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Teaching venues are playing an important role in the filed of open and distance education (ODL). In China's ODL system over 70% enrolled students are from Radio and TV Universities (RTVUs). Many off-campus teaching venues of e-colleges in 67 conventional universities have been established in RTVUs at prefecture and city level. In this article, the authors have done a direct survey on the data of distance education cost over the past consecutive 4 years in 21 RTVUs at prefecture and city level from 3 provinces (Xinjiang, Hunan and Fujian) in China's western, central and eastern areas, and empirically studied the scale effect in teaching venues at prefecture and city level under the hypothesis condition-teaching effect of ODL and conventional education is the same. The study result illustrates that the average student cost of RTVUs at prefecture and city level demonstrates a scale economy feature, that is, with the expansion of enrolled students scale, there is a fall in the average student cost. The study indicates large differences between average student variable cost and average student cost, which shows a possible average cost reduction in RTVUs at prefecture and city level. In terms of geographical and economic differences, some imbalances of development have been found among RTVUs at prefecture and city level. A quadratic form regression model has been established for doing this research in the perspective of education economics. The results of the regression show that the optimal enrolled student number of RTVUs nationwide at prefecture and city level is around 7,800. For provinces, the most optimal enrolled student numbers are as follows: 9,100 for Fujian, 3,800 for Hunan, and 2,200for Xianjiang, which can serve as the reference for expanding scale economy in ODL. The research finding also indicate the changes in student average cost resulting from the changes in scale, the problem of determining investment direction. It is suggested that more input which benefit the quality improvement of distance education should be made.

Conference report of the 12th Off‐Campus Library Services meeting. As distance education evolves into an even more mature state, and remote library services and access are more central to the programs, this conference entertains more themes focusing on technology and different applications in a range of library settings. Explores the latest developments of off‐campus library services for improved distance teaching and learning.Design/methodology/approach – A variety of presentations are shared, with different studies supplying the practical and supporting theoretical understanding of what role libraries have in contributing to distance learning and multiple site campuses.

Technology is the way we transfer information, make things available and support archives of information. New information products are introduced to contribute to library orientation and instruction.

As off‐campus services thrive, there is a need to evaluate information about the program and services and this conference explores ways to conduct this kind of research.

As more institutions debut off‐campus programs and opportunities for learning, support services including access to online resources, instructional support, and other fundamental campus services become critical. This conference confirms the issues, methods for offering and delivering appropriate services and then evaluating the contributions in this form of higher education.

An additional venue to explore library services with serious concentration on distance education issues, student learning and outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to share the experience of a university library in response to the COVID-19 pandemic since early March 2020. The paper describes the library’s position during the crisis and illustrates the uncharted challenges that the pandemic has posed to its digital services. Furthermore, it details how the library has adapted some existing services into a digital format and explored new initiatives/practices to support the university’s full online teaching and learning since March 23, 2020.

This paper describes the library’s various digital services that are used to meet the needs of its end-users during the COVID-19 pandemic. The approaches used are the authors’ personal experiences working at an academic library, observations of the library’s responses with regards to its digital services, as well as their reflections on what can be considered for development now and in the future. It highlights the current initiatives and best practices for digital library services during a public health crisis.

This paper aims to make other university libraries aware of what the library has implemented with providing digital services to its teaching faculty and students during the pandemic. It also describes the challenges and implications for the library professionals working in-house and remotely.

This paper is of great value in providing insights and practical solutions responding to the global health crisis for other libraries that are coping with the similar challenges for digital library services.

This article outlines how an existing information literacy (IL) course was developed and embedded into a Learning Management System (LMS) with the aim of creating a blended learning environment for the course. It outlines how the platform was chosen, choice of learning design (LD) approaches, tools and processes used, Open Educational Resources (OERs) incorporated, the choice of Creative Commons (CC) licensing, branding, usage options and formats of materials.

A mixed-method approach was used in conducting this research. The online course was piloted in 2017 with two groups of students who completed an online questionnaire to provide their evaluation and feedback.

The results showed a very positive evaluation by the students, which shows that the university is on the correct path with embedding IL into a learner management system.

The author could not have the second face-to-face class with group 1 as was intended due to the student unrest at the university during this time. Also, with the disruption to the academic programme, the author had less feedback from students than expected; however, the 20% response rate was sufficient to inform the author’s future developments.

The flexibility (not a one size fits all) in usage was relevant and necessary to accommodate a number of student needs and socio-economic factors.

This article adds value to the academic project by showing how IL courses can successfully be embedded within an LMS, student preferences and socio-economic factors to be considered in a South African context.

The COVID-19 outbreak has brought serious disruptions worldwide and higher education has been at the forefront of this global pandemic. To adapt to the “new normal”, new technology-backed teaching mode emerges in universities as valued option to integrate face-to-face and remote teaching-learning activities. Blended synchronous learning (BSL) forms part of this new trial. This paper investigates the relevance and implications of BSL for university teaching and learning in the field of property and built environments in and beyond the transitional period of COVID disruptions and a time of global uncertainty.

This paper adopts case study approach to the understanding of BSL and its initial planning and design for property course delivery at the University of Melbourne. A review of literature helps formulate an analytical lens for the delivery mode and its significance and challenge in enhancing student learning experience. It also brings insights from the experience of participant observation.

This paper envisions new possibilities and challenges projecting the BSL as innovative and useful teaching-learning mode for property and built environments education in and beyond the pandemic. The analysis demonstrates the pedagogical values of BSL in facilitating supportive and equitable learning environment to achieve quality learning outcomes for property education. It identifies opportunities and challenges corresponding the underlying logic and practice of BSL.

This paper is the first to examine the use of BSL delivery and its pedagogical significance in post-pandemic property education. It sheds light on innovative pedagogical design for academic institutions to manage pandemic and technological disruptions to teaching-learning.

The purpose of this study is to seek answers to how receiving his PhD at the University of Alabama influenced the author’s ongoing academic discourse socialization as an international graduate student coming from Turkey. To that end, the author incorporates second language and academic discourse socialization theories with the concept of “desire” in TESOL.

In this autoethnographic paper, the author discusses his academic discourse socialization as an international graduate student in the form of an evocative autoethnography of socialization. The author uses data gathered through his personal memory in the form of self-reflections. Using Chang’s “chronicling the past strategy” (2008, p. 72), the author prepared a data chart, which included information regarding the data source, its mode, time, venue and stories gleaned. The author used this data chart as a self-generated document to guide him through the selection process of his personal memories in an organized way while writing mystory.

The findings show that his academic discourse socialization was mainly influenced by the attitudes of local US citizens’ and existing members of international communities in both on- and off-campus settings. Over time, his academic discourse socialization turned out to be a complex process where the author oftentimes found himself struggling to find an entry point in extracurricular conversations and interactions.

The author recommends further research to focus on the inner worlds of both old(er) timers and newcomers to understand the challenges, emotions and nuances that are at play in both L2 socialization and academic discourse socialization of international students.

In this autoethnographic study, the author offers a unique example of an international PhD student’s transnational socialization experiences. Future international students, higher education administrators, faculty members and local graduate students may learn from his autoethnography and approach their future academic relationships in a more informed way.

Business schools are becoming invaluable platforms linking academia, business and industry. The constantly changing nature of markets requires a continuous and iterative dialog between business schools and other constituents including the government, the private sector and the civil society to guarantee that business and management education is catering for local and global market needs. The purpose of this paper is to address the growing role of business schools in transforming the society, building on the experience of the school of business of the American University in Cairo, and its impact in preparing the business leaders and entrepreneurs who can make a difference in society through rigorous and adaptive business and management education while addressing the elements of governance, accreditation, internationalization, and relevance, creativity and innovation in research.

In this study, desk research is coupled with sharing of the development of the accreditation journey of American University in Cairo (AUC) School of Business and the lessons learned over the last 15 years.

While undergoing multiple accreditations, the school should effectively and efficiently manage the timeline, otherwise the maintenance of all accreditations could end up in one year, and that could be really challenging, a situation faced by the school during the academic year 2016–2017. While having a task force or a committee is mandatory, for the long-term development and sustainability of a continuous improvement culture, an office for academic assessment and accreditation is a must. For the school, the office helps create and embed the culture that accreditation is a journey and not a destination. Accreditation as a process should involve all school stakeholders on and off campus including faculty, staff, students, alumni, advisory boards, employers and the university administration; they should all be engaged and their buy-in through creating a sense of ownership and empowerment is invaluable. Throughout the accreditation journey, nothing is more important than communication, a school can never have enough of it. While the accreditation process needs a strong, transparent, effective leadership style, a bottom-up approach aligning and motivating the school’s different constituents is essential. For accreditation and continuous improvement to be sustainable, it should be driven and guided by a unified school-wide strategy addressing and catering to its different objectives. Accreditation is all about an invaluable triangle of building blocks, including an informed human capital, a respected and well-thought process and a timely, accurate and efficient wealth of data and knowledge about the school.

The limitations are primarily the focus on the case of Egypt and AUC School of Business. Obviously, there is no one size that fits all, but there are lessons learned that could be replicated and tested in business schools located in similar environments.

The study presents the experience of the governance model at AUC School of Business with both internal council of the school of business and external board of advisors.

The study presents the implications of the school on the society and the role, directions, guidelines that accreditation and continuous improvement introduce to the curriculum.

Historical background of business and management education at large in Egypt and Middle East North Africa is coupled with the overview of the school of business, sharing the challenges and opportunities of accreditation and continuous improvement.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

The paper introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and audiovisual material examining library instruction and information literacy.

Information about each source is provided. The paper discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information in the paper may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

After reading and discussing this short case, the instructor should do the following: to enable the students to select and evaluate the main strength (sustainable competitive advantage) of an evolving brand whose leading manager needs to appreciate how it can be used to achieve the strategic objective of franchising it despite its challenges; to guide the students in choosing the most appropriate brand name that will sustainably reflect the parent organization’s identity and also retain its growing attractiveness to more event sponsors and other key partners in an environment of conflicting interests; to facilitate the students in choosing the appropriate strategy for strengthening the readiness to franchise and adapt a similar teaching and examining (annual event’s) model in a related course unit from among any of the target audience’s master and bachelor degree at another university elsewhere.

This short case shows how the annual Makerere University Business School (MUBS) hospitality day has evolved into a potential event franchise, which is attracting more VIPs, the media and demand to also be held in the country’s Vision 2040 cities where the respective campuses are located.

Bachelor (BA, BBA, BSc) and MBA/master degree level.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 12: Tourism and hospitality.

Sets out to provide a selected bibliography or recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

Introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and exhibition catalogues examining library instruction and information literacy.

Provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.