Search Results (471)

International accreditation frameworks increasingly influence teacher education and quality assurance worldwide, yet limited research has examined their implementation in non-Western higher education contexts. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to explore faculty perceptions of how well the teacher education programs at Kuwait University’s College of Education align with the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) standards. The study also explained the institutional factors that shaped these perceptions. In the quantitative phase, a questionnaire was distributed to all eligible College of Education faculty members, and 38 faculty members completed the survey. In the qualitative phase, seven faculty members were purposively selected because of their direct experience with accreditation, quality assurance, and program evaluation. In addition, historical accreditation reports were analyzed to provide a broader institutional context. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data from the interview transcripts and historical accreditation reports were analyzed using thematic analysis. The quantitative findings indicated moderate perceived alignment with CAEP Standards 1 (Content and Pedagogical Knowledge), 2 (Clinical Partnerships and Practice), and 6 (Fiscal and Administrative Capacity), while lower alignment was reported for Standards 3 (Candidate Quality, Recruitment, and Selectivity), 4 (Program Impact), and 5 (Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement). The qualitative findings explained these patterns by revealing that weaker alignment was associated with challenges in candidate recruitment, curriculum alignment, school–university partnerships, evidence-based quality assurance, institutional leadership, organizational culture, communication, and resource capacity. The integrated findings demonstrate that successful implementation of international accreditation standards extends beyond technical compliance and depends on organizational readiness, institutional commitment, and sustained quality assurance processes within the local context. The study recommends strengthening institution-wide quality assurance systems, improving leadership coordination, and promoting evidence-based decision-making to support sustainable accreditation and the continuous improvement of teacher education programs. Full article

Higher education institutions face a dual imperative: expanding access while reducing their environmental and operational footprint. Grounded in Triple Bottom Line theory and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) interlinkages framework, this study examines faculty and postgraduate students’ perceived associations between online learning—across environmental, economic, educational, and health dimensions—and five SDGs (SDG3, SDG4, SDG8, SDG12, and SDG13), and how these perceived dimensions interrelate to form a coherent structural model. Data were collected from 306 faculty members and postgraduate students via a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). All nine direct and four specific indirect path relationships were statistically significant at p < 0.001. Perceived economic rationalization exerted the strongest direct path coefficient on perceived responsible consumption (β = 0.648) and the strongest specific indirect effect on perceived climate action (β = 0.371), while perceived health and well-being served as the central pathway statistically linking perceived online learning benefits to perceived quality education and decent work outcomes (β = 0.557 and 0.608, respectively). The structural model statistically accounted for 42–54% of the variance in these perceived SDG-related outcomes. These findings suggest that online learning may be perceived by faculty and postgraduate students as an integrated structural lever—rather than a source of isolated benefits—for advancing interconnected dimensions of the 2030 Agenda in higher education; objective verification of these perceived associations (e.g., using institutional records or environmental metrics) remains an important direction for future research. Theoretical and practical implications for university leaders and policymakers are discussed. Full article

Digital transformation has become a central management agenda for higher education institutions seeking to improve teaching quality, organizational resilience, and long-term educational sustainability. However, the managerial pathways through which digital leadership contributes to sustainable teaching innovation remain insufficiently explained. Drawing on digital leadership, organizational learning, and sustainable higher education literature, this study develops and tests a conceptual path model linking digital leadership, organizational learning, faculty professional development, institutional support, and sustainable teaching innovation. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 300 university faculty members and teaching-related personnel who had experience with digital teaching tools. Composite-score-based path analysis showed that digital leadership positively predicted organizational learning, faculty professional development, and sustainable teaching innovation. Organizational learning and faculty professional development also significantly predicted sustainable teaching innovation and served as indirect transmission mechanisms. Institutional support had a positive direct effect but did not significantly moderate the organizational learning–innovation relationship. The findings indicate that sustainable teaching innovation depends not only on digital infrastructure but also on leadership-enabled learning processes, faculty development, and institutional support. This study contributes an educational management strategy model that reframes sustainable teaching innovation as an organizational capability shaped by leadership, learning, professional development, and support mechanisms. Full article

Background/Objectives: Self-medication and keeping medicine inventory in households are common practices, even among healthcare professionals and healthcare professions students. Despite their knowledge of appropriate medicine use and storage, these practices are not always responsible and may pose health risks. This study aimed to describe self-medication practices, contents of home pharmacies, and habits of keeping medicine inventories in households of medical and pharmacy students at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka. Methods: In this cross-sectional study conducted in 2025, 60 third-year medical and pharmacy students interviewed members of their households regarding contents of home pharmacies and self-medication practices and compiled inventories of medicines kept at home. Results: Of the participating students, 70.0% were female. Healthcare professionals (physicians or pharmacists) were present in 23.3% of households. Medicines were stored in a designated location (“home pharmacy”) in 65.0% of households, whereas only one household reported having no medicines. Expired medicines and/or medicines with an unknown purpose were found in 41.6% of households. No household reported that medicines were accessible to children younger than 14 years. Inventories of stored medicines were obtained from 54 households (90.0%). Analgesics and antipyretics were present in 92.6% of households and were used for self-medication in 96.0% of them. Cough and cold preparations were found in 35.2% of households and used for self-medication in 94.7%. Antibiotics were present in 31.5% of households and used for self-medication in 52.9%, while anxiolytics were found in 16.7% of households and used for self-medication in 33.3%. Conclusions: Stocking medicine supplies and practicing self-medication are common among households of third-year medical and pharmacy students at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka. Analgesics and antipyretics were the most frequently stored medicines used for self-medication. The presence of expired medicines and the self-medication of prescription-only medicines highlight the need for greater emphasis on responsible self-medication, safe medicine storage, and rational medicine use within healthcare professions education. Full article

Our current moment is marked by profound institutional, ecological, and social upheaval. The unparalleled amassing of wealth by an infinitesimal percentage of the world’s population; populist movements on the left and right born of broken social contracts; escalating global conflicts and ecological collapse amidst breakneck technological advance—these are all emblematic of the uncharted ruptures that humans, our living kin, and our planetary system are currently weathering. The following viewpoint piece endeavors to shed light on the challenges, complexities, and opportunities of this polycrisis through the lens of academia. By highlighting the inherent contradiction that modern academia has unwittingly created through its narrow “apprenticeship” training structure, this paper first illustrates how one of the most highly skilled workforces in the world is nonetheless particularly ill-positioned to navigate the present moment holistically. The manuscript next argues that to address this gap, leaders of academia must expand their understanding of well-being, productivity, and expertise to include the fruits of their faculty members’ creative wellspring—a term that captures the humanistic, generative capabilities including vulnerability, reflection, courage, and connection that undergird value-based decision making, professional perseverance, and sustained collaboration with others. To move these ideas from theory to practice, the manuscript next emphasizes how the nurturance of a coaching ethos can support faculty in reenchanting their academic careers. The implications of an increasingly holistic, creative notion of expertise for promoting social and planetary flourishing are also considered. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly transforming scholarly communication by changing how researchers discover, organize, evaluate, and communicate academic knowledge. Academic libraries are consequently expanding AI-supported research services; however, limited empirical evidence exists regarding how researchers’ trust in AI influences their acceptance, use, and perceived outcomes of these services. This study developed and validated an integrated structural model examining the relationships among Trust in AI, AI Acceptance, AI Use, and Service Outcomes in AI-supported academic library research services. A quantitative survey was conducted with 200 faculty members, researchers, and postgraduate students from higher education institutions in Thailand. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results revealed that Trust in AI significantly enhanced AI Acceptance, which subsequently promoted AI Use and improved perceived Service Outcomes. Mediation analysis further confirmed that AI Acceptance and AI Use sequentially mediated the relationship between Trust in AI and Service Outcomes. These findings demonstrate that researchers’ trust is fundamental to successful AI-supported research services and highlight the importance of transparent, reliable, and ethically governed AI environments. The proposed model advances understanding of researchers’ engagement with AI-supported research services and provides practical guidance for academic libraries and higher education institutions seeking to implement responsible AI-enabled research support. Full article

Universities worldwide face escalating financial pressures while simultaneously confronting demands to adopt sustainable practices. This study examines whether Sustainable Green Innovation (SGI) serves as the central transmission mechanism through which AI-Driven Entrepreneurial Orientation (AI-DEO) and Green Metrics for Self-Efficacy (GMSE) influence University Financial Sustainability (UFS) in higher education institutions, within the broader framework of Circular Economy Principles (CEP). Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 1279 faculty and staff members at King Faisal University (Saudi Arabia) and Benha University (Egypt) between October 2025 and January 2026. Regression-based structural path analysis with nonparametric bootstrapped mediation testing (5000 resamples) was employed to test four hypotheses. The results show that AI-DEO emerged as the dominant positive predictor of SGI (β = 0.732, p < 0.001), while GMSE did not show a statistically significant association with SGI once AI-DEO was included in the model (β = −0.034, p = 0.246). SGI emerged as the strongest predictor of UFS (β = 0.369, p < 0.001), supporting an innovation-mediated route to financial sustainability. The indirect effect of CEP on SGI through AI-DEO was statistically significant (indirect = 0.3473; 95% CI [0.3123, 0.3835]), supporting full mediation. Hypotheses H1, H2a, H2b, and H3 were supported; H4 was not supported. These findings indicate that financial resilience in universities is primarily innovation-mediated and orientation-driven. The study contributes to the sustainability-in-higher-education literature by clarifying SGI as a central transmission mechanism and highlighting the importance of building operational green competence alongside strategic AI-Driven entrepreneurial orientation. Full article

The demand for mental health services is rising, and given the continued shortage of mental health specialists, primary care remains a critical setting for mental health treatment. Training emerging leaders in primary care to integrate interprofessional behavioral health services into care teams can help meet this demand. The Community Primary Care Champions fellowship developed a curriculum for primary care physicians and physician associates to lead primary care teams in addressing mental health within their clinical settings. This mental health curriculum for twenty-four fellows was led by a single faculty member during a part-time year-long fellowship. Seven modules (each 50–110 min long) covered critical topics through a mix of didactic learning, group learning, and a case-based summative independent activity. Evaluation included a pre- and post-assessment of knowledge and confidence, a one-year post-fellowship assessment, and focus groups. Self-assessed knowledge and confidence in key knowledge/skills/behavior improved after the fellowship with large effect sizes, and self-assessed knowledge about the Collaborative Care model for behavioral health integration and confidence in assessing suicide risk persisted one year after the fellowship compared to pre-fellowship. Our mental health curriculum demonstrates increases in self-assessed knowledge and confidence. It can be adapted for other graduate medical education settings to prepare learners to lead primary care transformation. Full article

Background: Individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDDs) experience persistent health inequities, exacerbated by the systemic lack of education of health care professionals about their care. In response to a 2020 call from the Administration for Community Living in the United States, five institutions formed the IDD Health Equity Consortium to develop a suite of educational materials and practice experiences to improve the education of health care professionals in the health and health care of individuals with IDDs. Methods: The Collective Impact Model, designed to align organizations and stakeholders around a shared agenda for system change, was used to organize IDD Health Equity Consortium programs. Backbone infrastructure included a cross-sector steering committee, an Advocate Advisory Committee, and three Consortium Action Networks focused on communication, measurement, and education, practice, and policy. A scoping review of the literature was conducted, and a Participatory Planning and Decision-Making process engaged individuals with IDDs, family members, students, faculty, and professionals in identifying important themes for developed materials. Results: Learning modules, case studies, service-learning experiences, and simulation experiences were developed across Consortium institutions and were disseminated across multiple other institutions, with beginning alignment with interprofessional and disability competencies. Mixed-methods evaluation strategies assessed learner outcomes, including knowledge checks and pre and post evaluations using established measures of skills, comfort levels, and approach; and interprofessional socialization, valuing, and collaborative practice behaviors. Conclusions: By involving individuals with IDDs in curriculum development and building multi-institution and cross-sector infrastructure, the Consortium developed scalable materials that address longstanding gaps in health care professional education. The developed suite of educational materials and practice experiences and early evaluation findings provided a foundation for further program refinement and future empirical studies examining long-term effects on practice and clinical outcomes. Full article

Recruitment and admission of highly qualified applicants to Doctor of Medicine (MD) programs are vital components of many academic institutions. We aimed to develop a structured curriculum to facilitate consistent and mission-aligned review of applicants within our MD admissions program. Across the 2023–2024 admissions cycle, we utilized Kern’s Six-Step Approach to Curriculum Development to design and implement a simulation-based curriculum to enable mission-aligned applicant evaluation, beginning with the interview process. The training targeted faculty interviewers and admissions committee members responsible for reviewing a diverse applicant pool that includes many non-traditional candidates. Our training was completed by 32 interprofessional medical school faculty, of whom 28 submitted both pre- and post-training rubrics, and 24 completed a retrospective post-then-pre survey. On a 4-point Likert scale, comfort applying competency-based interviewing (CBI) within the mission-aligned review framework increased from 3.0 to 3.8 (p < 0.0001, 95% CI 0.44–0.97), and ease of use for the new rubric was rated 3.4 compared to 3.0 for the prior rubric (p = 0.0215). Concordance with ideal scoring improved from 68% to 73% (p = 0.0287), corresponding to a mean increase from 6.11 to 6.54 of 9 competencies correctly assessed. Identification of weak competencies increased from 14% to 27% (p = 0.0287). Faculty rated the overall quality of the training as 3.7/4 (SD 0.5). These findings, based on a small sample from a single institution, suggest that simulation-based faculty development may improve interviewer comfort, rubric usability, and the process measure of scoring consistency in a simulated MD admissions setting. Full article

Kazakhstan faces growing water security and environmental management challenges and needs more practice-oriented environmental science education. This study examines two complementary Kazakhstan-based cases. Case Study 1 analyzes faculty and student surveys from the 2022 Science with a Purpose project, which delivered short courses in water quality, air quality, remediation, sampling methods, and scientific communication. Case Study 2 examines the 2025 pilot adaptation of the Nebraska-based Know Your Well (KYW) participatory-science model. An exploratory comparative two-case-study design drew on survey responses, project documentation, instructional materials, participant feedback, workflow analysis, and two illustrative laboratory water analyses. In Case Study 1, 22 of 25 faculty members responded (88.0%); student response rates were 14 of 18 (77.8%) before and 10 of 18 (55.6%) after the courses. Participants generally rated practice-oriented content positively. In the KYW pilot (N = 15), 14 participants (93.3%) reported that the training met expectations, and 14 (93.3%) considered the skills fully or partially applicable. The pilot demonstrated a feasible workflow linking preparation, field activity, sample handling, and laboratory-supported interpretation. Although the findings do not establish national representativeness, intervention effects, long-term learning outcomes, or large-scale monitoring impact, they support complementary capacity-building pathways for Kazakhstan. Full article

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Formative and Shared Assessment (F&SA) processes refers to the application of AI-based technologies to support formative and continuous assessment in Higher Education (HE). F&SA systems involve the ongoing monitoring of students’ learning, the provision of feedback that enables them to regulate and improve their performance, and the collection of information that informs the continuous improvement of teaching practice. In this context, AI can serve a dual purpose: when orientated towards students, it enhances learning outcomes; when directed at educators, it supports the development of their pedagogical expertise through tools designed to assist in the creation of assessment instruments, the generation of automated feedback, the analysis of learning data, and the design of simulation environments that foster the development of professional competencies. The integration of AI into F&SA practices holds considerable potential to transform traditional assessment approaches by enabling more personalised, adaptive, and timely feedback for both students and educators. In this shared assessment framework, students may likewise draw on AI applications to support specific dimensions of their learning, including academic writing, knowledge organisation, and the generation of educational content, thereby becoming active participants in their own assessment processes. However, the incorporation of AI into F&SA also requires careful consideration of the pedagogical, ethical, and institutional challenges it entails, particularly those related to academic integrity, cognitive offloading, and the responsible use of AI tools. It is therefore essential to promote AI literacy in HE among both faculty members and students, fostering a critical and informed engagement with these technologies that ensures the pedagogical relationship, along with the shared, formative nature of assessment, remains at the core of meaningful learning processes. Full article

The rapid adoption of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has created a practical problem for virtual higher education: universities must distinguish legitimate AI-supported learning from undisclosed delegation of academic work, while maintaining valid, fair, and privacy-sensitive assessment. This study compared student and faculty perceptions of AI use and academic integrity at the Technical University of Machala, Ecuador. A descriptive-comparative cross-sectional survey was administered to 1660 students and 34 faculty members during the second academic semester of 2024. The student questionnaire examined AI-use frequency, perceived academic benefit, readiness for non-assisted assessment, observation of dishonest online practices, perceived efficacy of virtual assessment, and attitudes toward proctoring. The faculty questionnaire examined suspected AI-generated submissions, responses to suspected use, perceived assessment efficacy, training, control tools, ethical judgments and proctoring. Findings indicate a transitional integrity landscape: students view AI mainly as a useful academic support, whereas faculty interpret it primarily through authorship, evidence and assessment-security concerns. Both groups report limitations in current virtual assessment, suggesting the need for AI-resilient assessment design, explicit disclosure rules, faculty development, student AI literacy, and proportional use of proctoring. The article argues against both blanket prohibition and permissive ambiguity, proposing a governance model grounded in transparent policy, authentic assessment, due process and human-centered AI literacy. Full article

Background: Educational environments grounded in respect, empathy, and fair treatment are vital for effective learning and clinical safety. Cultivating this positive culture is essential for improving professional practices and future development. The aim was to develop strategies collaboratively to promote good treatment practices within health programs across six Chilean universities. Methods: This study utilized a qualitative action research (AR) approach. Researchers conducted 23 co-creation workshops involving 188 students and 158 faculty members. The resulting data were analyzed using CAQDAS MAXQDA, version 24. Results: Participants favored short-term actions (61.6%; n = 94) over medium-term (17%; n = 26) or long-term (20.9%; n = 32) initiatives. Proposed short-term actions focused on curricular changes, faculty development, and well-being initiatives. Medium-term plans emphasized support systems and committees, while long-term goals targeted broader policies, labor conditions, and teaching hospitals, which presented the lowest frequency. The study identified three domains of actors involved: beneficiaries, groups, and those responsible for implementation. Conclusions: These community-driven, collaborative efforts provide a constructive framework for institutional intervention. By engaging stakeholders directly, the co-creation process allows for a comprehensive understanding of the scope and limitations of educational initiatives, effectively grounding them within the specific needs of the academic context. Full article

GenAI is now capable of producing journal articles that look like human work, raising the question of whether the scholarly credibility might be misinterpreted as evidentiary validity. This research investigates AI-generated scholarship by shifting attention from the detection of AI-generated content to its critical appraisal and evaluation. To achieve this, a split-paper audit procedure was applied to a fully AI-generated mixed-methods manuscript that was independently reviewed by three university faculty members. Findings indicate that the model can simulate academic style and coherence with a high degree of surface plausibility; however, this superficial rigor was combined with ungrounded content, unsupported contextualization, selective reporting, and inconsistent methodological details. Reviewers’ comments also highlighted the formulaic language and narratives that confirmed their prior expectations, and questioned whether prompt structures may be channeling outputs towards pre-existing assumptions and masking areas where evidence is scant. The study defines synthetic scholarship as an epistemic condition where plausibility may supplant verification, and suggests a transparent audit process to facilitate the assessment of AI-mediated scholarship. It argues that ensuring research integrity in the era of generative AI will rely on more than just disclosure of generative AI use; it will also require auditable trails to assist in examining, verifying, and substantiating claims. Full article