This study aims to investigate the status of educational management performance adopted by education departments in the KSA in light of the standards of total quality management and from educational supervisors' point of view. It also attempts to build and test proposed standards for the quality of administrative performance of these departments in light of the standards of total quality management and from educational supervisors' point of view. The study follows a descriptive-analytical method. The overall number of the study population is (9002) educational supervisors of ( 4 7) education departments in the KSA. These departments are divided according to the Ministry of education into five geographical areas: (North, East, West, midland, and South). Samples representing all sectors are randomly selected. To achieve the objectives of the study, a questionnaire of 119 items has been designed taking into consideration the face validity and stability test of the coefficient of Cronbach's alpha reaching general stability (0.99). The study selected sample is (369) educational supervisors and the applied analyses are: statistical (SPSS), descriptive, exploratory, EF A, CF A, AMOS, and the Smart PLS. The study concludes: the current status of the quality of educational management performance adopted by education departments in the KSA is low with an average of 1.57 and a standard deviation of 1.161 from the point of view of the educational supervisors; the importance of ten proposed criteria with an average of(4.3) and a standard deviation of(.871); alternative standards of the quality of educational management performance seem to be acceptable, significant and valid. Further, the study proposes and recommends a model that includes main and secondary standards to achieve high quality in educational management performance of education departments in the KSA equal to international quality standards.

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The main purpose of the study is to investigate if organizational capabilities and personal characteristics of HEI leaders predict successful internationalization of higher education institutions in Bangladesh. Secondly, it is to examine if the government bureaucracy and quality initiative are the mediators for this study. As the research design of this study was quantitative research approach, survey technique was employed. One thousand and one hundred (1,100) academic leaders were sampled based on two stage multi-stage cluster sampling method. Among the 1,100 respondents 358 survey questionnaires were returned which were analyzed by SEM statistical tools. Constructs of all exogenous and endogenous variables were observed by CFA whose results showed that organizational capabilities have four distinct factors, personal characteristics have also four factors, and successful internationalization has three factors. In contrast, government bureaucracy and quality initiatives are unidimensional ones. Finally, the proposed model of successful internationalization of higher education institutions (SIHEIs) has been tested by SEM and determinants of SIHEIs are established. Its results conclude that strategic leadership practices (i.e. OC and PC) do not have a direct causal effect on successful internationalization. Neither, government bureaucracy and quality initiatives had a direct causal effect on successful internationalization. While government bureaucracy and quality initiatives have indirect significant effect (the mediators) between strategic leadership and successful internationalization as perceived by the academic leaders of higher education institutions. It could be understood that successful internationalization can be implemented through improving the personal characteristics of the strategic leaders. Moreover, quality initiatives should be taken; while government bureaucracy should be reduced because both QI and GB play a mediating role in the internationalization of the higher education institutions. With this evidence, University Grant Commission should offer leadership training for the academic leaders of higher education intuitions so that leaders become aware of leadership acts and practices, challenges and so on. Bureaucratic practices should be lessened and UGC can introduce suitable leadership in HEIs. Quality Initiatives should be highlighted and outcomes of each initiative should be monitored by experts. Specific focus on Internationalization of HEIs should be given in all activities of university. Message of internationalization should be incorporated in the website of both public and private universities. Finally, a thorough study should be conducted on the understanding of leadership practices for internationalization.

The main purpose of the present study is to develop and validate the model of predictors of academic self-handicapping (POASH) on the data derived from undergraduate students in an ongoing co-curriculum compulsory course. The study adapted and extended the original theory of reciprocal interaction of emotion, cognition and behavior by adding self-handicapping behavior component. Consequently, this study assessed the direct and indirect effects of emotion, cognition and behavior via student engagement on self-handicapping behaviour (SHB). The data was collected from two self-reported questionnaires administered to 790 undergraduates of the International Islamic University in Malaysia. A confirmatory three-step approach theory testing and development using Maximum Likelihood method was applied by using AMOS version 16. Results proved that, the three factor measurement model is empirically fit and reliable. This enhanced the formulation of the partial disaggregation model of “Predictors of Academic Self-Handicapping” (POASH) which consists of one latent variable and three manifest variables. The results of structured equation modeling supported the adequacy of POASH model and the causal structure of POASH model proved to be applicable to both genders and nationality statuses. Among other findings the research produced empirical evidence that scores of student engagement were negatively predicting (20%) of academic self-handicapping behavior; with male student predicting SHB with higher scores (25%) than female students (21%). And with a significant prediction of national students scores (25%) of SHB while international students revealed insignificant prediction score (12%) of SHB, Moreover, the results of gender invariance revealed that behavioral engagement is relatively more influential (70%) than both emotional and cognitive engagement in influencing SHB, while emotional engagement influences SHB more (55%) than the cognitive engagement (31%) does. Therefore, the findings of this study suggest that emotional engagement, behavioral engagement and cognitive engagement are significant negative predictors of academic self-handicapping with significantly higher prediction of behavioral engagement, followed by emotional engagement and lastly by cognitive engagement on academic self-handicapping. Thus, improving the depth of students? academic engagement skills in order to counteract academic self-handicapping behavior and to improve student achievement becomes inevitable. More studies on self-handicapping and student engagement are therefore recommended.

The study examined the role of academic staff creativity in promoting student excellence at Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. The creativity styles questionnaire revised by Kumar and Holman (1997) and the communication satisfaction questionnaire by Seven (2012) were adapted. The Amabile’s componential theory of creativity guided the study through a mixed-method convergent research design. Three proposed factors of creativity were examined, namely organisational communication, creative process and task motivation. Data were generated from a survey of 378 academics, drawn from a quota sampling process, and a series of semi-structured interviews with three participants. The data were analysed using Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) to test the hypothesised model. The quantitative research results revealed that all proposed factors are statistically significant predictors of academic staff creativity accounting for 92% variance explained by the proposed model. In addition, it was also found that the level of academic staff creativity was below the moderate level of 2.06, a finding established via an analysis of all means. Findings from the qualitative analysis depicted that academic staff needed to be motivated into reflecting on student excellence. The study concluded that task motivation is the strongest factor in explaining staff creativity. Future studies applying the proposed model are therefore recommended to be conducted at the institutions of higher learning across Nigeria in order to verify these findings and to enrich the current literature on academic staff creativity at tertiary institutions in the country.

This study examined the concept of quality in higher education from the perspective of the academics at the IIUM, and the extent to which the academics’ perceptions of quality were congruent with the quality practices stipulated by the ISO 9000 standards. The study also sought to highlight the underlying factors that formed the basis of the academics’ perceptions of quality. The researcher felt that these issues had to be explored in order to understand the academics’ response to the university’s efforts to use the ISO 9000 certification processes as a visible means to state its commitment to providing quality educational services. The study utilized both the qualitative as well as the quantitative methods of data collection. Qualitative data were collected by carrying out in-depth interviews with academics from the various kulliyyahs. The academics who participated in the interview sessions were carefully selected in order to ensure that the sessions would yield thick, descriptive, and indepth data. To add to the depth and scope of this study, the researcher resorted to a self-developed questionnaire which was administered to the academics of the kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences (KENMS), the first kulliyyah to be certified to the ISO 9000 standards. The questionnaire also included six open-ended items which provided the academics with the opportunity to state their views and feelings in their own words.The outcome of the study revealed the fact that the academics in this study had their own notions about what constitutes quality in higher education, based on their own philosophical inclinations and experiences. The results of the study also indicated that the academics did not view the ISO 9000 standards as an appropriate mechanism to enhance the quality of educational services provided by the university. More importantly, the academics did not appreciate the fact that they have been forced to adhere to the requirements of the ISO 9000 certification processes which they feel is irrelevant to academic work.

The purpose of this study was to investigate problem solving in the field of calculus. The study investigated the metacognitive thinking strategies employed by lecturers that were considered as subject matter specialist. The study developed and operationalized a metacognitive thinking strategies model. This model was then tested for its reliability and its predictive nature towards problem solving skills in nonroutine calculus problems. A questionnaire was then administered among 480 first year undergraduate students who were selected randomly. The rate of return was about 90%. Using principal component analysis (PCA) the study successfully identified seven underlying dimensions of metacognitive thinking strategies. They are Self-efficacy, Define, Explore, Accommodate, Strategize, Execute and Verify. Finally, the researcher applied multiple regression analysis to evaluate the predictive ability of the identified predictor and the performance on routine and non-routine calculus problems. The study found that problem solving skills is acquired through practice and utilization of thinking strategies which is the corner stone on which advance mathematical ideas and particularly calculus are build on. This study revealed that there are six meaningfully predictive factors of calculus problem solving performance. It found that “strategize” is the major predictive of calculus problem solving performance, followed by “accommodate, self-efficacy, define, explore and then execute”. Further analysis revealed that Strategies, Accommodate and Self- Efficacy were considered most significant with substantial practical importance. With these findings, educators will be able to clinically evaluate a person's ability to regulate, monitor and control his or her own cognitive processes. Instructional strategies can then be developed for those individuals having difficulty functioning in the learning environment.

The researcher has explored the impact of project-based learning (PjBL) on the acquisition of 21st century skills by the science students of two selected Malaysian higher educational institutions. The researcher has investigated the types of skills students have acquired during the project implementation, and endeavored to understands what aspects of PjBL have impacted the acquisition of skills and the challenges for acquiring 21st century skills. To conduct the research the researcher has obtained qualitative case study methods. In total eight in-depth semi-structured interviews had been conducted from purposefully selected participants from two purposefully selected public universities of Malaysia. The research also analyzed one combined video that consists of presentation videos prepared by eight different groups participated in the project. Next, the interviewing segment is central to generating data to be used for in-depth analyses of the PjBL process. Lastly, the results from interview and video data analysis had been used to identify challenges faced by students during the skill-acquisition process. The result indicates that students have partially succeeded in acquiring a subset of overall skills in the array of 21st century skills. All the skill acquisition poses challenges associated with them. Students lack creativity skills and unfavorable pedagogical environment is one of the reasons responsible for their lack of creativity. Students believe that dependency on traditional assessment system hampers their skill acquisition specially creativity skill. Moreover, according to students’ perspective, the more autonomy they receive in choosing the project topic gets them more opportunity to be creative. Surprisingly, the students did not prefer total autonomy in their project work. In their perspective, time to time increased monitoring from the teacher would increase their skill acquisition in general. The students were given non-complex, simple problem which hampered their opportunity to exercise problem solving and critical thinking skills. Because of lack of appropriate diverse environment, students’ social and cross-cultural skill acquisition was impacted. It is hoped that a better understanding of the determinants of these challenges will lead to formulating solutions to the hindrances in PjBL practice in Malaysia. This research has implication for the policy makers and educational practitioners alike. Policy makers will be able to improve policy principles based on the findings of the research. By exploring the experiences of the students, the researchers will understand the skill acquisition process better which consequently will help future researchers to develop more rigorous and comprehensive assessment model.

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This study aimed at verifying the fitness of internalizing and externalizing forms of adult psychopathology, the evidences of the construct validity of MCMI-III (Millon, 1994) in clinical sample and the convergent validity of personality disorders model in non-clinical sample. Also, this study intended at verifying the universality, normativity and competence assumptions of attachment theory using clinical and non-clinical samples from non-Western culture (e.g., Yemen). Three assumptions reflect the validity of attachment theory in non-Western culture. The reciprocity of the attachment outcomes-psychopathology relationship was tested as an additional assumption to reflect validity of attachment theory in non-Western culture. While the MCMI-III was used to assess psychopathology in 212 outpatients and personality disorders in 300 undergraduate students, three self-report measures of adult attachment (RSQ, ECRS, and PAM) were used to assess the constructs of attachment theory including fearful, preoccupied, dismissing, and secure styles, anxiety and avoidance in interpersonal relationship and psychosis phenomena. Results of confirmatory factor analysis suggested that the MCMI-III with the two-factor model of psychopathology: internalizing and externalizing do fit the clinical data achieving good evidences for construct validity. An equivalent model on MCMI-III was explored and fit to the original model of internalizing and externalizing of psychopathology. Empirically, classification of psychopathology in terms of internalizing and externalizing is more useful than DSM-IV model; Axis II (Personality Disorders) and Axis I (Clinical Syndromes), which was characterized by comorbidity or overlap. The results of CFA indicated that MCMI-III was characterized by evidences of convergent and discriminant validity (construct validity) in clinical sample. The results of SEM confirmed the validity of the reciprocity of attachment styles-internalizing psychopathology relationship in clinical sample, suggesting that the large effect size of attachment styles on internalizing psychopathology in simultaneously latent test was less than the effect size of internalizing psychopathology on attachment styles. The results of invariant CFA confirmed that the hypothesized models of attachment theory do fit the data from clinical and non-clinical population (universality statement of attachment theory), demonstrating that the attachment models are more plausible in clinical than non-clinical populations (normativity assumption of attachment theory). The results of invariant SEM confirmed that the hypothesized models of attachment theory and personality disorders fit the data from clinical and non-clinical population (Competence assumption), suggesting that the attachment models and personality disorders are more plausible in clinical than non-clinical populations (competence assumption within the logic of normativity).

This study examines the evaluation of Thai language textbooks used in secondary schools in Pattani, Thailand, from the perspective of Islamic teachers. In this region, Thai Muslims primarily communicate in the local Malay language and consider Thai as a second language. The research aims to assess how well the current Thai language textbooks meet the needs, values, and linguistic nuances of the Pattani community. The objectives of this study are to analyze how Islamic teachers evaluate the quality of 12th grade Thai language textbooks in Pattani from Islamic teacher's perspective, identify the challenges that secondary school Muslim teachers might face in using these textbooks and explore recommendations for improving the teaching of Thai language. This study utilized a qualitative research method and an exploratory case study approach. In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 informants, consisting of secondary school teachers who met the selection criteria teaching Thai language subjects in 12th grade. Additionally, each one-on-one meetings were held with secondary school Thai language teachers. The data collected from these interviews were compared to provide answers to the research questions. The results of this study revealed that secondary school Thai language textbooks was relevant to Islamic teacher perspectives. However, the expected problems of Muslim teachers in secondary schools in teaching and learning were related to content issues, unconducive classrooms and language and communication. Based on the teacher perspectives the findings of this study recommended solutions to the problem encountered in secondary Thai language textbooks such as by providing effective textbooks design, incorporating of local content, promoting critical thinking, and integrating of Islamic values. This study has significant implications to the Muslim teachers in secondary school in Pattani, Thailand, which in practice would help the textbooks design and enhance Thai language education in the specific context of Pattani, aligning with the broader goals of promoting inclusive education and cultural sensitivity in multicultural settings.

Previous studies have shown that pupils have difficulties and errors in dealing with many areas of mathematics including in various topics of the number system such as integers. Pupils’ difficulty with the concept of integers causes them to struggle in solving mathematical problems, especially those involving the four basic operations. This study aims to diagnose pupils’ errors in the operations of integers, subsequent to validating the Errors Identification Integers Test (EIIT) which can identify the types of errors that pupils possess in dealing with the operations of integers. The EIIT which consists of multiple-choice questions involving different combinations of positive and negative numbers was adapted to suit the Malaysian context. The population of this study is all Form One pupils from selected public schools in Peninsular Malaysia. A total of eight schools were involved in the data collection as samples. Cluster sampling was employed in order to ensure that the selected schools represented the population. The Rasch Model was used to improve and validate the instrument used in this study. In addition, teachers’ and pupils’ interviews were conducted to find and confirm the errors of the operations of integers. Then, a teaching intervention that was designed to remedy and improve pupils’ understanding of the operations of integers was implemented. Sixty pupils who were involved at this stage of the quasi-experimental study were selected using purposive sampling. The pre and post tests were given to the pupils to determine the effectiveness of the algebraic tiles method in improving their performance in the operations of integers. Carelessness, rule mix-up, inability to assimilate concepts and surface understanding/poor knowledge were identified as the types of errors in this study. Meanwhile, this study found that parenthesis misapprehension, poor mathematical language, calculator hooking, superficial understanding and external limitation were the possible causes that led to the errors. The results also showed that the intervention using algebraic tiles as a strategy for teaching operations of integers was successful. The ANCOVA used to calculate the difference between the post-test as compared to the pre-test further returned a statistically significant result.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the curriculum design offered by the Muslim scholars in the Second World Conference on Muslim Education, in 1980 in Islamabad with a view to assessing its ability to serve as a platform for an integrated educational system and bring to an end the dualistic educational state of affairs in the Muslim world. As the evaluation targeted the internal coherence between the different components of the curriculum construct, the study has adopted an analytical approach to the resolutions of the World Conferences on Muslim Education geared towards identifying the human outcome they promote and determining to what extent the organization assumptions underlying the Islamabad Curriculum Design (ICD) reflect the same portrait. The analysis has identified some inconsistency between the ICD`s theological/philosophical precepts and its design assumptions. The former upholds an active efficacious human product able to assume his leading role in the process of social change, while the latter is a recipe for a rather passive human product fully controlled by his environment without having any influence on it. The study concludes, in light of this finding, that although the ICD has featured a solid conceptual platform, it is more likely in its initial outline to cultivate dualism rather than end it, as it promotes simultaneously two conflicting human portraits. As the ultimate purpose of the study is to improve the ICD, the researcher reviewed a number of formulations which may be more compatible with the ICD`s philosophical/theological assumptions, namely the ideas suggested by Syed Mohammed Naqib Al-Attas during and after the Second World Conference on Muslim Education and the theories advanced by Majid Arsan Al-Kilani a decade later. While neither of the two formulations was found to be readily applicable in an Islamic context without problems, the combination of their distinctive principles allowed the researcher to offer a new model. The new formulation is centred on the concept of faith and has a tripartite structure, as it perceives the educational experience as an ongoing appreciation of the Quranic, humans and natural divine Signs geared essentially towards strengthening the learners` belief in their Cherisher and adjusting their lives to the requirements of the relationship between the Creator and the creatures.

The education system for any nation is designed to realize the nation’s philosophy of life and to prepare human resource for achieving its objectives. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan won its independence more than sixty-three years ago, yet its education system continues to be largely secular. Even after the mushrooming of various Islamic schools in recent years geared towards formulating an Islamic based education system, a consolidated education system to cater to the ideological nature of this country is still lacking. The purpose of this study is to qualitatively explore the conceptions of ten educators, from ten different Islamic schools across Pakistan, about the Islamic based education system and to analyze the outcomes of their efforts. Another goal is to derive the aims and objectives of education from Muhammad Iqbal’s thoughts and philosophy for developing an alternative model for Islam based education, and finally to conduct an analytical study between the two. Iqbal was selected, as he is considered to be the ideologue of Pakistan and has lucidly presented his educational philosophy. The methods used in this qualitative study are interviews as the primary method, and field observations, class observations, documents review, curriculum review, and photography within the campuses as the secondary methods. Exploring Iqbal’s educational thought includes drawing hermeneutical interpretations from his Persian poetical works of Asrar i khudi (Secrets of the Self), and Ramooz i bikhudi (Mysteries of Selflessness). Thematic deduction is used to draw the aims and objectives for education from Iqbal’s aforementioned works. The research findings reveal that the basic thrust of efforts by the educators is towards the inculcation of Islamic values and character development in the students. The main approach is the integration of Islamic concepts into the contemporary education curriculum. There is little consideration to the compatibility aspect of the prevalent education structure with Islam’s approach to education. Conflict was observed between the conceived aims and objectives and the material being used for education. All the schools strictly followed the prevalent factory model of schooling. There were no collaborated efforts among the educators for the formulation of Islam based education. However, they all agreed on the need for a model of Islamic education. Although there was unanimous agreement on the relevance of Iqbal’s thoughts and philosophy to Islamic based education, the educators differed in the methodology of adopting the same. A significant discrepancy was observed between the salient features of Iqbal’s educational approach and the practices of the ten educators. The results also revealed that Iqbal’s concept and methodology of the development of self or individuality conformed to the approach of modern critics of contemporary education, who claim that the prevalent system is at odds with the natural human faculty of creativity. In Iqbal’s educational thought, the God ordained position of His vicegerent cannot be achieved without a highly developed self; and creativity is the basic element of human self and vital for its growth.

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The study aimed at highlighting the extent of practicing and implementing total quality standards in teaching performance by secondary school teachers in south Saudi Arabia from the perspective of educational supervisors and teachers working in that area. The researcher utilized the descriptive survey approach that relies on studying the reality and precisely describes it and presents it quantitatively and qualitatively. The researcher used the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software for determining the mean, the standard deviation and the weight percentile to identify the extent of applying total quality standards by supervisors and teachers in the teaching performance relevant to personal, educational, academic, and social aspects. The study population consists of nine educational directorates in south Saudi Arabia where 1172 supervisors and 34983 teachers work. The study sample consisted of 100 supervisors and 265 teachers affiliated with three directorates from a total of nine directorates which represent the various directorates. For answering the main question and the secondary questions, the researcher prepared a questionnaire that consisted of 109 points covering all aspects to be examined. The study resulted in several findings of which some of the most important was that the reality of applying total quality standards in the teaching performance by members of the study sample pertaining to personal, academic, and social aspects varied between “very high” and “high” except for some points of which the item about attention to modern technologies was found to be one of the key items where the level of practice was weak. The study presented some suggestions, some of the most significant are organizing training courses in general, and courses related to modern technologies in particular.

Education in Nigerian Islamiyyah Madrasahs is sternly criticized for its rigidity, dichotomy and disintegration. Several studies in the last decade have suggested that what is needed in Islamiyyah madrasah is the integrated and holistic education (IHE) paradigm. This study attempts to empirically test whether the hypothesized model fit the data collected by filling a gap in the existing body of knowledge related to integrated and holistic education (IHE) in the context of Islamiyyah madrasahs in Nigeria. Therefore, a theoretical framework and conceptual hypothesized model were developed to assess the effects of integrated (exogenous) variables on holistic (endogenous) education factors. Quantitative research design was used in the study. A survey questionnaire was employed to gather data from a total number of 371 Islamiyyah madrasah students in the North-Central part of the country, out of which only 344 were used for the final analysis. For the procedure on data analysis, descriptive statistics, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and path analysis of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using SPSS (version 16.0) and AMOS (version 20.0) to assess the effects of the identified variables in the study. The findings of the study show that the identified constructs measured integrated education factors (curriculum, pedagogy and technology for teaching and learning) and holistic education factors (spiritual, cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains). The fit statistics of the revised model, especially the significant difference between Chi-Square (179.669) of the initial hypothesized model and the Chi-Square (1.231) of the revised model and also RMSEA of 0.000 less than .05 suggest better improvement of the model fit. This was a justification for retaining the model and proved that the collected data fit the hypothesized model. The results from the model indicate that there were interrelatedness among the exogenous variables but there were distinctiveness between curriculum and pedagogy; r=.54; between pedagogy and technology for teaching and learning; r=.69; and between curriculum and technology for teaching and learning, r=.59. Also, there was an invariant of gender and years of studying in madrasah on the integrated and holistic education (IHE) model. Likewise, the findings have further shown that there is no positive effect of students’ level of Islamiyyah madrasah experience on the implementation of integrated and holistic education synthesis (IHES) as a new paradigm to address the conservativeness of the Islamiyyah madrasahs in North-Central Nigeria. Therefore, it is recommended that, the new paradigm of integrated and holistic education (IHE) in the Islamiyyah madrasahs should unreservedly be implemented. The policymakers, curriculum designers, implementers and various agencies can use various measures of integrated and holistic education.

Computer technology plays a crucial role in science education in Malaysian schools. Accordingly, teachers should thrive to keep students involved and interested to learn science. However, there appears to be a growing concern in a lack of creative teaching and the knowledge in the application of science in every day life. Incorporating ICT with Basic Psychological Needs theoretical framework, this present study was designed to provide an insight on the influence of science teachers support namely autonomous, competence and relatedness towards student affective engagement. Specifically, the main purpose of the study was to evaluate the structural model of motivation which was based on the Basic Psychological Needs theory (BPNT); a sub theory of the Self Determination Theory (SDT). The invariance study of the structural model was also examined across Lower and Upper secondary samples to determine whether the model was similar for both groups. There were 400 samples involved among secondary school students of Form One, Two (Lower secondary) and Form Four (Upper secondary) from four potential schools proposed by the District Education Department. A cross sectional survey has been carried out using the adapted version of instrument used by Skinner and Belmont (1993). The theory posits that when science teachers provide support for autonomy, competence and relatedness, their students will be engaged in the ICT learning environment. Three alternative models were tested for the best fit model that explained the data from the whole population selected. The structural model supported the Competing Model II of which competence support was the only direct predictor of student affective engagement. Relatedness support was found to be indirectly influenced student affective engagement via competence support. The finding also revealed that autonomy support was positively correlated with relatedness support. The structural model was further examined and replicated in the invariance study across Lower and Upper secondary samples. It was found that the structural model was similar across both age groups. Discussion centres on the theoretical, methodological and practical implications of these results.

The main objective of this study is to look at branding strategies among public and private higher education institutions in Malaysia. In the last a few decades, the higher education sector has undergone changes that have led to increased competition among institutions. As a result, many institutions have become more market-oriented and begun to differentiate themselves from other institution through their institutional branding. However, there are observable differences in how Malaysian higher education institutions approach institution branding in aspects such as financial (government-supported vs revenue-generation) and management (government-owned vs privately-owned). These differences affect how the institution’s branding strategy is developed and implemented. With that in mind, this study explored the institution branding strategy of two Malaysian institutions; a government-supported public institution and a revenue-generating private institution in the Klang Valley. Specifically, this study is interested to understand how different types of institutions develop and implement their branding strategy, as well as the challenges that entail. A qualitative design was used to study the two higher education institutions using the case study approach. Using the Corporate Branding Toolkit (Hatch & Schultz, 2001) framework, this study looked at how an institution conveys its vision through its branding to the stakeholders, and how the stakeholder perceives the branding which in turn forms the image of the institution. Eight administration staff with knowledge of their institution’s branding strategy (four from each institution) were interviewed using in-depth, semi-structured interviews regarding the vision aspect of the branding. As for the image aspect of the branding, at total of 18 current students (nine from each institution) were interviewed using focus groups interviews and individual in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The data obtained from the interviews were analysed in two stages, within-case (focusing on an individual institution) and across-case (comparing the two institutions). The findings of this study suggest that institutions with clear differentiation have a stronger basis for an institutional branding. The institutional branding strategy is used to develop the identity of the institution and its advantages. The vision represents the aspirations of the institution. By using the vision as a guide, institutions can determine how their branding strategy could be implemented successfully. To determine the extent of the branding strategy, institutions need to discover the image of the branding. The image refers to the collective perceptions of the institutions stakeholders regarding the branding. According to the current students, the image of the two institutions appears to closely match the vision of the branding. However, there are challenges affecting both institutions in a similar manner such as internal branding and social media and challenges that are unique to an institution and its circumstances. This study’s findings suggest that higher education branding strategy should focus the institution itself by using the branding to communicate the institution’s vision to the markets and its stakeholders. Furthermore, an institution should evaluate the success its branding strategy by continuously examining the perceptions that its stakeholders hold about its branding.

Women are still underrepresented in higher education in Uganda. Few women continue their studies to establish their career as academicians and occupy senior academic positions in Ugandan universities. Therefore the purpose of the study was to understand the contributing factors towards career development of Ugandan women academicians in universities in Uganda. The study contributed to the literature on the experience of women academics in sub Saharan Africa, Uganda in particular. Specifically, it provided the contributing factors towards the career development of Ugandan women academics. The findings are a guide to women who have the will to build their career to high academia, and higher education in general. Qualitative method of study was used. Purposive sampling method was used to select 14 participants for the study. The researcher used in-depth interviews, open ended questionnaire, and researcher’s diary as strategies for collecting data. Constant comparative method was used to analyze data. The findings revealed that the informants have a positive attitude towards their teaching career. The contributing factors towards career development of Uganda women academics include: personal factors; such as high career aspirations, interest, values, large networking base, and community service. The environmental factors include: the support by important people which comes from parents, teachers, mentors and spouses. The conducive institutional environment includes good schools, good work environment, sabbatical, and gender equity. Financial support which comes in the form of scholarships and research funds. The women have developed their career amidst challenges; balancing between home and career roles, negative society attitude, institutional politics, and limits in networking. For the women to overcome these challenges they have shown some coping strategies such as time management, proper planning, quality academic work, and family support. In conclusion, the findings support the belief that personal and environmental factors influence career development. Therefore women should be dynamic and institutions should provide conducive environment for women to develop their career.