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This paper introduces the special issue on Race and Accounting and Accountability. In so doing, it explores racism in its historical and contemporary forms, the role of accounting and accountability in enabling racism and racial discrimination and also efforts of redress and resistance.

We reflect on several critical themes to demonstrate the pervasive and insidious nature of racism and, review the literature on race and racism in accounting, focusing on studies that followed the seminal work by Annisette and Prasad (2017) who called for more research. We also review the six papers included in this special issue.

While many overt systems of racial domination experienced throughout history have subsided, racism is engrained in our everyday lives and in broader societal structures in more covert and nuanced forms. Yet, in accounting, as Annisette and Prasad noted, the focus has continued to be on the former. This special issue shifts this imbalance – five of the six papers focus on contemporary racism. Moreover, it demonstrates that although accounting technologies can and do facilitate racism and racist practices, accountability and counter accounts offer avenues for calling out and disrupting the powers and privileges that underlie racial discrimination and, resistance by un-silencing minority groups subjected to discrimination and injustice.

This introduction and the papers in the special issue offer rich empirical and theoretical contributions to accounting and accountability research on race and racial discrimination. We hope they inspire future race research to nurture progress towards a true post-racial society.

This article problematises the international student label by critically examining the mechanisms that actively portray international students as necessarily different, deficient and uncritical. It broadly aims to tackle the following issues: (a) to challenge the underpinnings of the international label; (b) to uncover the role of neo-essentialist representations of cohorts of students labelled international in sustaining financial exploitation and deficit narratives; and (c) to criticise the current hyper-internationalisation strategy widely adopted by UK HEIs.

The paper mainly relies on findings from research that adopted narrative inquiry to explore the experiences of students labelled international. Data were collected via a series of interviews with 15 postgraduate students at a university in the north of England. The paper also makes use of brief statistical analyses to provide a general overview about the status of UK higher education (international student admission, net economic impact and income).

The paper reveals the underpinnings of the international label and how it is mobilised to other non-UK-domiciled students. The paper equally establishes a strong link between hyper-internationalisation and the (un)sustainability of the UK’s higher education sector.

The research is expected to raise important questions around the experiences and realities endured by students labelled international. In particular, the paper challenges the international label and the mechanisms that sustain the label at institutional levels.

The paper calls for abandoning the international label as a marker of a presumed difference. Equally, the paper highlights the current unsustainability of the UK’s higher education sector and suggests a gradual cap on international tuition fees to alleviate some of the educational inequalities endured by students international, and to ensure the sustainability of the higher education sector.

This is the first research that openly challenges the international label and substitutes it by “students labelled international”. Equally, this is the first paper that recommends to cap international tuition fees on account of findings from students' narratives and statistics that reveal the unsustainability of the UK's higher education sector. Finally, the paper’s conceptual contribution includes a reference to the idea of hyper-internationalisation.

This paper investigates the key determinants affecting household spending for university degree in Vietnam. This paper serves as empirical evidence for policymakers to select appropriate factors to estimate financial needs for university students in Vietnam.

We employ an innovative variable selection approach with adaptive LASSO for Tobit Regression Model.

The results suggest income, region and ethnicity play significant roles in determining higher education expenditure at Vietnamese households. Gender-related indicators (such as gender of household head, student’s gender), distance to school, occupations, etc. are empirically insignificant.

This study proposes a data-driven method by interfering regulation and Tobit regression to understand the divergence in higher education spending. Especially, adaptive LASSO was first introduced to identify key determinants of higher education expenditure at household level in Vietnam. It hopes to tackle over-fitting problems of traditional OLS regression in previous literature.

This study evaluates the economic effectiveness of higher education in Lithuania by measuring returns to investment in higher education for both individual university graduates and the state, particularly aiming to discover how higher education investments impact economic returns at both micro (individual) and macro (national) levels.

A dual methodological approach has been applied, utilizing both the Mincer earnings equation and the full discounting method, to draw a clear distinction between the returns enjoyed by individuals and those accrued to the country. Calculations for individual economic returns are done using the most recent available Lithuanian Department of Statistics data on the wage structure, while national return on education was based on the State Tax Inspectorate and Lithuanian Public Finance databases.

The research confirms that Lithuanian investments in education positively influence both individual earnings and society at large, mainly due to the low cost of education and the high returns. For individuals, net present value varies from €126,000 to €224,000, and the internal rate of return is from 7% to 46%, with the highest return being for males working in companies of 50–249 employees and holding a bachelor’s degree. It is also noteworthy that one additional year spent in education increases earnings on average by 4.1%. The financing of first cycle studies costs the state two times less than second and third cycle studies. For this reason, the net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) of first cycle studies are higher than those of second and third cycle studies.

While higher education is generally and globally seen as a way to ensure financial stability and career advancement at the individual level and socioeconomic development at the national one, the question of cost versus benefits at both levels is principal and diachronic. Our research quantifies the NPV and IRR of education investments and highlights the differential economic returns of various education levels, where policymakers can utilize these insights to inform strategic decisions regarding education funding and resource allocation. This study, therefore, provides explicit quantitative answers and presents individuals and policymakers with tangible results and practicable direction in their decision-making. The findings are applicable to the specific country-focus, but also constitute an applicable case study in the international context, particularly for European and other countries of comparable economic structure and developmental stage.

This paper examines students’ educational choices in vocational education and training (VET) to understand the low reputation of vocational education in China. By analysing the individualisation of these choices within structural and individual relationships, the study explores how the decline of state endorsement and the shift towards rational, individualistic actions influence students' decisions.

Multiple types of data were collected in this study, including administrative records, interviews and autobiographical stories, which were analysed using individualisation theory.

The research indicated three historical periods of the educational choice of Chinese VET students. Stage one (1978–1991) saw vocational education treated as “the first choice” for graduates. Stage two (1992–2000) was marked by the polarisation of educational choice during the social transition from a socialist planned economy to a market economy. During this period, more students started to choose academic high schools over vocational schools, even though the latter still had certain advantages for attracting the better-performing students. The third stage (2001-now) is a time in which vocational education is viewed as “the last choice” under the socialist market economy system. During this period, junior high school graduates prefer to enrol in academic high schools rather than in vocational schools. Aligned with the overall individualisation trend in Chinese society, vocational education decisions situated between societal structures and individuals are also experiencing a shift towards more micro-level individualized behaviours.

The paper provides a historical analysis of education and training provision in China and the complexity of students’ educational choices, revealing the influencing factors across different stages.

This paper draws a comprehensive analysis of the developmental trajectory of vocational education in China across different historical periods, notably under the socialist planned economy and the socialist market economy systems.

The accuracy of budgeting is important to fulfilling its various roles. The aim of this study is to examine perceptions of budgeting accuracy in UK universities and to identify and understand the factors that influence them.

A mixed methods research design comprising a questionnaire survey (84 responses, = 51.5%) and 42 semi-structured, qualitative interviews is employed.

The findings reveal that universities tend to be conservative in their budgeting, although previous financial difficulties, the attitude of the governing body and the need to convince lenders that finances are being managed competently might lead to a greater emphasis on a “realistic” rather than cautious budget. Stepwise multiple regression identified four significantly negative influences on perceived budgeting accuracy: the difficulty of forecasting student numbers; difficulties associated with allowing unspent balances to be carried forward; taking a relatively long time to prepare the budget; and the institution’s level of financial surplus. The interviews are drawn upon to both explain and elaborate on the statistical findings. Forecasting student numbers and associated fee income emerges as a particularly challenging and complex issue.

Our regression analysis is cross-sectional and therefore based on correlations. Furthermore, the research could be developed by investigating the views of other parties as well as repeating the study in both the UK and overseas.

Implications for university management follow from the four factors identified as significant influences upon budget accuracy. These include involving the finance department in estimating student numbers, removing or controlling the carry forward of unspent funds, and reducing the length of the budget cycle.

The first study to examine the factors that influence the perceived accuracy of universities’ budgeting, this paper also advances understanding of budgeting accuracy more generally.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ending of fee-free higher education in Australia for overseas students in the 1980s, and the ways in which the government managed the diplomatic relationships that were affected by this policy shift. The introduction of fee-free higher education in Australia in 1974 was incredibly popular, and the end of the program in the late 1980s created difficulties for individuals, families and diplomatic relationships.

Using a mix of secondary sources and archival documents, this paper has a historiographical element, and an element of analysis.

This research finds that the ending of fee-free education created significant diplomatic issues with a number of Australia’s regional neighbours. It also created issues for individual students and families. The solution to these problems was, in large part, a scholarship scheme called the Equity and Merit Scholarship Scheme (EMSS). The EMSS was designed, in part, to address the issues created by the end of the fee-free program. However, the design of the scholarship scheme also created its own diplomatic issues with a different cohort of nation states.

There is limited scholarly research into the history of international education policy in Australia. This research draws on the work of some scholars of international scholarships, as well as historians of universities and education more broadly. This research adds to a growing body of work in the field of Australian international education history.

Taking urban-rural disparity into account, this research examines the current service provision of preschool education at the local level in China.

Following a qualitative design, the research is based on a case study on the preschool service provision in Luochuan County in China, with data collected from semi-structured interviews with grassroots officials and residents from the county’s rural and urban regions.

This research finds that preschool services are inefficiently delivered between the county’s rural and urban areas. While services are oversupplied in rural regions, the popular demand for urban kindergartens is inadequately addressed. Moreover, the tuition subsidy offered by the local government has drastically decreased in recent years.

This research is confined to a single-case study, so its findings are not necessarily applicable to all Chinese localities. Nevertheless, it proves that these problems in preschool service provision can be a result of the central authority’s tight control.

Given China’s rapid urbanization and fertility decline, this research argues that overinvestment in rural kindergartens can be a widespread phenomenon throughout China. It also suggests a decreasing popular demand for other public services, such as childcare, in Chinese rural regions. This research calls for special attention to the persistent regional discrepancy in preschool service standards and the welfare cuts after the revenue centralization reform.

This research contributes to a clearer picture of the current preschool service delivery by Chinese local governments, which remains largely underexplored by far. It also provides updates on the country’s long-existing urban-rural discrepancy in preschool services.

Student engagement evaluation is considered to be connected to many aspects of the management of higher education, but outside Western higher education, research and evaluation on student engagement and experiences has been limited so far. Our study focuses on the underexplored aspects of Palestinian higher education with the aim of gaining an actionable understanding from the overall student engagement situation to enhance the management and development of local teaching and learning practices.

A quantitatively oriented, sequential mixed-methods design was adopted. With the applied and validated engagement measurement we collected 946 engagement questionnaire responses from Palestinian university students. Quantitative data were analysed using structural equation modelling, K-means cluster analysis and chi-squared tests. Inductive and deductive thematic analysis was employed for the open answers.

With the three validated student engagement dimensions, the applied cluster analysis allowed three different engagement profile groups to be distinguished: strongly, moderately and loosely engaged. In the subsequent statistical and qualitative thematic analyses, these three engagement clusters differ in the degree to which they had a clear vision of a future profession or in their academic engagement with their studies. Moreover, qualitative analysis brought up many shared concerns regarding theoretically oriented studies and uncertain professional and career prospects in the Palestinian higher education context.

This study is one of the first attempts to develop tools for student engagement management in Palestinian higher education. The study findings are particularly significant for developing micro- and meso-level management practices in Palestinian higher education institutions.

The choices that international students make regarding abroad study destination selection or leave the host country after graduation are influenced by a variety of factors that are both related to positive and negative aspects of the host country.

This study builds on the push-pull factor theory and examines the factors that influence international students' decision to choose abroad study destination (Finland) or leave the country after their graduations. The data were collected through an online survey of 195 international students currently studying in Finland and were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. This method offers a flexible and robust approach to test relationships, particularly in situations where sample size and the conceptual model are small and complex.

The results show that international students' choice of study destination (Finland) is influenced by the host country's quality of life, academic excellence and economic factors such as salary and benefits. Unfamiliarity with the culture and language barriers have a negative impact on their decisions to stay in the host country after graduation.

By utilising a comprehensive analysis of both push and pull factors in relation to the host country, this study unveils a novel perspective in the field of international student mobility. The results provide insights to the institutional leaders and policymakers into how to attract and retain international students by focusing on the factors that matter most to international students. To attract more international students, higher education institutions (HEIs) should include career development activities, e.g. job fairs, language training, scholarships and internships in their curriculum. Moreover, it provides recommendations on how to create a welcoming and supportive environment that promotes academic excellence and career development.