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The study examines the personal, social, and organizational barriers facing women in university leadership positions in South Asia, building on the cases of Malaysia and Bangladesh. We discussed the topic through the lens of interactionist feminist theory. Semi-structured interviews with 20 female deans from 12 public universities in Malaysia and Bangladesh were conducted, followed by two focus group discussions with eight female deans. The results reveal that personal barriers such as family duties, lack of technological knowledge, interest in taking leadership positions, spousal support and poor time management, and lack of spousal support represented the major barriers for female deans in Bangladesh. Lack of interest in deanship was found to compound the underrepresentation of women in dean roles. The participants identified fewer socio-cultural barriers faced by Malaysian female deans, while Bangladeshi participants met major issues. The organizational barriers for female deans in public universities were reported. The findings hold significant organizational and policy implications.

This study explores how Nigerian higher education institutions can facilitate industry involvement in the design of programmes and activities that enhance the development of students' knowledge and skills for business start-ups, leading to job creation. Using interview and focus group methodologies, the researchers obtained rich information from 50 participants, including higher education teachers, final year undergraduate students who had taken part in the compulsory Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme and industry executives with an understanding of how industry can make a meaningful contribution to learning in higher education. Focusing on four dominant themes from the thematic analysis, the authors analyse the factors that contribute to students' knowledge and skill development. Building on human capital theory, they make recommendations for curriculum restructuring, renewed pedagogical approaches and competencies, building linkages between higher education and industry and career training and mentoring to enhance the development of students' knowledge and skills for job creation.

This article examines the context of higher education (HE), policies and challenges in the West African context. A multi-level framework and analysis of reengineering, leading change in complexity, activity-based view of the University Business Model and Pedagogical Content Knowledge enable the development of deep connections between the macro- and meso-level and -micro challenges of Higher Education System (HES). These include elements of effective leadership, structures and curriculum and learning pedagogies. Drawing on the analyses of interviews from 25 overseas trained senior academics from Nigerian universities, a preliminary refinement of the philosophy of reengineering, re-thinking and revaluing the higher education system (HES) is offered. These have traditionally been addressed in a piecemeal perspective in HE policy and the academic literature; such a traditional approach has not been the systematic rethinking advocated in the philosophy of reengineering.

Purpose: The paper aims to critically examine overconfidence in numeracy among higher education (HE) graduates and its impact on their employability. The paper discusses the extent to which graduates, because of higher qualifications, overstate their numerical abilities. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is a review of the academic literature examining the theoretical significance of overconfidence in HE. The review subsequently draws on practice and policy reports that evidence graduates' overconfidence in numeracy and basic skills. Findings: The article shows a significant interaction between the level of qualification and overstatement of numerical abilities. The analysis found that graduates do not always have an important basic skill such as numeracy whose impact on work performance is significant. Practical implications: The findings are momentous for rethinking HE curricula, employee development in organisations and government skills strategy. The article advocates more inclusive and interpretive research for a greater understanding of the issues and offers useful data to policymakers and HE institutions in preparing graduates for work and decision-making. Further research in the field is required to enable the formulation of more authoritative conclusions. Originality/value: A critical contribution of this reflection is to have linked the evidence from the academic literature with employer surveys about graduate basic skills to draw the attention to a vital issue affecting national and organisational productivity, thus substantiating anecdotal evidence about graduate overconfidence. This reinforces the value of systematic literature review in research, as it provides an opportunity for more informed policy formulation as well as extending the body of research.

AbstractThis research aims to examine the experiences of international students taking courses during the COVID-19 pandemic amidst lockdowns, self-isolation, and the closure of international borders. We interviewed 15 students, mainly from South Asia, attending university in Atlantic Canada who could not return to their countries of origin before the travel restrictions were imposed. The findings expose major mental health issues the stranded international students faced and the impact on their well-being as well as educational attainment. The study has implications for mental health support systems in Christian universities but has also revealed that Christian compassion was a key coping mechanism for affected students. To the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the experience of international students left stranded by COVID-19 restrictions in Atlantic Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment tested overconfidence in number skills among British graduates and non-graduates. The data were collected at a residential management training programme for part-time professional students. The aim of the research was to test whether graduate professionals, due to their higher qualifications, overstated their numeracy abilities compared to non-graduates. The experiment, conducted using E-prime, showed a significant interaction between the level of qualification and the overstatement of numerical abilities. The results support the hypotheses and showed that graduates rated themselves higher than their actual abilities: their test performance was not consistent with their confidence estimates. The findings are significant in relation to rethinking higher education curricula, which are currently under pressure to align with the needs of the economy. The authors advocate more inclusive and interpretive research for a greater understanding of the relevant issues to offer useful policy data and help higher education institutions prepare their graduates for task fulfilment and decision-making in a dynamic workplace. To date, few experiments have tested the numeracy level of graduates to corroborate the narrative communicated by employers. This study, despite the limited sample, is a first attempt and will serve as a reference for future, wider studies.

This chapter examines the interplay between human resource management theory and human resource management practice. It advocates that effective human resource management practice and theory are intrinsically intertwined, and this indispensable link ought to be central to the pedagogy of management research methods. Through greater embeddedness of the institutional and societal context in research method teaching, students can develop as scholars who understand their roles as facilitators of dialogue between researchers and a significant part of their audience (practitioners). The chapter conceptualizes this perspective as a collaborative model in human resource management research, which then must hold centrality in the teaching of research methods in our university and college classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]