Search results for: Tehran’s academic university libraries

Authors: George Kassar, Phillip A. Cartwright

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Based on data collected from The Jones Learning Center (JLC), University of the Ozarks, Arkansas, U.S., this study explores the impact of inclusive classroom practices on neuro-diverse college students’ and their consequent academic performance having participated in integrative therapies designed to support students who are intellectually capable of obtaining a college degree, but who require support for learning challenges owing to disabilities, AD/HD, or ASD. The purpose of this study is two-fold. The first objective is to explore the general process, special techniques, and practices of the (JLC) inclusive program. The second objective is to identify and analyze the effectiveness of the processes, techniques, and practices in supporting the academic performance of enrolled college students with learning disabilities following integration into mainstream university learning. Integrity, transparency, and confidentiality are vital in the research. All questions were shared in advance and confirmed by the concerned management at the JLC. While administering the questionnaire as well as conducted the interviews, the purpose of the study, its scope, aims, and objectives were clearly explained to all participants prior starting the questionnaire / interview. Confidentiality of all participants assured and guaranteed by using encrypted identification of individuals, thus limiting access to data to only the researcher, and storing data in a secure location. Respondents were also informed that their participation in this research is voluntary, and they may withdraw from it at any time prior to submission if they wish. Ethical consent was obtained from the participants before proceeding with videorecording of the interviews. This research uses a mixed methods approach. The research design involves collecting, analyzing, and “mixing” quantitative and qualitative methods and data to enable a research inquiry. The research process is organized based on a five-pillar approach. The first three pillars are focused on testing the first hypothesis (H1) directed toward determining the extent to the academic performance of JLC students did improve after involvement with comprehensive JLC special program. The other two pillars relate to the second hypothesis (H2), which is directed toward determining the extent to which collective and applied knowledge at JLC is distinctive from typical practices in the field. The data collected for research were obtained from three sources: 1) a set of secondary data in the form of Grade Point Average (GPA) received from the registrar, 2) a set of primary data collected throughout structured questionnaire administered to students and alumni at JLC, and 3) another set of primary data collected throughout interviews conducted with staff and educators at JLC. The significance of this study is two folds. First, it validates the effectiveness of the special program at JLC for college-level students who learn differently. Second, it identifies the distinctiveness of the mix of techniques, methods, and practices, including the special individualized and personalized one-on-one approach at JLC.

Keywords: education, neuro-diverse students, program effectiveness, Jones learning center

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Authors: Laura E. Monroe

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As more non-native English-speaking students enroll in English-medium universities, even more faculty will instruct students who are unprepared for the rigors of post-secondary academic writing in English. Many faculty members lack training and knowledge regarding the assessment of non-native English-speaking students’ writing, as well as the ability to provide effective feedback. This quantitative study investigated the possible attitudinal factors, including demographics, which might affect faculty preparedness and grading practices for both native and non-native English-speaking students’ academic writing and plagiarism, as well as the reasons faculty do not deduct points from both populations’ writing errors. Structural equation modeling and SPSS Statistics were employed to analyze the results of a faculty questionnaire disseminated to individuals who had taught non-native English-speaking students in academic subject courses. The findings from this study illustrated that faculty’s native language, years taught, and institution type were significant factors in not deducting points for academic writing errors and plagiarism, and the major reasons for not deducting points for errors were that faculty had too many students to grade, not enough training in assessing student written errors and plagiarism and that the errors and plagiarism would have taken too long to explain. The practical implications gleaned from these results can be applied to most departments in English-medium post-secondary institutions regarding faculty preparedness and training in student academic writing errors and plagiarism, and recommendations for future research are given for similar types of preparation and guidance for post-secondary faculty, regardless of degree path or academic subject.

Keywords: assessment, faculty, non-native English-speaking students, writing

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Authors: Fidelia A. Orji, Julita Vassileva

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This research aims to develop machine learning models for students' academic performance and study strategy prediction, which could be generalized to all courses in higher education. Key learning attributes (intrinsic, extrinsic, autonomy, relatedness, competence, and self-esteem) used in building the models are chosen based on prior studies, which revealed that the attributes are essential in students’ learning process. Previous studies revealed the individual effects of each of these attributes on students’ learning progress. However, few studies have investigated the combined effect of the attributes in predicting student study strategy and academic performance to reduce the dropout rate. To bridge this gap, we used Scikit-learn in python to build five machine learning models (Decision Tree, K-Nearest Neighbour, Random Forest, Linear/Logistic Regression, and Support Vector Machine) for both regression and classification tasks to perform our analysis. The models were trained, evaluated, and tested for accuracy using 924 university dentistry students' data collected by Chilean authors through quantitative research design. A comparative analysis of the models revealed that the tree-based models such as the random forest (with prediction accuracy of 94.9%) and decision tree show the best results compared to the linear, support vector, and k-nearest neighbours. The models built in this research can be used in predicting student performance and study strategy so that appropriate interventions could be implemented to improve student learning progress. Thus, incorporating strategies that could improve diverse student learning attributes in the design of online educational systems may increase the likelihood of students continuing with their learning tasks as required. Moreover, the results show that the attributes could be modelled together and used to adapt/personalize the learning process.

Keywords: classification models, learning strategy, predictive modeling, regression models, student academic performance, student motivation, supervised machine learning

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Authors: Hassan S. Naeini, Hashem Mosaddad

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Industrial design as a multidisciplinary science has a vast field in which some different aspects are involved. In this regard, aspects of art, technology and engineering, social and economics are known as the main related fields. Also, state of the art scientific areas and also art based files have been making the new conditions for industrial design discipline. Furthermore, there are some new approaches and branches of industrial design. However, there is not any categorized style for these industrial design sub-groups. Undoubtedly, if there is an appropriate chart for the main industrial design approaches and branches, the related groups such as industrial designers, manufacturers, and industrial design students will have practical ideas to categorize their activities. In this case study, we developed a scientific umbrella for industrial design in which most of current approaches and branches and related association are introduced. For data gathering, some interviews were done among volunteer industrial design lecturers who are teaching at some well-known universities in Iran. Also, according to the inventory of industrial design, theses which are in university libraries, thesis approaches, and titles were assessed. Based on gathered data, we introduced a scientific umbrella for industrial design in which most of related branches and approaches are categorized. In this umbrella, the hierarchy of related branches is highlighted as well.

Keywords: industrial design, art, industrial design approaches, scientific umbrella

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Authors: Mahshid Asadollahi, Mohammad Akbari Asl

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The restaurant industry is highly competitive, and restaurants are constantly looking for ways to attract new customers and retain their existing ones. Nonverbal communication is an important factor in creating a positive customer experience and can play a significant role in attracting customers to restaurants. Nonverbal communication can include body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, and physical proximity, among other things. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of nonverbal communication between restaurant employees and customers on attracting customers in food courts in Tehran. The research method was descriptive-correlational, and the statistical population of this study included all customers of food court restaurants in Tehran, which was about 30 restaurants. The research sample was selected through probability sampling, and 440 customers completed emotional response, customer satisfaction, and nonverbal communication questionnaires in person. The data obtained were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The results showed that vocal language, employee proximity, physical appearance, and speech movements, as components of nonverbal communication of restaurant employees, had an impact on attracting customers. Additionally, positive and negative emotions of customers have a significant relationship with customer attraction in Food Court restaurants. The study shows that various nonverbal communication factors can play a significant role in attracting customers, and that positive and negative customer emotions can affect customer satisfaction. Therefore, restaurant owners and managers should pay attention to nonverbal communication and train their employees accordingly to create a positive and welcoming atmosphere for customers.

Keywords: verbal language, proximity of employees, physical appearance, speech gestures, nonverbal communication, customer emotions, customer attraction

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Authors: Seyedmohsen Mortazavi

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The purpose of this research is to investigate the personality types of internal auditors on the quality of financial reporting in companies admitted to the Tehran Stock Exchange. Personality type is one of the issues that emphasizes the field of auditors' behavior, and this field has attracted the attention of shareholders and stock companies today, because the auditors' personality can affect the type of financial reporting and its quality. The research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive and correlational in terms of method, and a researcher-made questionnaire was used to check the research hypotheses. The statistical population of the research is all the auditors, accountants and financial managers of the companies admitted to the Tehran Stock Exchange, and due to their large number and the uncertainty of their exact number, 384 people have been considered as a statistical sample using Morgan's table. The researcher-made questionnaire was approved by experts in the field, and then its validity and reliability were obtained using software. For the validity of the questionnaire, confirmatory factor analysis was first examined, and then using divergent and convergent validity; Fornell-Larker and cross-sectional load test of the validity of the questionnaire were confirmed; Then, the reliability of the questionnaire was examined using Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability, and the results of these two tests showed the appropriate reliability of the questionnaire. After checking the validity and reliability of the research hypotheses, PLS software was used to check the hypotheses. The results of the research showed that the personalities of internal auditors can affect the quality of financial reporting; The personalities investigated in this research include neuroticism, extroversion, flexibility, agreeableness and conscientiousness, all of these personality types can affect the quality of financial reporting.

Keywords: flexibility, quality of financial reporting, agreeableness, conscientiousness

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Authors: Hafsat Mustapha Hanga

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The purpose of the this study was to investigate the effect of broken home on students' academic performance. Therefore, it focused on academic performance and Parental care of the student from and intact home from a cognitive motivational perceptive. The broken and intact home and also to find out if they differ in parental care this is done by using 376 subjects out of the population of 21,378. The sample was obtained using stratified random sampling techniques as the population contained sub-groups the study design was ex-post facto. The data was collected using 3 kind of instruments. To test the first and second hypotheses. Junior secondary school placement examination result was obtained to test the academic performance of the boys fron broken home and boys from and boys from intact home and then girl from broken home and girls from intact home.T-Test was used in the analysis of first and second hypotheses. For the third hypotheses two different kind of questionnaires were developed, the first was used to identify student that are from broken home while the second was for testing parental care between the subject. Chi-square was used to analyze the third hypotheses. Alkh the three 3 hypotheses were tested and rejected and were all in favor of student from intact home. The study found that there was a significant difference in the academic performance of the boys from brokeb and boys from intact home. When boys from intact home better then those boys from broken home. It also reveals that a student from a intact from intact home receives good parental care, love and concern than those from broken home.on the strength of these findings the need to establish an institution which will help those parent who have parenting problems was stressed and also the need to foster. Home school partnership was also stressed and advocate.

Keywords: broken homes, academic performance, parental care, foster

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Authors: Collins Ekpiwre Augustine

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Taking into account the impact of teacher training on primary and secondary teachers’ classroom competencies and practices, as revealed by many empirical studies, this study investigated the impact of teacher qualifications on the pedagogical competencies of university teachers in Northwest Nigeria.Four research questions were answered while four hypotheses were tested. Both descriptive statistic of frequencies/arithmetic mean and inferential statistic oft-test were used to analyze the data collected. In order to provide a focus to the study,an observational rating scale titled “University Teachers’ Pedagogical Competency Observation Rating Scale” (UTPCORS) was used to collect data for the study. The population for the study comprised all the university teachers in the three Federal Universities in Northwest Nigeria totaling about 3,401. However, this pilot study was administered on 8 teachers - with 4 participants in each comparison group in Bayero University, Kano.The findings of the study revealed that there was no significant difference in the four hypotheses postulated for the study.

Keywords: impact, university teachers, teachers' qualifications, competencies

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Authors: Jean Patrick Mve

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The increasing quest for efficiency, accountability, and transparency has led to the implementation of massive governance reforms among higher education systems worldwide. This is causing many changes in the governance of higher education institutions. Governments over the world are trying to adopt business-like organizational strategies to enhance the performance of higher education institutions. This study explores the changes that have taken place in the Cameroonian higher education sector. It also attempts to draw a picture of the likely future of higher education governance and the actions to be taken for the promotion of institutional effectiveness among higher education institutions. The “governance equalizer” is used as an analytical tool to this end. It covers the five dimensions of the New Public Management (NPM), namely: state regulation, stakeholder guidance, academic self-governance, managerial self-governance, and competition. Qualitative data are used, including semi-structured interviews with key informants at the organizational level and other academic stakeholders, documents and archival data from the university and from the ministry of higher education. It has been found that state regulation among higher education institutions in Cameroon is excessively high, causing the institutional autonomy to be very low, especially at the level of financial management, staffing and promotion, and other internal administrative affairs; at the level of stakeholder guidance there is a higher degree of stakeholders consideration in the academic and research activities among universities, though the government’s interest to keep its hands in most management activities is still high; academic self-governance is also very weak as the assignment of academics is done more on the basis of political considerations than competence; there is no real managerial self-governance among higher education institutions due to the lack of institutional capacity and insufficient autonomy at the level of decision making; there is a plan to promote competition among universities but a real competitive environment is not yet put into place. The study concludes that the government’s policy should make state control more relaxed and concentrate on steering and supervision. As well, real institutional autonomy, professional competence building for top management and stakeholder participation should be considered to guarantee competition and institutional effectiveness.

Keywords: Cameroon higher education, effective institutional governance, governance equalizer, institutional autonomy, institutional effectiveness

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Authors: Barbora Chmelíková

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Financial literacy is a widely discussed topic on the national and international level by governments, organizations and academia. For this reason this study analyses financial knowledge, financial behavior and financial attitudes of students of finance. The aim of the paper is to determine whether the financial literacy of university students studying finance differs from the level of financial literacy in selected OECD countries. The research was conducted at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic. The empirical study comprises questions related to several aspects of financial literacy, as well as socio-demographic data enabling more thorough analysis. The results indicate that improvement in financial literacy of university students is still required, even though their major is finance related.

Keywords: financial literacy, financial behavior, personal finance management, university students

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Authors: Khalid Alasim

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This study investigates the attitudes of faculty members at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University toward integrating students with disabilities. Additionally, this research examines the possible factors that might affect faculty members’ attitudes about the inclusion of students with disability; the factors include occupation, gender, college, the country in which the certificate was obtained, years of experience, previous experience in teaching students with disabilities, the presence of a family member with a disability, attending a program on teaching students with disabilities. The researcher used a survey to collect data and the study sample consisted of 102 faculty members at the university. The findings indicated an increase in the attitudes of faculty members at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University towards the inclusion of students with disabilities in the university, while there is no effect for all study independents variables on the attitudes of faculty members, and there is no interaction between the variables as well. The study concluded with the importance of training and preparing faculty members to teach and deal with students with disabilities at the university level.

Keywords: attitutes, inclusion, disability, faculty members

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Authors: Pegah Farokhzad

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Family is a basic unit of the society and the main source of human development. The initial aim of the family is psychological and social support of its members and has special developmental stages. Researches show the families who have less cohesion, have more conflicts and maladjustments and the members of such families are not able to communicate effectively. Family is a system in which any inter communication is related to child rearing patterns and can affect it. Even the child rearing styles in childhood can determine the family communications in adulthood. Therefore, the aim of the present research was to examine the relationship between child-rearing styles including authoritative, authoritarian and permissive with dimensions of family communication patterns including the conversation and conformity. The research design was a correlational and the population consisted of the psychology students of Roudehen Islamic Azad University who were studying in academic year 2013-2014. A sample of 324 students were selected randomly from the population. The research tools were the Baumrind Child-rearing Questionnaires and Family Communication Patterns Inventory, The Revised Scale of Koerner and Fitzpatrick. The results were: (a) There was a positive and significant relationship between conversation orientation and authoritative style. (b) There was no significant relationship between conversation orientation and other child-rearing styles. (c) There was a negative significant relationship between conformity orientation and authoritative style. (d) There was a positive significant relationship between conformity orientation with authoritarian and permissive styles. (e) There was a significant relationship between 3 dimensions of child-rearing and communication patterns.

Keywords: child-rearing styles, family relationship patterns, university students, Iran

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Authors: Henry Prihanto Nugroho

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This paper suggests education tourism as an option into developing more sustainable mass tourism. Identifying the potential of education tourism and developing a sustainable packages will have an impact on social economic development in the area. Indonesia especially Yogyakarta can increase their tourism earnings by tapping into this growing market phenomenon. Educational tourism, a growing part in the world tourism market, has attracted great attention because of its direct impact on the community and as an alternative strategy for poverty alleviation. Tourism is considered as one of the main industries and sectors highly contributing to economic development in Indonesia especially in Yogyakarta, this region can be an ideal case for studying the issue of educational tourism in Universitas Gadjah Mada. This paper tries to introduce the educational tourism as an important alternative source of the economy accelerator in the context of Yogyakarta Indonesia. This paper also aims to discuss the education tourism potential at the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta Indonesia then to create and established an Education Tourism package at Gadjah Mada University. Education Tourism is a means to empower academics, local community, local businesses, and to improve the economic welfare. Methods: Focus group discussions, direct observation, survey and best practice method. Conclusion: There is a positive relationship between attitude, environmental impact, economic impact, and socio-cultural impacts and practice in the field when the potential is seized. The findings incorporate insights into the socio-cultural and economic potential of education tourism and practices related to community development at the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta Indonesia by creating an Education Tourism Packages that will suit the needs of the tourist. Educational tourism can create sustainable development for local communities, academic society, universities, and stakeholders.

Keywords: education tourism, Gadjah Mada, sustainable, tourism

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Authors: Havish Nalapareddy, Mark V. Albert, Ranak Bansal, Avi Udash, Lin Lin

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Students engage in many course projects during their degree programs. However, impactful projects often need a time frame longer than a single semester. Ideally, projects are documented and structured to be readily accessible to future students who may choose to continue the project, with features that emphasize the local community, university, or course structure. The Research and Project Portal (RAPP) is a place where students can post both their completed and ongoing projects with all the resources and tools used. This portal allows students to see what other students have done in the past, in the same university environment, related to their domain of interest. Computer science instructors or students selecting projects can use this portal to assign or choose an incomplete project. Additionally, this portal allows non-computer science faculty and industry collaborators to document their project ideas for students in courses to prototype directly, rather than directly soliciting the help of instructors in engaging students. RAPP serves as a platform linking students across classes and faculty both in and out of computer science courses on joint projects to encourage long-term project efforts across semesters or years.

Keywords: education, technology, research, academic portal

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Authors: Trupti Diwan

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Predicting student failure at school has changed into a difficult challenge due to both the large number of factors that can affect the reduced performance of students and the imbalanced nature of these kinds of data sets. This paper surveys the two elements needed to make prediction on Students’ Academic Performances which are parameters and methods. This paper also proposes a framework for predicting the performance of engineering students. Genetic programming can be used to predict student failure/success. Ranking algorithm is used to rank students according to their credit points. The framework can be used as a basis for the system implementation & prediction of students’ Academic Performance in Higher Learning Institute.

Keywords: classification, educational data mining, student failure, grammar-based genetic programming

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Authors: Afaf Manzoor, Abdul Hameed

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Children with hearing impairment face several challenges in accessing primary and secondary education in general and higher education in particular in Pakistan. A large number of these children are excluded from formal education system through segregated special institutions. The enrollment rate of these children at school level is very low and it continues decreasing as they move on the ladder of education. Negligible number of students with hearing impairment gets any chance to be enrolled at tertiary or higher education institutes. The segregated system of education at primary and secondary level makes it even more difficult to adjust in an inclusive classroom at a higher level not only for students with hearing impairment but for their teachers and peers as well. A false belief of teachers and parents about low academic profile of students with hearing impairment is one of the major challenges to overcome for their participation at higher education. This case study was conducted to document an innovative step taken by the Department of Special Education Needs, University of Management & Technology, Lahore Pakistan. The prime objective of this study was to assess the satisfaction level of students with hearing impairment in BS 4 Years and MA Special Education programs at Lahore campus. Structured interviews were of 40 students with hearing impairment to assess the satisfaction on service delivery (admission process, classroom pedagogy, content, assessment/results, access to other services centers i.e. library, cafeteria, hostel, co-curricular activities) and campus life. Their peers without disabilities were also interviewed to assess their acceptance level. The findings of the study revealed positive results about their educational as well as social inclusion in the university. The students also shared their fears at the time of admission and how fear eventually faded out with the passage of time due to the proper academic support system. The findings of the study will be shared in detail with the audience during the presentation.

Keywords: students with hearing impairment, higher education, inclusive education, marginalization

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Authors: Erfan Memarian, Seyyed Fazayel Alizadeh

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This study aims to evaluate the impacts of the oil and financial markets of the United States on Iran stock exchange and to develop an ARDL model to predict the short and long-term relationship between these markets. In this regard, all 713 weekly data between 28 July 1999 and 20 March 2013 were analyzed by using Microfit4.0 and Eviews7 econometric softwares. The independent variable of the study is the “Price and Yield Index (TEDPIX)” of Tehran Stock Exchange and the independent variables include S & P 500 Index, the US three-month treasury bill rate and West Texas Intermediate oil spot price index. The results show that the West Texas Intermediate oil spot price and the S&P 500 indices have significant positive relationships with Iran's TEDPIX. Also, there exists a significant negative relationship between Iran's TEDPIX and the US three-month Treasury bill rate.

Keywords: TEDPIX; Tehran Stock Exchange; S&P 500 index; USA three-month Treasury bill rate; West Texas Intermediate oil

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Authors: Ying Zhou, Jian-Hua Wang

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Based upon the self-determination theory and self-regulated learning theory, this study examined the predictiveness of goal orientation and self-regulated learning strategies on academic achievement of adult students in distance learning. The results show a positive relation between goal orientation and the use of self-regulated strategies, and academic achievements. A significant and positive indirect relation of mastery goal orientation through self-regulated learning strategies was also found. In addition, results pointed to a positive indirect impact of performance-approach goal orientation on academic achievement. The effort regulation strategy fully mediated this relation. The theoretical and instructional implications are discussed. Interventions can be made to motivate students’ mastery or performance approach goal orientation and help them manage their time or efforts.

Keywords: goal orientation, self-regulated strategies, achievement, adult distance students

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Authors: Rigas Kotsakis, Nikolaos Tsigilis, Vasilis Grammatikopoulos, Evridiki Zachopoulou

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During the last decade, Greece has faced an unprecedented financial crisis, affecting various aspects and functionalities of Higher Education. Besides the restricted funding of academic institutions, the students and their families encountered economical difficulties that undoubtedly influenced the effective completion of their studies. In this context, a fairly large number of students in Alexander campus of International Hellenic University (IHU) delay, interrupt, or even abandon their studies, especially when they come from low-income families, belong to sensitive social or special needs groups, they have different cultural origins, etc. For this reason, a European project, named “Umbrella”, was initiated aiming at providing the necessary psychological support and counseling, especially to disadvantaged students, towards the completion of their studies. To this end, a network of various academic members (academic staff and students) from IHU, namely iMentor, were implicated in different roles. Specifically, experienced academic staff trained students to serve as intermediate links for the integration and educational support of students that fall into the aforementioned sensitive social groups and face problems for the completion of their studies. The main idea of the project is held upon its person-centered character, which facilitates direct student-to-student communication without the intervention of the teaching staff. The backbone of the iMentors network are senior students that face no problem in their academic life and volunteered for this project. It should be noted that there is a provision from the Umbrella structure for substantial and ethical rewards for their engagement. In this context, a well-defined, stringent methodology was implemented for the evaluation of the extent of the problem in IHU and the detection of the profile of the “candidate” disadvantaged students. The first phase included two steps, (a) data collection and (b) data cleansing/ preprocessing. The first step involved the data collection process from the Secretary Services of all Schools in IHU, from 1980 to 2019, which resulted in 96.418 records. The data set included the School name, the semester of studies, a student enrolling criteria, the nationality, the graduation year or the current, up-to-date academic state (still studying, delayed, dropped off, etc.). The second step of the employed methodology involved the data cleansing/preprocessing because of the existence of “noisy” data, missing and erroneous values, etc. Furthermore, several assumptions and grouping actions were imposed to achieve data homogeneity and an easy-to-interpret subsequent statistical analysis. Specifically, the duration of 40 years recording was limited to the last 15 years (2004-2019). In 2004 the Greek Technological Institutions were evolved into Higher Education Universities, leading into a stable and unified frame of graduate studies. In addition, the data concerning active students were excluded from the analysis since the initial processing effort was focused on the detection of factors/variables that differentiated graduate and deleted students. The final working dataset included 21.432 records with only two categories of students, those that have a degree and those who abandoned their studies. Findings of the first phase are presented across faculties and further discussed.

Keywords: higher education, students support, economic crisis, mentoring

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Authors: Zakhile Somlata

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In the context of international linguistic and cultural diversity, all languages can be used for all purposes. Africa in general and South Africa, in particular, is not an exception to multilingual and multicultural society. The multilingual and multicultural nature of South African society has a direct bearing to the heterogeneity of South African Universities in general. Universities as the centers of research, innovation, and transformation of the entire society should be at the forefront in leading multilingualism. The universities in South Africa had been using English and to a certain extent Afrikaans as the only academic languages during colonialism and apartheid regime. The democratic breakthrough of 1994 brought linguistic relief in South Africa. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa recognizes 11 official languages that should enjoy parity of esteem for the realization of multilingualism. The elevation of the nine previously marginalized indigenous African languages as academic languages in higher education is central to multilingualism. It is high time that Afrocentric model instead of Eurocentric model should be the one which underpins education system in South Africa at all levels. Almost all South African universities have their language policies that seek to promote access and success of students through multilingualism, but the main dilemma is the implementation of language policies. This study is significant to respond to two objectives: (i) To evaluate how selected institutions use language policies for accessibility and success of students. (ii) To study how selected universities integrate African languages for both academic and administrative purposes. This paper reflects the language policy practices in one selected University of Technology (UoT) in South Africa. The UoT has its own language policy which depicts linguistic diversity of the institution and its commitment to promote multilingualism. Translanguaging pedagogy which accommodates minority languages' usage in the teaching and learning process plays a pivotal role in promoting multilingualism. This research paper employs mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative research) approach. Qualitative data has been collected from the key informants (insiders and experts), while quantitative data has been collected from a cohort of third-year students. A mixed methods approach with its convergent parallel design allows the data to be collected separately, analysed separately but with the comparison of the results. Language development initiatives have been discussed within the framework of language policy and policy implementation strategies. Theoretically, this paper is rooted in language as a problem, language as a right and language as a resource. The findings demonstrate that despite being a multilingual institution, there is a perpetuation of marginalization of African languages to be used as academic languages. Findings further display the hegemony of English. The promotion of status quo compromises the promotion of multilingualism, Africanization of Higher Education and intellectualization of indigenous African languages in South Africa under a democratic dispensation.

Keywords: afro-centric model, hegemony of English, language as a resource, translanguaging pedagogy

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Authors: Eneken Titov, Ly Hobe

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The collaboration between the universities and companies has been a challenging topic for many years, and although we have many good experiences, those seem to be single examples between one university and company. In Ülemiste Smart City in Estonia, the new initiative was started in 2020 fall, when five Estonian universities cooperated, led by the Ülemiste City developing company Mainor, intending to provide charge-free university courses for the Ülemiste City companies and their employees to encourage university-company wider collaboration. Every Ülemiste City company gets a certain number of free educational credit hours per year to participate in university courses. A functional and simple web platform was developed to mediate university courses for the companies. From January 2021, the education credit platform is open for all Ülemiste City companies and their employees to join, and universities offer more than 9000 hours of courses (appr 150 ECTS). Just two months later, more than 20% of Ülemiste City companies (82 out of 400) have joined the project, and their employees have registered for more than in total 3000 hours courses. The first results already show that the project supports the university marketing and the continuous education mindset in general, whether 1/4 of the courses are paid courses (e.g., when the company is out of free credit).

Keywords: education, educational credit, smart city, university-industry collaboration

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Authors: Adedayo Racheal Agbonna

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The rising level of graduate unemployment in Nigeria has brought about the introduction of entrepreneurship education as a career option for self–reliance and self-employment. Sequel to this, it is important to have an understanding of the determining factors of entrepreneurial intention. Therefore this research empirically investigated the influence of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention of undergraduate students of selected universities in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study is significant to researchers, university policy makers, and the government. Survey research design was adopted in the study. The population consisted of 17,659 final year undergraduate students universities in Ogun State. The study adopted stratified and random sampling technique. The table of sample size determination was used to determine the sample size for this study at 95% confidence level and 5% margin error to arrive at a sample size of 1877 respondents. The elements of population were 400 level students of the selected universities. A structured questionnaire titled 'Entrepreneurship Education and students’ Entrepreneurial intention' was administered. The result of the reliability test had the following values 0.716, 0.907 and 0.949 for infrastructure, perceived university support, and entrepreneurial intention respectively. In the same vein, from the construct validity test, the following values were obtained 0.711, 0.663 and 0.759 for infrastructure, perceived university support and entrepreneurial intention respectively. Findings of this study revealed that each of the entrepreneurship education variables significantly affected intention University infrastructure B= -1.200, R²=0.679, F (₁,₁₈₇₅) = 3958.345, P < 0.05) Perceived University Support B= -1.027, R²=0.502, F(₁,₁₈₇₅) = 1924.612, P < 0.05). The perception of respondents in public university and private university on entrepreneurship education have a statistically significant difference [F(₁,₁₈₇₅) = 134.614, p < 0.05) α F(₁,₁₈₇₅) = 363.439]. The study concluded that entrepreneurship education positively influenced entrepreneurial intention of undergraduate students in Ogun State, Nigeria. Also, university infrastructure and perceived university support have negative and significant effect on entrepreneurial intention. The study recommended that to promote entrepreneurial intention of university undergraduate students, infrastructures and the university support that can arouse entrepreneurial intention of students should be put in place.

Keywords: entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial intention, perceived university support, university infrastructure

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Authors: Wim Hollander, Petrus Louis Nolte

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University sport in South Africa is not isolated from the complexity of globalization and professionalization of sport, as it forms an integral part of the sports development environment in South Africa. In order to align their sports programs with global and professional requirements, several universities opted to develop elite sports programs; recruit specialized personnel such as coaches, administrators, and athletes; provide expert coaching; scientific and medical services; sports testing; fitness, technical and tactical expertise; sport psychological and rehabilitation support; academic guidance and career assistance; and student-athlete accommodation. In addition, universities provide administrative support and high-quality physical resources (training facilities) for the benefit of the overall South African sport system. Although it is not compulsory for universities to develop elite sports programs to prepare their teams for competitions, elite competitions such as the annual Varsity Sport, University Sport South Africa (USSA) and local club competitions and leagues within international university competitions where universities not only compete but also deliver players for representative national netball teams. The aim of this study is, therefore, to describe the perceptions of players of the university elite netball programs they were participating in. This study adopted a descriptive design with a quantitative approach, utilizing a self-structured questionnaire as a research technique. As this research formed part of a national research project for NSA with a population of 172 national and provincial netball players, a sample of 92 university netball players from the population was selected. Content validity of the self-structured questionnaire was secured through a test-retest process, with construct validity through a member of the Statistical Consultation Services (STATCON) of the University of Johannesburg that provided feedback on the structural format of the questionnaire. Reliability was measured utilizing Cronbach Alpha on p < 0.005 level of significance. A reliability score of 0.87 was measured. The research was approved by the Board of Netball South Africa and ethical conduct implemented according to the processes and procedures approved by the Ethics Committees of the Faculty of Health Sciences, the University of Johannesburg with clearance number REC-01-30-2019. From the results, it is evident that university elite netball programs are professional, especially with regards to the employment of knowledgeable and competent coaches and technical officials such as team managers and sport sciences staff. These professionals have access to elite training facilities, support staff, and relatively large groups of elite players, all elements of an elite program that could enhance the national federation’s (Netball South Africa) system. Universities could serve the dual purpose of serving as university netball clubs, as well as providing elite training services and facilities as performance hubs for national players.

Keywords: elite sport programmes, university netball, player experiences, varsity sport netball

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Authors: Rosaline Govender, Shubnam Rambharos

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Universities are, to a certain extent, the source of under-preparedness ideologically, structurally, and pedagogically, particularly since organizational cultures often alienate students by failing to enable epistemological access. This is evident in the unsustainably low graduation rates that characterize South African higher education, which indicate that under 30% graduate in minimum time, under two-thirds graduate within 6 years, and one-third have not graduated after 10 years. Although the statistics for the Faculty of Accounting and Informatics at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in South Africa have improved significantly from 2019 to 2021, the graduation (32%), throughput (50%), and dropout rates (16%) are still a matter for concern as the graduation rates, in particular, are quite similar to the national statistics. For our students to succeed, higher education should take a multi-pronged approach to ensure student success, and student engagement is one of the ways to support our students. Student engagement depends not only on students’ teaching and learning experiences but, more importantly, on their social and academic integration, their sense of belonging, and their emotional connections in the institution. Such experiences need to challenge students academically and engage their intellect, grow their communication skills, build self-discipline, and promote confidence. The aim of this mixed methods study is to explore the multi-pronged nature of student success within the Faculty of Accounting and Informatics at DUT and focuses on the enabling and constraining factors of student success. The sources of data were the Mid-year student experience survey (N=60), the Hambisa Student Survey (N=85), and semi structured focus group interviews with first, second, and third year students of the Faculty of Accounting and Informatics Hambisa program. The Hambisa (“Moving forward”) focus area is part of the Siyaphumelela 2.0 project at DUT and seeks to understand the multiple challenges that are impacting student success which create a large “middle” cohort of students that are stuck in transition within academic programs. Using the lens of the sociocultural influences on student engagement framework, we conducted a thematic analysis of the two surveys and focus group interviews. Preliminary findings indicate that living conditions, choice of program, access to resources, motivation, institutional support, infrastructure, and pedagogical practices impact student engagement and, thus, student success. It is envisaged that the findings from this project will assist the university in being better prepared to enable student success.

Keywords: social and academic integration, socio-cultural influences, student engagement, student success

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Authors: Siti Napsiyah, Ismet Firdaus, Lisma Dyawati Fuaida, Ellies Sukmawati

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This paper examines the existence, role, and challenge of Family Service Agency, in Bahasa Indonesia known as Lembaga Konsultasi Kesejahteraan Keluarga (LK3) of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta. It has been established since 2012. It is an official agency under the Ministry of Social Affairs of Indonesia. The establishment of LK3 aims to provide psychosocial services for families of students who has psychosocial problem in their life. The study also aims to explore the trend of psychosocial problems of its client (student) for the past three years (2014-2016). The research method of the study is using a qualitative social work research method. A review of selected data of the client of LK3 UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta around five main issues: Family background, psychosocial mapping, potential resources, student coping mechanism strategy, client strength and network. The study also uses a review of academic performance report as well as an interview and observation. The findings show that the trend of psychosocial problems of the client of LK3 UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta vary as follow: bad academic performance, low income family, broken home, domestic violence, disability, mental disorder, sexual abuse, and the like. LK3 UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta has significant roles to provide psychosocial support and services for the survival of the students to deal with their psychosocial problems. Social worker of LK3 performs indigenous social work practice: individual counseling, family counseling, group therapy, home visit, case conference, Islamic Spiritual Approach, and Spiritual Emotional Freedom Technique (SEPT).

Keywords: psychosocial, indigenizing social work, resiliency, coping mechanism

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Authors: Barbora Chmelikova

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Current financial markets offer a wide range of financial products to the consumers. However, access to the financial products is not always provided or guaranteed, particularly in less developed countries. For this reason, financial inclusion is an important component in the modern society. This paper investigates financial inclusion and what financial products are held by university students majoring in finance fields. The OECD methodology was used to examine the awareness and use of financial products. The study was conducted via online questionnaire at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic among finance students. The results show that the students use current and savings accounts more than any other financial products.

Keywords: financial inclusion, financial products, personal finance, university students

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Authors: Ajayi Olusola Olajide, O. Ojeyinka Taiwo, Adeolara Oluwawemimo Janet, Isheyemi Olufemi Gabriel, Lawal Muideen Adekunle

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In an academic world where research work is the tool for promotion and elevation to higher cadres, the quest for a system that secure researchers’ work, monitor as well as alert researchers of pending academic research work, cannot be over-emphasized. This study describes how a research repository system for academics is designed. The invention further relates to a system for archiving any paperwork and journal that comprises of a database for storing all researches. It relates to a method for users to communicate through messages which will also allow reviewing all the messages. To create this research repository system, PHP and MySQL were married together for the system implementation.

Keywords: research, repository, academic, archiving, secure, system, implementation

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Authors: Dian Guan

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With the wide application of multimedia and the Internet, the development of teaching theories, and the implementation of teaching reforms, many different university English classroom teaching modes have emerged. The university English teaching mode is changing from the traditional teaching mode based on conversation and text to the multimodal English teaching mode containing discussion, pictures, audio, film, etc. Applying university English teaching models is conducive to cultivating lifelong learning skills. In addition, lifelong learning skills can also be called learners' autonomous learning skills. Learners' independent learning ability has a significant impact on English learning. However, many university students, especially art and design students, don't know how to learn individually. When they become university students, their English foundation is a relative deficiency because they always remember the language in a traditional way, which, to a certain extent, neglects the cultivation of English learners' independent ability. As a result, the autonomous learning ability of most university students is not satisfactory. The participants in this study were 60 students and one teacher in their first year at a university in western China. Two observations and interviews were conducted inside and outside the classroom to understand the impact of a multimodal teaching model of university English on students' autonomous learning ability. The results were analyzed, and it was found that the multimodal teaching model of university English significantly affected learners' autonomy. Incorporating classroom presentations and poster exhibitions into multimodal teaching can increase learners' interest in learning and enhance their learning ability outside the classroom. However, further exploration is needed to develop multimodal teaching materials and evaluate multimodal teaching outcomes. Despite the limitations of this study, the study adopts a scientific research method to analyze the impact of the multimodal teaching mode of university English on students' independent learning ability. It puts forward a different outlook for further research on this topic.

Keywords: art university, EFL education, learner autonomy, multimodal pedagogy

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Authors: Magaji Zainab Musa, Nordin M. A. Rahman, Julaily Aida Jusoh

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This paper discusses the formal specification of web services applications for digital reference services (WSDRS). Digital reference service involves a user requesting for help from a reference librarian and a reference librarian responding to the request of a user all by electronic means. In most cases users do not get satisfied while using digital reference service due to delay of response of the librarians. Another may be due to no response or due to librarian giving an irrelevant solution to the problem submitted by the user. WDSRS is an informal model that claims to reduce the problems of digital reference services in libraries. It uses web services technology to provide efficient way of satisfying users’ need in the reference section of libraries. But informal model is in natural language which is inconsistent and ambiguous that may cause difficulties to the developers of the system. In order to solve this problem we decided to convert the informal specifications into formal specifications. This is supposed to reduce the overall development time and cost. Formal specification can be used to provide an unambiguous and precise supplement to natural language descriptions. It can be rigorously validated and verified leading to the early detection of specification errors. We use Z language to develop the formal model and verify it with Z/EVES theorem prover tool.

Keywords: formal, specifications, web services, digital reference services

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Authors: Homa Hedayat

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Public spaces have been a central concern of urban planners for centuries but have been neglected for a long time. In the modernist planning, the focus has been on the requirements of cars rather than the needs and expectations of pedestrians, and therefore, cities have lost many qualities. Urban public space is a space within the city area which is accessible to all people and is the ground for their activity. People’s public life occurs in urban public spaces in a complex set of forms and functions. These spaces must facilitate diverse behavior, uses, and activities such as shopping, walking, conversation, entertainment, relaxation or even passing the time during festivities and events. One of the public spaces is the surrounding space of public transportation stations. Subway stations, although potentially encompass many different groups of people accommodate few social interactions. Making the surrounding areas of subway stations pedestrian-oriented, potentially increases the socialization capacity. The Sadeghieh Subway Station can be considered as the most important subway station in Tehran, which on the one hand is the rail port of Tehran's western entrance, and on the other is the port for railway journeys inside the city. The main concern of this study is to assess the success or failure of the interventions made by the municipality for changing the surrounding area of the Sadeghieh Subway Station into a pedestrian-oriented space and examine the amount of the area's improvement into a desirable space. The method used in this study is surveying, in which the data were collected using a questionnaire and interview. The study's population is all people who use Sadeghieh Subway, and the sample size for the study was 140 subjects. Using parametric one-sample t-test, we found improvement in factors such as transportation, security, pedestrian infrastructure, vitality and climate comfort. However, there was no improvement in mix use, recreational activity, readability.

Keywords: public space, public transportation stations, pedestrian-oriented space, socialization

Procedia PDF Downloads 207