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Involving the global issues as listed in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education is necessarily done in the education process, especially in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning. Exposure to global issues is known to improve students' understanding, awareness, and ability to solve urgent issues faced by global society. This paper aims to find out the trend of research on the coverage of SDGs in students' learning process. This systematic literature analysis was done by applying Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Method. A total of 25 studies were recognized through a systematic search by using Sustainability, SDGs, and EFL as keywords. The result shows that the trend of associating SDGs with EFL settings was done mostly in Indonesia. In the recent year 2022, it reached the highest number of studies in the particular matter with 7 total of research. It was also found that the study involving SDGs on EFL learning was mostly done in the tertiary setting, compared with K-12, junior high school, secondary, high school, and other educational institutions. It was also discovered that the specific area of study enhances EFL students' learning achievement, environmental awareness, global citizen values, as well as students' levels of self-norms, beliefs, and self-value.

The study aims to understand the foremost challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study adopts the PRISMA approach to screening the selection of journal articles and review papers according to the research aims and the inclusion criteria. The journal articles and review papers were extracted and stored in Microsoft Excel and Google Scholar, Academic. Microsoft, Semantic Scholar, Elsevier, and Emerald Insight databases searched relevant documents using formulated keywords. A statistical technique was applied using the M.S. Excel analysis tool (PivotTable and an independent t-Test) to analyze data and determine the differences between teachers and students. The review revealed the evidence that the majority of the studies were primarily focused on the individual developing countries and results from other developing countries were not considered. In addition, the foremost challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic were inadequate skills and training, inadequate Internet/Infrastructure, lack of supporting resources and lack of online student engagement and feedback. Finally, the independent t-test reveals there is no statistically significant difference in challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both teachers and students encounter similar challenges. The systematic review raised concerns that higher learning needs to effectively implement long term strategies and support teachers and students in getting into online teaching and learning.

The major analytical research question addressed in this paper is: What are Thailand's strengths and weaknesses as an international education hub for students from the Asian region? The key descriptive research question is: What is the nature of the educational experience of Asian students in Thailand? The two major research methodologies of the study are mixed research methods and comparative case studies, with the use of in-depth interviews of influential experts, surveys, and an autoethnography. In terms of major findings, there has been a dramatic growth of Asian students at Thai universities during the past two decades. Thailand's major advantages relate to low costs, location, quality campus facilities, and a welcoming attitude toward outsiders, while major disadvantages are the quality of many of Thailand's international programs often related to low English language capabilities. The paper concludes by presenting a creative new architecture for thinking about Asian study abroad in Thailand.

This paper focuses on English teachers in Asia in the context of globalization, the global spread of English and the emergence of English as an "Asian language." It highlights the dilemmas facing these teachers in meeting the growing social demands of English proficiency in a technology-influenced, managerial and neoliberal education environment with limited expertise, skills and policy support. We locate the paper in language policy and planning (LPP) within which the concept of micro-level agency provides a critical lens. We draw on insights from several Asian countries including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan and Vietnam. We argue that while English teachers are found to exercise their agency to meet changing demands of English proficiency, this agency can be seen as the result of what we call "policy dumping" at the macro-level--i.e. education policymakers not paying due attention to the requirements of policy implementation but dumping down policies to educational institutions and English teachers for their implementation. We conclude the paper by suggesting implications for English language policies in Asian countries that respond to globalization and the dominant discourses of English in a globalized world.

South Asian economies has witnessed very slow growth over the years and the gap has widened manifold between other nations of Asia particularly East Asian nations and South Asian nations. This paper examines co-integration between the economic growth and reach of higher education in South Asian nations explaining this disparity. The research employed an econometric panel co-integration investigation to analyse the long run relationship of higher education and economic growth among these nations. The research confirmed positive long run causality between the economic growth of the South Asian nations and gross enrolment ratio of higher education. So, if the South Asian nations continue with their existing pattern of paying less attention to higher education by allocating low share of investment on it, poor human capital formation would result in growing further economic disparity between developed and South Asian nations where rich nations would remain richer and poor nations would remain poor with the gap remaining unabridged. This research will serve as an aid to policy makers, educators and financers of South Asian nations to bridge the gap between high- and low-income nations. The focus on the quantum of spending on higher education by the government will help improve the reach of tertiary education and build economic prosperity in these nations.

The student engagement concept has been revolutionised so that students play an active role alongside staff members in determining their student learning experiences. Although the development of student--staff partnerships enhances student engagement and experience, empirical research on partnerships in Malaysia is scant. This paper contributes to the growing scholarly literature on such partnerships -- in particular, exploring postgraduate international students and staff members' partnership dimensions in extra-curricular activities at a research university in Malaysia. This qualitative study interviewed 33 postgraduate international students, 10 academic staff and 12 professional staff members. Based on the findings, the student-staff partnership model is well integrated into the extra-curricular activities: international students are invited to co-design and implement adjustment programmes for newly arrived international students. This paper also explores the multi-layered benefits of partnerships for postgraduate international students and for staff members. The implications of such partnerships for the university, international students and staff members are discussed.

The primary purpose of this paper is to review and evaluate the causes of educational poverty in less developed countries. The basic intent in carrying out such a study is to define and derive the role of governing agencies in deliberately creating educational poverty in the country, so that the private interest of the rich and powerful ruling class can be fully safeguarded. This study is of crucial interest to the common man because majority of the people living in less developed countries are poor in spite of the fact, that almost all these countries own ample human and material resources. However, the common man in these countries is continuously suffering, generation after generation, and has been denied access to basic amenities of life. The rich and powerful ruling class, in majority of the less developed countries, has intentionally denied basic education facilities to its people for keeping them ignorant and unaware of their fundamental rights to share national resources and to gain competence for comfortable living in the society. The paper advocates a complete reversal in economic growth policies of the less developed countries so that top priority is given to those projects and programs that directly benefit the common man in the society. In this respect, the author calls for awareness among the people to exercise their economic and social rights so that people of all the strata can share equally the fruits of growth and prosperity.

Purpose: It is still unclear how Asian universities incorporate the theory or practice of sustainable development (SD) in their research and education programmes. To address this gap, the purpose of this paper is to report on a study that has examined how universities in Asian countries handle and address matters related to SD. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a bibliometric analysis and an online survey-method. The online survey data were analysed through descriptive analysis and one-sample student's "t"-test. Findings: The study indicates that there is considerable variation among the Asian countries regarding sustainability practices in higher education institutions (HEIs). The HEIs in far eastern countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are perceived to demonstrate more sustainability practices. Research limitations/implications: Even though a substantial number of participants participated in the survey, it did not cover all Asian countries. The online survey was carried out over a limited period of time, and not all HEIs in the field may have received information about the study. Practical implications: Asia is the largest continent facing a number of sustainability challenges. In this context, the contribution of HEIs is very important. The findings of the current study may serve as a baseline for Asian HEIs to take more initiatives towards SD goals, as HEIs are responsible for the education and training of hundreds of thousands of students who will be occupying key positions in industry, government or education in the coming years. Originality/value: The study contributes to the existing literature in two distinct ways. First, it was possible to develop a comprehensive instrument to measure sustainability practices in HEIs. Second, this study has filled the gap of the scarcity of studies regarding sustainability practices in HEIs in Asia.

This paper explores the role of local knowledges and wisdoms in educational research and theorizing, drawing examples from Oceania and Asia. It draws on Chen's idea of "internationalist localism" as a lens to explore relationships between local wisdom and traditional cultures in Oceania and Asia, and Western theories of education. Examples are drawn from the island nations of Oceania (including Papua New Guinea), Asia (including Indonesia, Vietnam, and Bangladesh) as well as Australia (including Indigenous Australian settings). In each of these examples, researchers grounded their studies in local wisdoms and traditions, albeit embedding them in broader global contexts, thus achieving, at least to some extent, the internationalist localism advocated by Chen.

The objective of this paper is to highlight the role of adult education as a tool in addressing labour migration issues, specifically those concerning the protection of migrant workers' rights and the transformation of the impact of migration into positive holistic developmental gains. The view of labour migration as a means to forge the economic stability of countries in this era of neo-liberal globalisation has put migrant workers at a highly vulnerable position open to persistent forms of exploitation and abuse. Issues that revolve around this topic have been the subject of many international discourse which has led to the formation of national migration regulations/policies, as well as bilateral and regional agreements between states in an attempt to respond to the urgent needs of migrant workers and manage their migration while continuing to benefit from the process. However, migration controls alone have not been progressive in resolving the core problems of labour migration reflecting the need for more structural reforms and strategies. Many civil society groups have recognised adult education as a promising platform from which to launch effectively a campaign to resolve migration issues. In line with this principle, several efforts from this sector have been made such as awareness campaigns that inform migrants of their labour and fundamental human rights. It is imperative for governments of both origin and destination countries to follow suit. Establishing effective and sustainable adult education programmes that build on the dignity and capability of migrant workers is beneficial to both social and economic development. Better pre-departure orientations, widespread information in accessing available protective mechanisms, integration and reintegration processes, savings management are underscored as plausible foci of such programmes. [Abstract presented in English, Spanish, and French.]

With the blooming of information in digital format, dissemination of information is becoming a big challenge for developing countries. It is not only due to the limited provision of personal computers--in addition, the technological infrastructure and the ability to access information are also becoming major concerns in developing countries. This paper examines the situation in the Asian developing countries as an example to illustrate the difficulties with the dissemination of information. The availability of personal computers is not the only difficulty facing developing countries. The availability and popularity of the Internet, the telecommunication policies and environment of the countries concerned, the information literacy level of the users and the librarians, the popularity of the English language, the knowledge of searching information on the Internet, and the maturity of the electronic publishing market are all inter-related and have affected the success of information dissemination. Recent developments in tackling the problems are also described. (Contains 1 table and 15 notes.)

A series of countries have focused on shipbuilding public policies, as it is commonly considered a deliberate industry and influences employment levels in many regions. Establishing key performance indicators can be a challenge to shipbuilding policymakers. This paper suggests an approach to this issue, based on three different MCDM techniques: the fuzzy DEMATEL, the Fuzzy ANP, and the MOORA. This approach makes it achievable to estimate performance and competitiveness, considering 25 different variables comprising four different viewpoints of a balanced scorecard approach. These dimensions include finance, customer, internal process, and learning and growth aspects. The methodology is applied to the analysis of the active shipyards of the Bay of Bengal Basin countries. Our main findings indicate that shipyards which are effective in 'customer' variables perform higher performance, while variables constituting the 'learning and growth' dimension demonstrate lower impact on it. Additionally, the dimensions of 'finance' and 'customer' show uttered impacts on the other dimensions, while 'learning and growth' has no impact on the other perspectives of the balanced scorecard. Through this methodology, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers might acquire a penetrating overview into the drivers of the global shift in shipbuilding industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to draw upon existing debate over "financial sector rent" (bank rent) to analyze the current pattern of financing of Bangladeshi and Indonesian Islamic banks during the period of 2011 and 2015. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical evidence through a comparative approach of analyzing the performance of Islamic banks with that of conventional banks in respective countries – two of the largest countries where majority of the population are Muslims – is drawn to demonstrate the objective. Findings: While Islamic banks in Bangladesh are primarily concentrating on the murabaha (mark-up contract) mode of financing, some transactions under musharaka (partnership/equity-based contract) are observed in the Indonesian Islamic banking sector. This anomaly in Indonesia can be explained by the nature of their musharaka financing which is not of the purely "participatory" financing type. As a result, we can observe the quasi-murabaha syndrome in Indonesian Islamic banking sector. The concentration of asset-based financing including consumers' financing (hire purchase) in the credit portfolio gives Islamic banks relatively higher Islamic bank rent opportunity for protecting their "franchise value" as Sharīʿah-compliant (Islamic law-compliant) lenders. However, Indonesian Islamic banks share a still infant Islamic banking market, and enjoy less rent opportunity under a severe competition with conventional banks. Research limitations/implications: The bank rent approach suggests that the syndrome observed both in Bangladesh and Indonesia can be ironically justifiable. Moreover, the mode of profit-and-loss sharing provides, in practice, an idea of the difficulty in managing the participatory financing embedded with high credit risk. Under this scenario, it is necessary for Islamic scholars and the regulatory authority to design an appropriate financial architecture, enabling Islamic banks to avail the benefit from a wider variety of Sharīʿah-based Islamic financing. Originality/value: This paper expands the newly emerged concept of "Islamic bank rent" to make sense of the murabaha syndrome in Bangladesh and the quasi-murabaha syndrome in Indonesia. This approach also contributes to clarifying the unique risk and cost to be compensated with the spreads that Islamic banks are expected to earn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children are one of the most vulnerable groups in almost any population because of their physical and emotional dependence on adults and social status. Their vulnerability is greater in many developing countries because of the higher incidence of poverty and nascent social protection mechanisms. Social protection can serve as a tool to perpetuate inequities or can be used to promote human rights, equality, and inclusiveness. This paper looks at how social protection evolving in four developing countries, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, affects the realization of children's rights. Each country's social protection efforts are analyzed according to the type of effort and then compared to indicators measuring the realization of children's rights. The analysis indicates that well-coordinated social protection systems with wide coverage that include social assistance, social insurance, as well as human capital and empowerment efforts are more likely to result in the progressive realization of children's rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wave of food riots since 2007 revived interest in why people protest in periods of dearth, yet research has to date failed to make sense of the political cultures of food protests. The concept of the moral economy in European history is explored here to make sense of contemporary political perspectives on how food markets should work in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya and Zambia. The concrete expressions of these moral economies are localized and politically contingent, yet there are broad areas of common ground across settings. As with the moral economies of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, there is strong popular feeling against speculation and collusion in food markets in times of dearth, and an emphasis on the responsibilities of public authorities to act. But whereas the moral economy in European histories focused on customary paternalistic obligations, the contemporary emphasis is on formal and electoral accountabilities as a means of triggering public action. The paper concludes with a discussion of a research agenda on the moral economy and the politics of provisions in globalised present-day food markets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Poverty reduction remains the most important challenge for policy makers in Islamic communities. The World Bank (2010: Poverty profile in Muslim world, from ) estimates that approximately 3 billion people are living in poverty and 46 million more people will come under the income level of US$1.25 a day due to the recent global economic meltdown and slow economic growth rates. Thirty-five percent of these people are Muslims from Islamic countries. The global Muslim community has an essential role to play in addressing the injustice of global poverty through zakat. Zakat is an Islamic faith-based institution and is being underutilized for poverty reduction in many of these poor Muslim countries. Since zakat constitutes one of the pillars of Islam, it is logical to assume that policy makers among Muslims should pay serious attention to it. However, that is not the case for many Muslim countries and this paper will show that not all Muslim countries are seriously applying zakat in its strategy of combating poverty. This paper will specifically examine the role and effect of zakat in three Muslim countries ( Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia) providing the facts of countries that practise zakat in comparison with those that do not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Family is one of the most influential social institutions and caregivers act as the main protective factors for children's mental health and resilience skills. Family skills programmes support caregivers to be better parents and strengthen positive age-specific and age-appropriate family functioning and interactions. We developed a universal, brief and light programme for implementation in low-resource settings, the Family UNited (FU) programme, and conducted a pilot study to show feasibility of implementation, replicability and effectiveness in improving family functioning, child behaviour and resilience. Methods: We recruited caregivers with children aged 8–14 years through schools in East Java, Indonesia and Dhaka, Bangladesh to the FU programme. Demographic data, emotional and behavioural difficulties of children, child resilience and parental skills and family adjustment measures were collected from children and caregivers before, 2 and 6 weeks after the intervention. Outcome was assessed through the SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), PAFAS (Parenting and Family Adjustment Scales) and CYRM-R (Child and Youth Resilience Measure). Results: We enrolled 29 families in Bangladesh and allocated 37 families to the intervention and 33 to the control group in Indonesia. Overall, there was no effect over time in the control group on any of the PAFAS subscales, whereas significant reductions in scores were found on six of the seven subscales in either country in the intervention group, most prominently in caregivers with higher scores at baseline. We found highly significant reductions in total SDQ scores in the intervention group in both countries, whereas there was no effect over time in the control group in Indonesia. Boys in the intervention group in Indonesia and in Bangladesh seemed to have benefitted significantly on the SDQ as well as the total resilience scale. Overall, on the CYRM-R, particularly children below the 33rd percentile at pre-test benefitted substantially from the programme. Conclusions: The implementation of a brief family skills programme was seemingly effective and feasible in resource-limited settings and positively improved child mental health, resilience and parenting practices and family adjustment skills. These results suggest the value of such a programme and call for further validation through other methods of impact assessment and outcome evaluation. Trial registration: Clinical Trial Registration: ISRCTN99645405, retrospectively registered, 22 September, 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is the second largest intergovernmental organization after UN with its 57 members. OIC accounts for 22.48 percent of world population, 6.64 percent of world GDP, and 9.1 percent of world trade as of 2007. When it comes to having world valuable resources, OIC's potential is even more striking with more than 70% of oil and nearly 50% of natural gas reserves of the world. However, the level of economic integration and volume of trade among OIC members over the last 4 decades has been less than satisfactory. But recently there have been some efforts towards increased economic cooperation among the member countries as a key strategy for higher economic growth and welfare. Protocol on Preferential Tariff Scheme (PRETAS) signed by nearly a dozen countries proposes a preferential trade regime among the member states. Further steps in the coming years, including possible free trade areas and customs union are also on the agenda. In this context, this paper looks into the likely consequences of an economic integration among three OIC member countries: Malaysia, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. This could be seen as a first step to investigate the possible gains from more comprehensive economic integration initiative including all members of the OIC. Using a multi-sector, multi-country computable general equilibrium framework, we investigate the impact of full trade liberalization among Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh. One should stress that there is not a simple and clear-cut conclusion one can derive: depending on the nature and the degree of integration, the results vary. The simulation results indicate that free trade among these three countries will likely benefit Indonesia and Malaysia while leading to some welfare loss for Bangladesh. Based on the results, it can be suggested that mechanisms be developed in order to strengthen the adjustment capacity of the less developed trade partners. Correspondingly, instead of FTAs, preferential trade arrangements can be considered in the beginning in accordance with the priorities of countries focusing on certain sectors in which they have comparative advantage. Larger integrations may be achieved in the long term gradually through such small-scale integrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face many challenges and competing demands in the health sector, including maternal and newborn mortality. The allocation of financial and human resources for maximum health impact is important for social and economic development. Governments must prioritize carefully and allocate scarce resources to maximum effect, but also in ways that are politically acceptable, financially and institutionally feasible, and sustainable. Political economy analysis (PEA)-that gets what, when and why-can help explain that prioritization process. We used PEA to investigate how four Asian LMICs (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines) allocate and utilize resources for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH). Using mixed research methods including a literature review, field interviews at national and sub-national level, and policy, process and budget analysis in each country, we examined three political economy issues: (1) do these countries demonstrably prioritize MNCH at policy level; (2) if so, is this reflected in the allocation of financial and other resources and (3) if resources are allocated to MNCH, do they achieve the intended outputs and outcomes through actual programme implementation? We also considered the influence of transnational developments. We found that all four countries demonstrate political commitment to health, including MNCH. However, the health sector receives comparatively low public financing, governments often do not follow through on plans or pronouncements, and capacity for related action varies widely. Poor governance and decentralization, lack of data for monitoring and evaluation of progress, and weak public sector human resource capacity were frequent problems; engagement of the private or non-government sectors is an important consideration. Opportunities exist to greatly improve equity and MNCH outcomes in these nations, using a mix of evidence, improved governance, social engagement and the media to influence decisions, increase resource allocation to and improve accountability in the health sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]