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I historically compare changes in institutional frameworks creating academic positions linked to temporary employment by analyzing university employment statistics in Chile, Colombia, Germany, and the USA. I find that temporary academic positions were institutionalized through the creation of previously inexistent academic categories called a contrata in Chile, de cátedra in Colombia, “junior professor” without tenure in Germany and “postdoc” in the USA; used in higher education and employment laws since 1989, 1992, 2002, and 1974, respectively. Under institutional frameworks demanding the maximization of students and research, universities have increasingly contracted academics through temporary contracts under rationales that differ between regions. In Colombia and Chile, public university leaders and owners of private universities contract such teaching positions to expand student numbers through lowering costs. In Germany and the USA, employment insecurity is mostly driven by temporary scientific positions under a main rationale of scientific expansion. The share of temporary positions has increased exponentially in Colombia and Germany in recent decades, whereas in the USA there has only been an increase since 2012. Moreover, in Chile, the share of permanent positions has decreased since 2012. The common trend is one of isomorphism of vertical academic structures sharing a pyramidal form, with a wide base of academics working under conditions of contractual insecurity. Such trends follow a rationale for maximization of student numbers as well as administration, and scientific production that is in tension with prioritizing wellbeing and improvement of academics’ working conditions. Yet, in these environments, the institution of tenure in the USA and recent Chilean regulations on accreditation represent mechanisms counteracting precarious employment.

Legal education, like any other discipline in higher education, necessitates in use of various teaching and learning pedagogies in order to provide a sustainable teaching and learning experience. This article aims to examine the feasibility of implementing flipped learning method as a pedagogy on legal students at the Open University of Sri Lanka, as well as the perceptions of students and lecturer on the teaching and learning process in a flipped class in preparation for future implementation.

A mixed research method was used. A survey and a semi-structured interview were used to collect student perceptions, and observations of the lecturer were used to document the lecturer's perception.

According to the information gathered from both qualitative and quantitative data, the flipped learning pedagogy enhances the prior learning and student-centered learning of open and distance learning (ODL) and offers a new perspective on the existing pedagogies used in legal education. This article also emphasizes that an equitable implementation of designing and delivering a flipped class will ensure the effectiveness in teaching and learning law in Sri Lanka through ODL.

Despite the fact that there is substantial academic literature on flipped pedagogy, including in legal education, this article will create an original contribution by incorporating reflections from Sri Lankan legal education as well as ODL.

During the last three decades or so, the introduction of gender studies into higher education in Romania as a field of teaching and research has proved to be a very uneven and sometimes precarious process. The notion of gender has not been properly integrated into scholarly research, and women’s and gender studies have therefore been seen as an appendix to mainstream research in the humanities and the social sciences. This chapter aims at providing a meaningful picture of how gender studies have become part of the higher education system in Romania, what challenges have been met on the way and what future gender studies have in the education landscape. It also provides a comprehensive overview of the significance and importance of the TARGET project for the implementation of the first gender equality plan in the Romanian higher education system.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Japanese and Taiwanese national quality assurance (QA) agencies, National Institution for Academic Degrees and Quality Enhancement (NIAD-QE) and Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT), transform their respective frameworks in response to social demands, and analyze and compare the respective approaches for the key concepts of autonomy, accountability, improvement and transparency.

Using a qualitative document analysis approach, this paper initially examines the higher education system, major policies and QA developments, after which the methods associated with the QA restructuring transformations are outlined in terms of motivations, expectations and challenges. Finally, the NIAD-QE and HEEACT evaluation policies and frameworks are compared to assess how each has prepared to respond to emerging challenges.

During the QA framework restructuring, both the NIAD-QE and HEEACT struggled to achieve autonomy, accountability, improvements and transparency. While the new internal Japanese QA policy is assured through the external QA, the Taiwanese internal QA, which has a self-accreditation policy, is internally embedded with university autonomy emphasized. The QA policies in both the NIAD-QE and HEEACT have moved from general compliance to overall improvement, and both emphasize that accountability should be achieved through improvements. Finally, both agencies sought transparency through the disclosure of the QA process and/or results to the public and the enhancement of public communication.

This study gives valuable insights into the QA framework in Asian higher education institutions and how QA has been transformed to respond to social needs.

This paper aims to examine the current practice in Singapore regarding an inheritance issue: disposal of the residual net estate to the bayt al-māl, which is identified as the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, MUIS). The issue arises when the deceased leaves farḍ (fixed-share) heir(s) and/or dhawū al-arḥām (outer family members) but there is no ʿaṣabah (agnatic residuary heir by blood). Farḍ legal heirs are those beneficiaries for whom the Qurʾān prescribes inheritance of a pre-determined share. Disposal of the residual net estate to the bayt al-māl results in a reduction in the share due to the farḍ legal heir or worse, a total loss to the dhawū al-arḥām legal heirs.

A qualitative approach based on library and case study research has been adopted to elaborate practices that fall under the purview of the Administration of Muslim Law Acts (AMLA), Chapter 3.

The current practice seems biased against, especially, women and spouses. It creates high dissatisfaction in the community, especially those affected by such practices. This paper elaborates on the practice of residual net estate distribution in Singapore and the contemporary practices of the four Sunni madh-habs – the Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī jurisprudential schools – in other countries.

In Singapore, Muslim law is defined and implemented by the civil court, not the Syariah Court or MUIS. The recommendation to change from the current classical practice by the Syariah Court and MUIS to the contemporary practice that is relevant to today’s context lies with the civil court and Government of Singapore. The choice for the Syariah Court and MUIS to adopt the contemporary practice as per Ḥanafī School by rule of the court or the government is beyond this research. Zayd ibn Thābit, Caliph Abū Bakr and a small number of companions held the view that the residue net estate asset must go to the bayt al-māl, the current classical practice. The contemporary practice adopted by Sayyidina ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, Jābir ibn Zayd and majority of the companions’ view, is not in favour of the residue net estate asset to go to the bayt al-māl; rather they view that it must be returned to the legal heirs.

Awareness in the community in the current controversial practice in Singapore when the residue net estate through the farāʾiḍ law was giving to bayt al-māl instead of returning to farḍ or dhawū al-arḥām in the absence of the ʿaṣabah legal heir as stated in the Inheritance Certificate issued by Syariah Court.

To understand the contemporary Muslim law and the practical and just application in today’s Singapore context as supported by the AMLA, Chapter 3.

This is the first study that challenges the current practice by the Syariah Court and MUIS in Singapore, thereby endeavouring to restore justice to the community.

While digital technologies have led to many important social and cultural advances worldwide, they also facilitate the perpetration of violence, abuse and harassment, known as technology-facilitated violence and abuse (TFVA). TFVA includes a spectrum of behaviors perpetrated online, offline, and through a range of technologies, including artificial intelligence, livestreaming, GPS tracking, and social media. This chapter provides an overview of TFVA, including a brief snapshot of existing quantitative and qualitative research relating to various forms of TFVA. It then discusses the aims and contributions of this book as a whole, before outlining five overarching themes arising from the contributions. The chapter concludes by mapping out the structure of the book.

Rape culture, described as when “violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent” (Buchwald, Fletcher, & Roth, 1993, p. vii), exists online and offline (Henry & Powell, 2014). Much of the research on rape culture focuses on the experiences of heterosexual women, and few studies have explored rape culture in the context of dating apps. This chapter explores how men who have sex with men (MSM) understand and experience rape culture through their use of Grindr and similar dating apps. A thematic analysis of interviews with 25 MSM dating app users revealed problematic user behavior as well as unwanted sexual messages and images as common manifestations of rape culture on dating apps. Participants explained that rape culture extends beyond in-app interactions to in-person encounters, as evident by incidents of sexual violence that several participants had experienced and one participant had committed. Participants were unsure about the extent to which MSM dating apps facilitate rape culture but asserted that some apps enable rape culture more than others. This chapter demonstrates the importance of investigating sexual violence against people of diverse gender and sexual identities to ensure their experiences are not minimized, ignored, or rendered invisible.

The purpose of this paper is to make the case for bringing compassion to students in educational settings, preschool through graduate school (PK-20).

First, the author defines what is meant by “compassion” and differentiates it from the related constructs. Next, the author discusses the importance of bringing compassion into education, thinking specifically about preschool, K-12 (elementary and middle school/junior high/high school), college students, and graduate students (e.g. law, medical, nurses, counselors and therapists-in-training). The author then reviews the scant empirical literature on compassion in education and makes recommendations for future research. In the final section, the author makes specific and practical recommendations for the classroom (e.g. how to teach and evaluate compassion in PK-20).

While there is a fair amount of research on compassion with college students, and specifically regarding compassion for oneself, as the author reviews in this paper, the field is wide open in terms of empirical research with other students and examining other forms of compassion.

This is not a formal review or meta-analysis.

This paper will be a useful resource for teachers and those interested in PK-20 education.

This paper highlights the problems and opportunities for bringing compassion into education settings.

To date, no review of compassion in PK-20 exists.

The purpose of this article is to analyze main principles, forms and approaches to education quality evaluation in the process of establishment, development and crucial changes in the state accreditation of educational institutions and study programmes in Russian higher education in the last 20 years.

The major research method used in the paper is the qualitative analysis of legal and statistical documents, research papers and accreditation practices, which impacted the development and transformation of accreditation forms in Russia.

The transformation process of state accreditation during the last 20 years was conditioned by the changes in the state education policy and socio-economic situation. In a short period, under the influence of internal and external factors, Russian higher education has experienced significant changes in the structure of higher education and quality assurance. This resulted in different approaches to accreditation: state and independent, mandatory and voluntary, national and international.

The research outcomes may be applicable in the countries with developing accreditation systems and comparable scope of education.

The study identifies the tendencies in the development of higher education and quality evaluation.

The paper systematizes the tendencies of development in quality assurance and distinguishes specific features and diversity of forms of the quality assurance in one of the largest systems of higher education.