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This study employs the social ecology model to comprehensively explore the complex challenges young Black men face in South Africa and aims to highlight the importance of collaboration in addressing these multifaceted issues.

A multidisciplinary approach combines insights from sociology, education and the health literature with regard to government reports and academic data, and provides a holistic analysis of challenges faced by young Black men. Furthermore, it emphasises formal and informal learning, social and environmental influences and health disparities.

Young Black men in South Africa encounter complex challenges throughout their developmental journey, including limited family support, educational barriers, financial constraints, societal expectations and health disparities. Therefore, collaboration among stakeholders is essential for creating an equitable and inclusive environment that supports their development.

This research provides a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by young Black men in South Africa by emphasising the interconnectedness of informal education, economic empowerment and healthcare. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies, cultural influences and international comparisons, informing evidence-based interventions for a more equitable society.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on all facets of education. This led to educational institutions deploying blended and online systems for teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to assess the role of blended learning in promoting quality education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The qualitative research design was deployed in this study and enabled the researcher to collect data via in-depth interviews. Twenty-five (25) tertiary institutions accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) were randomly selected to participate in this study. The registrars of the institutions were purposively selected and served as the participants for the study. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data collected via the interview. Ethical considerations were adhered to during the study.

The study established that COVID-19 had a devastating effect on tertiary institutions; multiple technological and open-sourced systems were deployed for teaching and learning; blended learning was adopted to augment the traditional face-to-face mode of teaching and learning due to its ease of use, usefulness and accessibility as it was used for quizzes and assignments, accessing lecture notes, among others. Despite these, the deployment of technological and blended systems was met with challenges that somehow affected effective teaching, learning.

The study was limited to 25 tertiary educational institutions in Ghana. It was again limited to the COVID-19 era.

This research aids in understanding the extent of the impact of COVID-19 on teaching and learning and how blended learning is currently deployed and used in tertiary institutions in Ghana. The findings are relevant to policymakers and management of educational institutions as it informs them of the right method and tools to deploy for teaching and learning during pandemics.

As educational institutions globally are dealing with the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is prudent to look into how tertiary institutions in Ghana deploy blended learning to facilitate teaching and learning. Thus, this paper is original as it fills the relevant literature gap in terms of scope, setting, methodology and findings.

This study aims to systematically examine 69 secondary studies to understand trends and implications in sustainability in higher education (SHE), addressing gaps in secondary studies, which often lack comprehensive thematic overviews that hinder future directions.

This tertiary study uses meticulous thematic coding to unveil overarching themes and future research directions across seven SHE areas: institutional frameworks, campus operations, education, research, outreach and collaborations, campus experiences and assessment and reporting.

The analysis reveals challenges higher education institutions (HEIs) face in integrating sustainability, highlighting the need for a holistic approach. Barriers such as awareness deficits and resistance to change emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary research. Emphasizing holistic integration and innovation is vital for seamlessly embedding sustainability within HEIs.

Key future research themes include holistic approaches to sustainability integration, leadership for sustainable change and innovative pedagogical approaches. Additionally, it is important to explore transdisciplinary approaches in sustainability research and the role of research centers and funding in addressing sustainability challenges.

This study provides a comprehensive overview of SHE, offering insights for researchers and practitioners, and serves as a resource for advancing sustainable educational practices.

This paper investigates the moderating role of institutional quality in the relationship between public education financing and educational quality in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

This paper uses a two-step system generalised method of moments (GMM) to investigate the dynamic relationships among the variables using data from the World Bank covering the periods 2002–2020 for 46 SSA countries.

The results show that institutional quality moderates the effect of public education financing on educational quality at SSA’s primary, secondary and tertiary levels. This finding shows that improved institutional quality enhances the effectiveness of public educational investments.

The findings of this study imply that policymakers seeking to enhance educational quality must not only increase educational investments but also institute measures to improve institutional quality.

Prior studies fail to examine the moderating role of institutional quality in the nexus between public education financing and educational quality. This study analyses the role of institutional quality in the public education financing–educational quality nexus in SSA. The findings of this study contribute to improving the return on public education financing in SSA.

This paper identifies the value of Indigenous processes in developing a reciprocal working relationship between a Pasifika grass roots community organisation, Pasifika Church and an Australian university. The focus is on the capacity of Indigenous methodologies to authentically attain equity, diversity and inclusion, during the development of stakeholder partnerships, particularly when there are power and resource imbalances between parties.

This paper is about the process of how Pasifika methodologies, namely talanoa, e-talanoa and teu le va, were used to create positive reciprocal relationships in a culturally grounded manner. The outcome was an agreement of the three stakeholders, the Pasifika Church, the Pasifika organisation and a tertiary institute to work together on a community educational and training project.

The agreement by all parties to adopt Indigenous methodologies from inception enabled the process to be community-led in a culturally safe manner. Critically, these cultural processes established a foundation of trust, expanding possibilities for shared work and projects. For migrant communities, the advocacy and employment of cultural methodologies can empower them through negotiations to maintain their sovereignty over their Indigenous knowledge and priorities. Similarly, it is important for universities and mainstream organisations not only to acknowledge power imbalances and to support community-led priorities but also to cede power around processes of negotiation and discussion.

This is an experience of four organisations working together. It is uncertain whether the same outcome could be attained with other organisations, personalities and cultural groups.

The same principles may be harnessed for other migrant communities, allowing for their cultural practices to inform the ways in which stakeholders work together as opposed to the often-dominant euro-centric practices of the West. It is a deliberate effort that privileges Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing.

Migrant communities that perhaps may be subject to the more Western dominant environment are empowered to use their cultural frameworks to create an equal ground with government, tertiary and not-for-profit stakeholders.

This article is one of the first in Australia to document how talanoa, e-talanoa and teu le va were used to develop a working partnership in a culturally grounded manner to uphold the sovereignty of grassroots Indigenous organisations. This strengthens relationships between migrant communities and mainstream organisations. It outlines Pasifika protocols and successful use of equitable decision-making, led by a grassroots community organisation, a Pasifika Church, whilst liaising with a multi-campus university.

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.

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.

This study examines education for sustainability (EfS) within the Chinese context, to specifically enrich the understanding on how EfS is structured and implemented to nurture citizenship in the policy practices of universities in Mainland China and Hong Kong.

A cross-case analysis is recruited to examine the commonalities and differences between two universities and identify patterns in cultivating sustainability citizenship within higher education institutions (HEIs) in China. Data were collected through reviewing documents, including two universities’ strategic plans, action plans, department meeting memos, program introductions, course outlines and publicity coverage. Observation was also adopted to enrich the data for analysis, covering meetings, speeches by senior management, university events and informal conversations about university operations.

Citizenship and sustainability in university strategic planning, curriculum and instruction, carriers of EfS institutionalization, and resources and impacts of EfS beyond the institutes were analyzed in a comparative manner, offering valuable insights into how EfS can be institutionalized in different universities based on their unique appeals, existing curriculum and management systems.

By exploring these intra-national distinctions in EfS, the study sheds light on the variation within China's citizenship education, which is traditionally seen as highly unified with limited room for differences. The detailed exploration of university strategies and program/course content enriches the literature of sustainability as an educational phenomenon on an international scale and modernized citizenship education in China.

In a country that is marred by an excessively high unemployment rate, there is a need for policymakers to prioritise entrepreneurship in South Africa. The study aims to explore the determinants of self-employment among the youth in South Africa and in the process answer the following question: Who are the self-employed youths in South Africa?

Different potential predictors of self-employment empirically used in the literature were used in this study. A probit regression model was used with the binary self-employment variable as the dependent variable and a host of independent variables. A nationally representative survey consisting of youths was used in the analysis.

The findings show that financial literacy increases the odds of being self-employed. Secondly, the odds of being self-employed increase with age as mature people are expected to have gathered enough networks and wisdom over the years. Thirdly, being male decreases the odds of being self-employed. When it comes to education, the only category that statistically increases the odds of being self-employed compared with no schooling is the tertiary level of education. The other educational levels are all statistically insignificant. From a policy perspective, the government should promote self-employment by investing in financial literacy as well as increasing access to tertiary education among disadvantaged groups.

The study is one of the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to examine the characteristics of the self-employed using a nationally representative survey in South Africa.

Project-based learning is one of the most effective methods of transferring academic knowledge and skills to real-world situations in higher education. However, its effectiveness is not much investigated focusing on the students' narrative. This study aims at evaluating the students' experience and perspective on adopting project-based learning in master by research and doctoral programmes for proactive skills development.

This study evaluates the self-reflection of 10 postgraduate students and their supervisor who have participated in developing a software tool for solar photovoltaics (PV) integrated building envelope design, management and the related education.

Findings reveal that the students have effectively improved their knowledge on the subject via collaborating with the industry, self-learning/observation, peer learning, problem-solving and teamwork. Dividing the project into student-led tasks has improved the decision-making and leadership skills, risks identification, planning and time management skills. The overall experience has (1) built up confidence in students, (2) enhanced their creativity and critical thinking and (3) improved their proactive skills and context knowledge.

A clear research gap can be seen in exploring the effectiveness of project-based learning for master by research and doctoral programmes, which mainly focus on extensive research. These programmes do not necessarily focus on developing students' proactive skills, which is the main requirement if they intend to work in the construction industry. This paper addresses the above research gap by demonstrating the effectiveness of project-based learning for developing the proactive skills in a research-intensive learning environment.