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The Bologna Process (BP) remains a key international framework for guiding higher education development in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) until 2030. This chapter traces integrative curriculum ideas in the BP post-2020 and explains why they are symbolic policies. Prior research into curricula in the BP does not explicitly refer to integrative curriculum ideas and does not explore them in the post-2020 context. 2020 marked the deadline for the achievement of a fully functioning EHEA and for setting up new priorities for 2030. This study is informed by the theoretical ideas of soft governance and symbolic policies in the Open Method of Coordination. This chapter addresses the aforementioned gap in the scholarship by relying on a thematic analysis of the first EHEA communique that set the agenda for the post-2020 period – Rome Ministerial Communique (2020) with its three annexes. The findings highlight the following main areas of the integrative curriculum agenda as symbolic policies after 2020: student-centeredness, research-based learning, and the interconnectedness between learning and wider society. This analysis is significant for our understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the international policy rhetoric about the integrative curriculum which, in turn, defines the effectiveness of the implementation of these ideas in practice.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the profitability of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) as a shipping lane from the financial perspective of shipping companies under post 2020 sulphur regulations.

This study develops profit estimation model, and the profitability of the NSR is assessed for a Handymax Medium Range (MR) tanker vessel using scenarios in combination with spot market earning levels, the regulation compliance method and destination ports. The required freight rates are calculated to justify the decision of shipowners to transit a tanker from the Baltic spot market to the NSR navigation.

Results suggest that the required freight rates from the Arctic trade to justify the transit to the NSR are higher than the actual agreed rates in the past, which implies low viability of the NSR as a regular shipping lane. It was also found that the required freight rates are affected by the spot market earning levels, compliance method and duration of the voyage.

This study takes a new approach on assessing the NSR viability by comprehensively assessing the annual profitability and including the spot market trade as an opportunity cost for the NSR shipping. Despite various scenarios used in this study, a sensitivity analysis would be useful for future research.

This study suggests how much freight rates a shipping company would need to charge if it were to offer tanker shipping services to four major Asian ports while simultaneously operating at the Baltic Sea during the remainder of the year.

This study adopts a market-oriented approach by incorporating both earnings and costs (including opportunity costs) in the profitability model rather than merely analyzing the total cost of shipping via the NSR. This study also analyzes impact of IMO 2020 Sulphur regulation on the NSR profitability.

The purpose of this qualitative, single-case study was to explore the development of Jamaica’s maritime education and training (MET) curriculum within the local education context. In this research, the story of the development and sustainability of the local MET curriculum in its 40-year journey from 1980 to present (post 2020), as communicated by various maritime stakeholders and archival documents, is chronicled.

The study utilized a qualitative orientation and was an embedded single-case study in its design. The entire local MET institution community and those legislatively and operationally allied to its sustained viability constituted the general population of this study. Non-probability sampling techniques were used to arrive at a maximum variation sample. Three sources of data were used in this study: individual interviews, focus group discussions and documents.

The Jamaican (local) MET curriculum was the brainchild of local perspicacity that was empowered by international benevolence. It was developed to satisfy market demands that existed at the time of its inception. These market requirements of the maritime industry are what impacted the development of the local MET curriculum over four decades. Several other factors led to the sustained viability of the local MET curriculum. These included the ability of the local MET curriculum to meet direct market needs and maintain its fitness for purpose.

It is the view of the researcher that the findings of this study were limited by the fact that the voices of current students and employers from the four decades of the curriculum's existence are not represented in this initial study. The perspectives from these two sources would have broadened the description presented in this study.

This research has shown that specialized higher education (HE) institutions are better served in their business when they maintain a symbiotic relationship with the industry for which they are producing graduates.

The treatment of HE as a service industry has gained traction globally. This would suggest that ‘product placement' in specialized HE is important to the growth, development and longevity of that course of study within the society in which it exists.

There is a dearth of national research on Jamaica's four-decades-old MET curriculum and the elements that lend to the sustained viability of same. This discussion of sustainability of the MET curriculum will benefit maritime educators and policymakers, who must continue to hone this curriculum so that it is fit for purpose. The study will also identify some of the elements of a sustainable, specialized HE curriculum. The elements identified herein can serve as exemplars and conceptual starting points for other contexts where the discussion of the sustainability of curriculum needs to be had.

This study aims to review the literature on online based learning in business education published in Development and Learning in Organizations between 2019 and 2022. The results of this study can present a better understanding of work-based business learning and offers new insights for future studies.

Recently the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated online learning. The pandemic’s pace and scale have led many universities and business schools to adopt popular e-learning tools such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or other online platforms. As a result, faculty and students needed new skills and resources in business education. Hence, the design and execution of online content were under scrutiny (Singh, 2022). After several months (almost two years) of operating in a highly virtual state during the COVID-19 crisis, there is little understanding of online learning in business education. In addition, asking about online teaching quality and student satisfaction is vital, as unsolved concerns may have long-term implications for future business programs (Szopiński and Bachnik, 2022). Therefore, this study aims to critically discuss the current literature to investigate the effects of online learning in business education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results could present a better understanding of business learning and offers new insights for future research.

The results from reviewing the selected articles showed several methodologies adopted in the field of business education. In this regard, universities must adopt an attendance policy for students with unreasonable excuses and those who cannot attend for technical issues. In this regard, facial recognition technologies and in-class tests that require attendance could assist. In addition, to encourage participation, business schools should build algorithms to measure student engagement and link it to the grading system. Finally, universities and business schools should have continuous assessment measures to ensure quality online learning matches higher education institutions in a specific country (Szopiński and Bachnik, 2022).

Along with the benefits of online learning, business schools must be aware of the risks of extending their online courses. First, digital platforms must be introduced to support all online teaching and learning courses and allow information sharing. This demands institutional reforms and resources, which may be unavailable if a university lacks facilities, administrative support, or a training coordination program. The second challenge is the faculty’s attitude toward online learning and the IT support needed to provide an online environment. While distance learning must offer the same knowledge and skills as traditional learning, faculty should embrace technology as a teaching instrument. Therefore, perceived usefulness is a significant determinant of faculty approval of online education. A post-2020 pandemic study is needed to assess faculty opinions in future studies (Szopiński and Bachnik, 2022).

Risk attitude is an elementary attribute of entrepreneurial behaviour. Determinants of risk-taking propensity have been widely investigated in the group of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs so far. There is a lack of evidence on determinants of risk-taking propensity in the farming business, which is considered as risky business because of the ongoing climate change and epidemic outbreaks. Alternatively, the risk of lower European Union budget raised the question, how to implement publicly supported financial instruments for micro and small farmers which have lower credit rating. The purpose of this study is to find socio-demographic determinants of the risk-taking propensity of the Czech micro farms, controlling for the type of farming.

The survey of 747 micro farmers was processed through ordinal logistic regression. The study is based on the subjective self-assessment of the risk-taking behaviour which is frequently used to measure risk-taking attitude. The results are representative from the type of farming point of view.

The model provided clear evidence that age, household size, living with the partner/wife/husband and level of education have a significant relationship with risk-taking propensity. The most risk-tolerant farmers are young with less formal education and living in small households. The risk-taking propensity varies by the type of farming. Specialized crop farms have significantly higher risk-taking propensity than farms with a substantial share of livestock production. Alternatively, gender, feeling about household income and religion are not significantly related to the risk-taking propensity of the Czech micro farms.

The main limitation of the study is the number of explanatory variables and the use of self-assessment of risk-taking attitude. The risk attitude can be explained by other variables which require in-depth qualitative research, such as past risk experience, the structure of decision problems, market orientation and operation under subsistence conditions.

The significant determinants of risk-taking attitude of micro farmers are important for banks, the Czech Support and Guarantee Fund for Farmers and Forestry and for policymakers who design the rules for post-2020 common agricultural policy. The study is original and valuable for the Central and Eastern European countries’ implementation of financial instruments as new rules for investment support are being prepared and research on the risk-taking attitude of the most vulnerable segment of farmers has not been conducted.

The originality of this study is from the perspective of agricultural sector as well as from the micro farms point of view. The results have commercial and political implications. Younger farmers, singles and lower-educated farmers have significantly higher risk-taking propensity and can be potentially risky clients for banks. Such farmers represent the financial gap in the credit market, and their viable development projects could be subject for implementation of financial instruments co-financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development in the forthcoming programming period past 2020.