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The major objective of this study is to examine the efficacy of the technical and vocational training courses imparted to generate employment or enhance the productivity of participants.

The study was conducted in the province of Sindh, Pakistan by adopting a quasi-experimental approach. The experiment was conducted on 105 individuals—with the age group of 20–25—distributed between the treatment group and the control group. The data collected through the experiment were analyzed by applying a paired-sample t-test, independent sample t-test and one-way between-group analysis of variance (ANOVA).

The findings of this study show statistically significant higher monthly earnings of Rs14, 223 after the training intervention program. Findings also exhibit a significant difference in monthly earnings between the control and the treatment groups.

The findings of the study can provide useful input to policymakers while devising the policies regarding technical education and vocational training (TVET) and to the international donors in assessing the impact of the training initiatives.

This study presents experimental-driven evidence on the role of technical education and vocational training in improving the labor market outcomes.

The paper examines the effects of ICT readiness dimensions on ICT acceptance among Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Training (TEVT) students in the University of Malawi, using correlation and regression analyses.

A cross‐sectional survey was used with a sample of 125 respondents drawn from a population of 296 students pursuing TEVT‐related programmes in the University of Malawi. Data were collected using a questionnaire based on Technology Readiness Index (TRI) and Technology Acceptance (TA) models.

The findings show that technology readiness (TR) dimensions affect attitude towards ICT and that gender difference does not play a significant role on TR, attitude towards ICT and the relationship between TR and TA. Further, the findings show that TR dimensions explain only 33 per cent of the variations in TA.

Exploring further factors that explain the remaining 67 per cent of variations in attitude towards ICT could be an interesting area for further research.

This study contributes towards technology transfer and diffusion discourses in a predominantly associative culture by explaining the extent of the effects of TR dimensions on TA.

The research aims to describe Sri Lanka's education system, discuss reforms that have been implemented within the school, university and vocational education sectors in the recent past and suggest potentially fruitful reforms whilst identifying the various constraints which can affect their implementation.

A descriptive approach is employed, with extensive review of related literature and the use of relevant secondary data where appropriate.

The research shows the need for considerable reform of Sri Lanka's education system, especially with regard to improving the quality of state education and encouraging greater private sector participation.

The research shows the deficiencies Sri Lanka's education system suffers from and suggests means to overcome them. However, the political and social pressures may present obstacles upon the implementation of such courses of action.

The recommendations offered by the research could make a contribution towards transforming the education system in Sri Lanka into one which can produce empowered individuals who can find employment within the emerging sectors of the economy and thereby improve overall living standards in the country.

The paper makes a novel contribution by encompassing school, tertiary and vocational education in Sri Lanka. It shows the numerous problems that could arise in a context where a universal system of free education from the primary to the tertiary level exists vis‐à‐vis a flourishing private sector, and would be of value to education policy‐planners in Sri Lanka and other countries with both state and private sector provision of education.

The purpose of this paper is to examine factors that could explain the difference in entrepreneurial intention (EI) among technical-vocational education and training (TVET) program students. Centered on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the paper aims to contribute to the understanding of factors that affect EIs of students and offer some important insight into unique aspects of TVETs to empower youth and adults to actively engage in entrepreneurial initiatives.

A survey with a sample size of 107 TEVT students, taking part in four key programs, participated in this study using Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaires. Linear and hierarchical regression were applied to test the hypotheses.

The findings indicate that the two most predictable variables of EI were personal attitude toward behavior and perceived behavioral control. Hence, it was suggested that proper care should be taken in the way curricula and content are designed. It is also highlighted that the educational practice needs adjustment to include course contents like decision making, effective communication, entrepreneurial negotiation, leadership, effective and efficient use of sources, new product development, creativity and critical thinking, and service-based and technological innovation.

Policy makers in developing countries are trying to address the critical developmental concerns of unemployment, rural-urban imbalance, industrialization, capital formation, and labor utilization. Vocational education is seen as a policy instrument to promote economic and social progress using entrepreneurship education. However, in order for institutions to play this key role, their skill formation process needs to be geared toward enhancing and developing traits associated with entrepreneurial success. This study has confirmed that TVET programs are required to reach a balanced spectrum of delivering entrepreneurial skills through intensive engagement with partners and effective mobilization of interest groups if they are to boost economic and social change.

This study applies the TPB in an effort to understand determinants of EI on technical and vocational education. It invites academics and policy makers to rethink the approach adopted in entrepreneurship education in the vocational set up. It questions TVET programs’ roles in preparing students for self-employment, networking or partnership efforts, and the design of curricula as a process and entrepreneurial skill as an outcome of entrepreneurial education.

Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are facing human capital development issues due to unskilled employees. The institutes of Malaysian education are providing ineffective science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education which are generating unskilled graduates as a future workforce. The low capability of Malaysian graduates affect the performance of Malaysian SMEs. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of STEM education in solving the human capital development issues for the enhancement of Malaysian SMEs performance. The current literature explores the ineffective system of STEM education for Malaysian graduates which result in human capital development issues in Malaysian SMEs. The curriculum of Malaysian education institutions plays a pivotal role in making the university graduates skillful since a teacher should teach the syllabus according to the need of the national curriculum and the student must learn practical knowledge for the sake of the professional employee in future. Hence, this study identified the significance of properly provided STEM education to deal with the human capital development issues faced by Malaysian SMEs. Effective STEM education is important in generating the human capital as it makes the university graduates skilled and capable which enable them to successfully meet the industry needs in future. Likewise, through the development of human capital, the performance of Malaysian SMEs could be improved.

This study examines whether students graduating from SSC-VOC perform better in diploma engineering programs.

This study uses quantitative and qualitative methods to examine how secondary school certificate-vocational (SSC-VOC) graduates perform in their subsequent vocational programs.

Despite having vocational training orientation, this study finds that graduates from SSC-VOC receive lower grades than their public counterparts by 0.109 cumulative grade points average (CGPA).

Findings imply that policymakers should increase teachers' numbers, salaries and laboratory facilities. In addition, collaboration between SSC-VOC institutions and polytechnics would allow them to offer a quality engineering education. In such a way, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programs prepare human resources to promote economic development and employment, expand production opportunities and improve employment quality.

This is the first piece of work conducted in Bangladesh that has examined the quality of VET graduates for furthering their studies. This study added value by providing some pragmatic suggestions for practical implications.

In Africa, the community college model, catered to nontraditional college aspirants, has been increasingly seen as an important alternative to respond to the growing demand for postsecondary education. By highlighting the case of Ethiopia, this chapter explores the implications of the community college model through the examination of the system, teacher training, and perspectives of students and employers. Some education and training can be more efficiently delivered at the community college level by means of focused and high-quality teaching, rather than through a long duration of bachelor's program.

This case study of the State of Qatar examines government educational policy and economic development in Qatar’s strategy to diversify its oil and gas-based economy into knowledge production. Qatar presents a particularly interesting case since its substantial investments in the past decade in education, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), research and development (R&D), and coastal development and tourism are all highly intertwined both in practice and from a national policy perspective. Armed with billions of dollars of sovereign wealth funds (SWF) from its gas and oil industries, the government of Qatar has embarked on both domestic and overseas investment campaigns including education, sports, internet and telecommunications, healthcare, overseas land purchases (food security), cultural institutions and museums, increased desalinated water capacity, and coastal development and tourism projects. Education and research, most notably Qatar Foundation’s Education City, Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), and the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), stand at the heart of Qatar’s investment in human development and long-term economic and social sustainability. Despite large outlays in knowledge economy initiatives, the country, however, is facing significant challenges in rapid population growth, reliance on expatriate labor for its skilled labor needs, an underdeveloped education system, and an undiversified economy which revolves around hydrocarbon rents.

This paper aims to explore the specific causes of failure among Malaysian female entrepreneurs who were provided with financial services by the microfinance institution: Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) to start up their own businesses.

This paper adopts a qualitative-based case study design approach, with data collected from a total of 18 female entrepreneurs who had failed to develop their businesses. In-depth personal interviews were conducted, coupled with personal observation via purposive cum snowball sampling.

Thematic analysis revealed a pattern-based outcome which discloses a variety of causes affecting the failure of Malaysian female entrepreneurship. These causes ranged from inter-related external factors which were perceived as beyond their control, such as personal life events, intensive competition and loan inflexibility to internal causes, which were related to lack of resources, poor financial management and personal dissatisfaction with their own business performance.

The findings of this study provide valuable information for Malaysian economic policymakers in how to practically address the objectives of the National Women's Policy (NPW) and improve the innovative quality of their products and services. A thorough understanding of the specific obstacles facing female entrepreneurs in Malaysia is essential if policymakers are to improve opportunity exploitation efficiency and assist in mitigating the external and internal causes of business failure among Malaysian females.

Studies in this field have demonstrated that most new “start-ups” fail within three years of their establishment. While determinist, emotive and voluntarist theories can often provide an adequate explanation for the causes of business failure, it is clear that no single factor is usually responsible. Rather, multiple interrelated factors are found to be at play. This study, therefore, provides an integrative model for causes of business failure among small-business female entrepreneurs. It also represents one of only a few such studies in the literature and, to the best of knowledge at the time of writing, is the first such study that used an integrative approach to explain the causes of business failure in the Malaysian context.

Logistics service quality and customer loyalty have recently become the topic of discussion in both developing and under-developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to understand the logistics service quality factors contributing to customer loyalty in a developing country context.

Data were collected from 250 respondents who were direct or indirect clients of logistics firms, through online questionnaire distribution. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling was used to examine the hypothesized relationships.

The findings of this research revealed that operational logistics service quality (OLSQ) and relational logistics service quality have a significant impact on customer loyalty. Moreover, for enhancing customer loyalty, relationship quality is the key factor.

Research reveals that even in a developing country like Pakistan, it is important for carriers to establish high-level relational and OLSQ to satisfy shipper. It will correspondingly add worth to the discussion in the literature and it shall also provide the basis for future research studies.

The novelty of this paper is logistics service quality and its effect on customer loyalty from the perspective of a developing country, specifically due to geographical importance in the context of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.