knowledgeable about Nigeria's built environment programmes accreditation, and many of them have been directly or indirectly involved. The investigators utilised a thematic analysis for the collated data and enhanced it with secondary sources.

The study revealed that several Nigerian academia in the built environment lack fame in research, publication, and citations due to barriers in their workplace. It has hindered their global institution's accreditation and ranking standards. Findings identified inadequate basic infrastructure, obsolete curricula, lack of research novelty, lack of higher education institutions funding, inadequate staffing and lax upskilling and reskilling, and unethical practices “systematic corruption” as major factors hindering BEPA. Also, findings proffered measures to improve Nigeria's BEPA global ranking.

The study is limited to the perceived barriers and measures to improve BEPA in the 21st-century in Nigeria via semi-structured virtual interviews. Future study is needed to validate the findings as highlighted in the thematic network.

The paper confirms that the BEPA requires innovative and multidisciplinary measures to improve the global ranking of these programmes and, by extension, the higher education institutions ranking globally. The paper would stir major stakeholders and advance the built environment programmes quality accreditation regarding international best practices and maintain the minimum standards.

The paper comprehensively analyses the perceived factors and proffered measures to improve Nigeria's BEPA in the 21st-century via a thematic network. The outcome intends to improve the global ranking and stir stakeholders to reposition and showcase Nigeria's built environment programmes to the world.

How do institutional settings and their embedded policy principles affect gender-typed enrolment in educational programmes? Based on gender-sensitive theories on career choice, we hypothesised that gender segregation in education is higher with a wider range of offers of vocational programmes. By analysing youth survey and panel data, we tested this assumption for Germany, Norway and Canada, three countries whose educational systems represent a different mix of academic, vocational and universalistic education principles. We found that vocational programmes are considerably more gender-segregated than are academic (e.g. university) programmes. Men, more so than women, can avoid gender-typed programmes by passing on to a university education. This in turn means that as long as their secondary school achievement does not allow for a higher education career, they have a higher likelihood of being allocated to male-typed programmes in the vocational education and training (VET) system. In addition, social background and the age at which students have to choose educational offers impact on the transition to gendered educational programmes. Overall, gender segregation in education is highest in Germany and the lowest in Canada. We interpret the differences between these countries with respect to the constellations of educational principles and policies in the respective countries.

This chapter analyses the structure, content and development trends of the system of postgraduate teacher training in Russia. It is shown that the system of postgraduate training in Russia has a long history and consists of postgraduate and doctoral levels. The trends that influenced the dynamics and essence of the modernisation processes of Russian postgraduate education are revealed. The content, logic and shortcomings of the not quite successful attempt to standardise the process of training higher-qualified personnel in postgraduate studies are substantiated. Changes in the nomenclature of scientific specialties, which are used to award academic degrees in pedagogy, are revealed.

The main part of the material is devoted to the general characteristics of the current pedagogical postgraduate programmes in Russia. It describes the peculiarities of the admission procedure and the organisation of training for graduate students, the nuances of the choice of supervisor, the definition of the thesis topic, and the current, intermediate, and final certification of graduate students. The essence of co-doctoral studies as a form of dissertation preparation is revealed. The requirements for the preparation, design and defence of candidate dissertations in pedagogy are outlined. The form of advanced training of scientific and pedagogical staff for the preparation of doctoral dissertations is briefly described.

Higher Education Institutions observe that many students are experiencing mental health issues, such as high levels of anxiety and stress. Young adults are recognised as a vulnerable group who carry the burden of mental health problems worldwide. Mental health interventions can be effective in positively influencing students' emotional and behavioural wellbeing.

In the current study, the principles of Intervention Mapping (IM) were applied to guide the development, implementation, and evaluation of a specifically tailored mental health programme for a selected student cohort in a large Higher Education Institute in Ireland. Mixed qualitative (Delphi technique and focus group discussions) and quantitative (survey) data were gathered to gain a broad perspective of mental health concerns and learning needs among a sample of higher education students (n = 99).

Existing evidence guided by theoretical frameworks were blended to create a specifically tailored mental health programme to meet the needs of higher education students in Ireland. Results indicate that the established six-stages of IM provide an empirical process that has the potential to effectively respond to the mental health needs of students in higher education. IM identifies the priority needs of students in higher education and ensures that suitable behaviour change techniques for mental health are addressed. 10;

IM is a suitable method to critically and collaboratively develop a mental health intervention for the overall wellbeing of the general higher education student population, both nationally and globally. 10;

This account aims to introduce contrasting perspectives on teaching and learning methods, and to detail the growth of new forms and vocabularies of access to learning. As we move towards the new millennium, the development of national, yet diversified, credit frameworks and systems will provide an essential underpinning for the organisational culture that will be needed to sustain the wellbeing and growth of the educational system. These new systems are already being incorporated into the practice of ‘virtual’ education. Lifelong learning has widespread support across the social and political spectrum and its importance can hardly be over‐stated as we seek to maintain competitiveness in a changing world. Increasing knowledge and understanding to serve both the needs of the economy and of individuals to play a major role in democratic life has become an agenda of necessity as well as desire. An open society requires open systems of knowledge. A prognosis for the future is submitted where the significance of part‐time modular and open flexible learning is evaluated in terms of a curriculum rooted in useful knowledge and competences, acquired at different sites of learning, including the workplace. It is argued that modular structures, using the potential offered by credit accumulation and transfer to different institutions with different missions, can transcend and transform the learning opportunities for students in a mass system of higher education which is rapidly becoming part of a global market economy and society. Continuous lifelong learning involving its key features of open access, recognition of learning wherever it takes place and the growth of new learning networks and partnerships, is at the conceptual heart of the development of the virtual university.

All educators should reflect on and assess the quality of their teaching and their learning programmes. Such reflection is the subject of this article. The focus is on higher education (HE) with particular emphasis on distance learning institutions. A particular educational programme is considered, namely a course‐work Master's degree in environmental education at a South African distance learning university. Sustainable living is one of the envisaged outcomes of this programme. This article gives a general perspective on quality assurance in HE. The views of a number of authors are discussed, with special reference to HE in the cultural diversity of South Africa. Various approaches and factors that influence learning assessment are discussed. The theme of sustainability as integrated in HE programmes is emphasised as one of the criteria that should determine quality in education programmes. It is concluded that, although programme assessment is a difficult process and necessarily contextualised, it is an important tool for ensuring quality teaching and learning. Programme assessment is a form of critical self‐evaluation that includes peer evaluation and evaluative input from students.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Finnish higher education institutions communicate market differentiation on the admissions webpages of their international business and technology programmes when attempting to appeal to prospective students and distinguish themselves from other institutions.

The sample included admissions webpages of 68 bachelor’s and master’s programmes representing both Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences. The analysis method was a qualitative content analysis.

The international programmes heavily accentuated their labour market relevance in their advertising and generated strong claims regarding the future career prospects of the graduates. In addition, the programmes emphasised their pedagogical methods and international atmosphere. References to non-academic life were not observed.

The analysis was only based on text and included two study fields.

The results of this study can be used by marketers to critically examine their own marketing differentiation efforts and promises made to students.

Finnish business and technology programmes send an unequivocal marketing message that education has an instrumental value and students are considered consumers of education.

This study is the first comprehensive study of the marketing communication practices of international higher education programmes in Finland. Moreover, this study contributes to the study of global international market mechanisms and research on marketing communication practised by higher education institutions.