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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.

Many studies have examined pre-diploma students' backgrounds and academic performance with results showing that some did not achieve the expected level of competence. This study aims to examine the relationship between students’ demographic characteristics and their academic achievement at the pre-diploma level using machine learning.

Secondary data analysis was used in this study, which involved collecting information about 1,052 pre-diploma students enrolled at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Pahang Branch between 2017 and 2021. The research procedure was divided into two parts: data collecting and pre-processing, and building the machine learning algorithm, pre-training and testing.

Gender, family income, region and achievement in the national secondary school examination (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia [SPM]) predict academic performance. Female students were 1.2 times more likely to succeed academically. Central region students performed better with a value of 1.26. M40-income students were more likely to excel with an odds ratio of 2.809. Students who excelled in SPM English and Mathematics had a better likelihood of succeeding in higher education.

This research was limited to pre-diploma students from UiTM Pahang Branch. For better generalizability of the results, future research should include pre-diploma students from other UiTM branches that offer this programme.

This study is expected to offer insights for policymakers, particularly, the Ministry of Higher Education, in developing a comprehensive policy to improve the tertiary education system by focusing on the fourth Sustainable Development Goal.

These pre-diploma students were found to originate mainly from low- or middle-income families; hence, the programme may help them acquire better jobs and improve their standard of living. Most students enrolling on the pre-diploma performed below excellent at the secondary school level and were therefore given the opportunity to continue studying at a higher level.

This predictive model contributes to guidelines on the minimum requirements for pre-diploma students to gain admission into higher education institutions by ensuring the efficient distribution of resources and equal access to higher education among all communities.

SETARA is a well-known university rating tool in Malaysia. The study aims to enhance the transparency, accuracy, and reliability of SETARA assessment instrument by improving its weighting scheme for the domains, sub-domains, criteria, and indicators.

The study utilized a quantitative research design and collected responses from 29 academic administrators in both public and private higher education institutions in Malaysia. The four steps of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were employed. An AHP questionnaire was developed, adopting the domains, sub-domains, criteria, and indicators of the SETARA assessment instrument. The “Superdecision” software was used to synthesize the pairwise comparison judgments and compute the consistency ratio for all group pairwise comparison matrices.

The AHP-assigned weights differed significantly from those assigned by the SETARA rating system. For instance, the weight for “Input” increased from 20 to 41.05 out of 100, and the weight for “Output” decreased from 40 to 25.52. The new SETARA rating instrument is expected to be used by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) due to its scientifically justified foundation to ensure transparency, accuracy, and reliability.

The study is limited by small sample size for data collection. Future research could benefit from a larger and more diverse sample, including participants from a number of national-level universities and relevant agencies like Malaysia Qualification Agency (MQA) and MOHE. Additionally, the research focused solely on recalculating weights and did not consider modifying the criteria set. Further investigation is needed to determine if some criteria can be added or removed.

This research offers practical implications for refining the SETARA assessment mechanism and improving the quality of higher education in Malaysia. The modified weights provide guidance to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) on where to focus their efforts to ensure quality. The transparent methodology introduced by this study can serve as a model for enhancing educational quality evaluations in Malaysia and potentially in other higher education systems worldwide.

The originality of this study lies in its innovative application of the AHP to the SETARA assessment tool, addressing a crucial gap in the assessment process. By providing a comprehensive and transparent methodology for assigning percentages and weights, this research offers a practical blueprint for enhancing the precision and impact of educational quality evaluations in Malaysia and beyond.

The purpose of this paper is to present the educational computer emergency response team (EduCERT) framework, an integrated response mechanism to bolster national cybersecurity through collaborative efforts in the higher education sector. The EduCERT framework addresses this gap by enhancing cyber security and mitigating cybercrime through collaborative incident management, knowledge sharing and university awareness campaigns.

The authors propose an EduCERT framework following the design science methodology. The framework is developed based on literature and input from focus group experts. Moreover, it is grounded in the principles of the technology-organization-environment framework, organizational learning and diffusion of innovations theory.

The EduCERT has eight components: infrastructure, governance, knowledge development, awareness, incident management, evaluation and continuous improvement. The framework reinforces national cybersecurity through cooperation between universities and the National Computer Emergency Response Team. The framework has been implemented in Jordan to generate a cybersecurity foundation for higher education. Evaluating the EduCERT framework’s influence on national cybersecurity highlights the importance of adopting comprehensive cyber-security policies and controls. The framework application shows its relevance, effectiveness, adaptability and alignment with best practices.

Despite the impact of applying the framework in the Jordanian context, it is essential to acknowledge that the proposed EduCERT framework’s practical implementation may encounter challenges specific to diverse international educational environment sectors. However, framework customization for global applicability could address varied educational institutions in other countries.

Furthermore, the proposed EduCERT framework is designed with universal applicability that extends beyond the specific country’s context. The principles and components presented in the framework can serve as valuable design advice for establishing collaborative and resilient cybersecurity frameworks in educational settings worldwide. Therefore, the research enhances the proposed framework’s practical utility and positions it as an invaluable contribution to the broader discourse on global cybersecurity in academia.

This paper enhances national cybersecurity in the higher education sector, addressing the need for a more integrated response mechanism. The EduCERT framework demonstrates its effectiveness, adaptability and alignment with best practices, offering valuable guidance for global educational institutions.

As institutions acknowledge the importance of adopting digital transformation, the higher education setting is realising a prompt and transformative change internationally. This chapter explores the effect of digitalisation in the sphere of higher education, whilst underlining its significance for Kuwait. By adopting digital transformation, higher education institutions in Kuwait can facilitate robust sustainable development and adopt a culture of bold innovation. The objective of Kuwait Vision 2035 is to make use of digital transformation as an approach to enhance the overall quality of education. This may include incorporating advanced teaching methods, a modified curriculum, and innovative evaluation methods supported by technology. Digital tools can enhance the learning experience and provide students with a more interactive and engaging education. By capitalising on digital infrastructure, aiding teachers, and encouraging partnerships, Kuwait aims to prepare students with useful digital skills, advance innovation and stimulate progress in a knowledge-based economy. Likewise, by means of extensive and lifelong learning, Kuwait intends to be at the forefront of digital education by making a sizeable contribution to economic prosperity and sustainable development.

This study aims to investigate the contextual challenges of emergency Web-enabled teaching from instructors’ point of view and their future preference for online education.

A total of 165 instructors from various public and private universities and university colleges in Malaysia participated in this online survey. Data were analyzed using multiple regression.

The significant challenges for future preference for online education in terms of their relative importance were supporting learners, effectiveness, disadvantages and advantages of emergency Web-enabled teaching.

This study discusses theoretical, practical and public policy implications for the future of teaching in higher education due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The survival of hotel business in maintaining market competitiveness depends on the constant improvement of the quality of hotel facilities and services. The key to sustain hotel business is lean on the adaptability of the hotel management team towards current lifestyle trends and its surrounding context in fulfilling customer satisfaction. Because of hotel operating service complexity, the hotel contributes a higher impact on environmental degradation in performing their daily activities. Therefore, hoteliers need to determine sustainable strategies to minimize environmental impact and at the same time be able to provide satisfaction to their customers. However, green initiatives require a proactive action by the organizational management engaging both employees and guests in the environmental management process. Thus, this paper aims to review the concept of green practices, the implementation of green practices from the stakeholders’ perspectives (manager, employee and customers) in the hotel industry, the performance impact from the green practices on the sustainability pillars and to further develop a conceptual green practice to sustainable hotel operations and performance impact.

This paper identified relevant empirical research that published in the recent 10 years from January 2012 to December 2021. The articles are searched through reputable databases such as Emerald, Elsevier and Taylor and Francis. The obtained data were screened preliminarily from 108 research papers. The post-screening process has finalized a total of 57 articles as the findings for this paper, where the themes were delineated to the attributes that need to implemented by the stakeholder in hotels industry, that is, manager’s perspectives, employee’s perspectives and customer’s perspectives.

The findings of this paper revealed that there are 27 attributes of green practices and initiatives for sustainable hotel operations from the manager perspectives (10 attributes – Green Marketing Strategy, Green Managerial Attitude, Eco-Innovation Investment, Marketing and Sustainability, Environmental Management Strategy, Green Supply Chain, Green Managerial Awareness, Green Procurement, Green Human Resources and Green Technology), employee perspectives (5 attributes – Employee Green Awareness, Employee Green Training and Educating, Employee Environmental Behaviour, Employee Green Performance and Employee Green Reward) and customer’s perspectives (12 attributes – Customer Perception, Customer Loyalty, Customer Awareness, Customer Behaviour, Customer Trust, Green Supply Chain, Green Value, Green Marketing Strategy, Customer Perceived Value, Service Quality, Brand Image and Hotel Design). All of the attributes are aligned to the performance effectiveness as the major concern in the hotel’s operations and impacted towards the sustainability pillars, environmental performance, economic performance and social performance. Sustainable practice in organization benefits the owners towards sustainable economic, environmental, socio-cultural and legal policy.

This review paper provides key elements of current green practices and sustainable initiatives for the hotel’s operations, as proactive measures. The novelty of the findings is to be able to convey valuable inputs to the relevant stakeholders (hotel’s owner, consultants, designers, maintenance officers, hoteliers, staffs, customers and end-users) in perceiving the elements of green practices into the preliminary planning of the hotel’s design. The review also helps to identify practices and measures to the performance impact to the hotel’s operations.

The primary aim of this study is to delve into the causes of occupational stress and burnout amongst administrative staff members in Pakistani universities. It does so by employing a qualitative research strategy, offering a comprehensive understanding of the issue.

This study uses a qualitative research strategy to examine the causes of occupational stress and burnout amongst administrative staff members in Pakistani universities. Around 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted via Teams with administrative employees in renowned universities in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and the Lahore region of Pakistan. Saldana's (2014) structured inductive data analysis method was used to analyse the collected data.

The study sheds light on the harsh realities faced by university administrative staff in Pakistani universities. These include top management ineffectiveness, role ambiguity, role conflict, favouritism, inequality, a communication gap with higher authorities, disparity of rewards and recognition, no career paths and opportunities, feeble leadership, corruption, inappropriate use of power, mishandling of qualified staff and non-acceptance of shifting roles from administration to academia. These are not just academic concepts but real-life challenges that demand immediate attention.

The study's findings have significant implications for Pakistan's Ministry of Education. Based on these findings, the recommendations proposed can serve as a roadmap for enhancing interpersonal development, implementing career development programmes, succession planning and supporting university administrative staff. These initiatives can lay the groundwork for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal-4 targets, making this research a valuable resource for policymakers.

This study was designed to discover the readiness of the higher education commission (HEC)-recognized journals of Pakistan in terms of human, financial and technological resources, technical expertise, institutional support, availability of open access (OA) policy, availability of guidance and training, willingness, motivation and so on for OA journal publishing and to expose the challenges in OA journal publishing.

A quantitative research approach was used and a structured questionnaire was developed to meet the objectives of this study. A survey method was used to collect data from the editors of all 329 HEC-recognized journals in Pakistan.

The respondents of all the HEC-recognized journals of Pakistan are neutral and are not of the view that they have sufficient financial, human, technological/infrastructural resources and technical expertise to continue/initiate an OA journal publishing. ‘No academic reward’; and ‘no monetary reward for the editorial staff’ are both enormous challenges for OA journal publishing. The perceived challenges of OA have a negative impact on readiness for OA publishing. The readiness level of the respondents of the OA journals is higher as compared to the readiness level of the respondents of non-OA journals.

This study covered the lists of HEC-recognized journals of 2019. More studies may be conducted based on updated lists of HEC-recognized journals. Qualitative studies may also be conducted to discover the readiness of the HEC-recognized journals of Pakistan for OA journal publishing.

This study is the first comprehensive study on this phenomenon and is an effort to fill this gap to invigorate scholarly literature. It may attract the attention of policymakers, funding bodies, parent institutions of the journals and the HEC regarding the readiness of journals in terms of financial, human, technological/infrastructural resources, technical expertise of the journals and challenges of journals to prompt the OA journal publishing paradigm.

The study aims to assess Oman's preparedness for digital competency on three parameters: knowledge, technology, and future readiness. Second, it aims to identify critical areas of implementation of digital competency concerning HEIs.

Knowledge shall be assessed for talent, training and education, and scientific concentration. Technology will be evaluated based on regulatory, capital, and technological frameworks. Future readiness shall be examined based on adaptive attitude, business agility, and IT integration. The overall status in all three areas will be evaluated, considering contributions made by various stakeholders, such as the government, public agencies, corporations, educational institutions, etc. The data for this exploratory exercise shall be cogenerated from various secondary sources that are available openly.

Oman scores above average on parameters of technological and regulatory framework, adaptive attitudes, and IT integration, with an average score above 60 out of 100. Oman’s mean score for sub-factors like talent, training and education, capital, and business agility is average—between 50 and 60. The mean score for scientific concentration is 35.14—below average for this criterion.

Most of the studies in Oman have concentrated mainly on teachers' online awareness and competencies, particularly in schools during and after the post-COVID scenario. However, negligible studies are available for higher education. This is an original study for assessing digital competencies, particularly concerning higher education towards achieving Vision 2040 and diversifying the Sultanate of Oman as a knowledge economy.