Digital Transformation in Higher Education Institutions as a Driver of Social Oriented Innovations

Higher education institutions have in the digital transformation an opportunity to facilitate access to education for individuals of different social backgrounds. At the same time, it will provide them with the necessary tools and skills to face current global problems (poverty, health quality, income disparities, environmental crises, among others) from a transdisciplinary perspective. Progress in the digitalization of higher education has been significantly accelerated by the onset of a pandemics in early 2020 (in European conditions). Such a rapid and massive transition to distance (online) education with comprehensive support for digital technologies is unparalleled. The survey conducted reflects the consequences of this change. Results shows that digital transformation improves some of the most demanded skills in the new knowledge society (searching and processing information, digital communication and socialization or working with text). Likewise, it has an important role in reducing costs related to education, but also in degradation of abilities in personal communication.

Constituting A Root Map Towards Inclusive Growth: A Comparative Analysis

Developing and emerging countries of Asia have shown a tremendous improvement in economic growth rates couple with the significant strides in extreme poverty reduction. However, most of the economies are still facing some challenges like income and non-income disparities in sharing benefits and participation into social and economic activities. It requires attention that economic growth must be accompanied by reduction in poverty and income & non-income inequalities, and promoting equitable participation, i.e. growth must be inclusive. To address these challenges, present study presents a pioneer work to construct a unique but comprehensive inclusive growth index (IGI) over the period of last two decades for 17 Asian and 8 developed countries. The study made a comparative analysis of inclusive growth performances of developing and emerging countries of Asia and compared their final score with the benchmark set by developed countries of the world. The study highlighted the clusters of variables which required attention in developing Asia to converge with emerging Asia, and in emerging Asia to converge with developed world. In short, the study provides a root map for developing countries to merge with emerging countries, and for emerging countries to merge with developed countries.

Prospects for African economies in 2022

Significance However, this recovery remains below global growth for the second consecutive year, further widening global income disparities and possibly undermining crucial domestic spending well into the medium term.

The ‘Changing Status’ of Women w.r.t. Gentrified Urban Spaces of Mumbai

Reinforcement of inequality and rise in human conflict across society, culture, political economy and gender relations is a characteristic feature of globalisation which is an apparent process of development. This inequality becomes more evident in a globalising city like Mumbai because the capitalist expansion within Mumbai has been defragmented and worrisome. Girangaon in Mumbai (spread over E, F and G wards within MCGM- Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) is a case reflecting a similar inconsistency because this is a core area which has been undergoing so called urban renewal since the closure of cotton textile mills since 1980s. More livelihood opportunities in Mumbai have been created in the informal tertiary sector as compared to the formal traditional occupations. Urban poverty, income disparities and deprivations are issues which remain unaddressed. Women who are an important part of the urban economy and who remain behind the veils when it comes to assessment and calculation of real income are not left behind from this brunt. The present paper therefore is an attempt to understand the participation and contribution of women in Mumbai’s economy. It also tries to study whether there has been any change in the socio-economic status of women from Girangaon especially with two important processes- closure of mills and the initiation of gentrification. For this purpose a questionnaire survey was conducted in Girangaon and the collected data has been analysed qualitatively to understand the dynamics of capital and gender relations.

Digital Accessibility and Intersectional Discrimination

Intersectional discrimination recognizes social disadvantages occurring at the nexus of multiple social identities. An intersectional perspective provides a powerful lens for examining states’ obligations to ensure access to information and communications technology (ICT) across disability, gender, and socioeconomic status. Intersectional barriers can include accessibility, cost and affordability, social exclusion and online aggression, and learning digital skills. Our findings have particular relevance for the Global South due to the close link between poverty and disability, growing general prevalence of poverty, and increasing income disparities between the Global South and Global North (Hickel, 2017; Moyo & Ferguson, 2009). Our findings also illustrate the complex relationships and the need for new policies and programs that take into account intersectionality when adopting ICT as a tool for sustainable development.

Trends in Health Equity Among Children in the United States, 1997–2018

Objectives Health equity is crucial to population health. To achieve this aim, extensive monitoring efforts beyond traditional disparities research are required. This analysis assesses trends in health equity for children from 1997 to 2018. Methods Health equity in a given year is calculated using a previously developed measure as the mean weighted departure of individual health from the best achievable level of health. This criterion is defined as the median health of the most socially privileged identifiable group: white, non-Latinx boys in upper-income households. Using more than 20 years of data from the National Health Interview Survey, we apply this methodology to six measures of child health: parent-reported health status, school days missed due to illness or injury in the past year, a strength and difficulties questionnaire score, emotional difficulties, a toddler mental health indicator score, and toddler depression. We separately calculate racial/ethnic and income disparities. Monte Carlo simulation is used to assess whether trends are statistically significant. Results Health equity among children increased gradually over the past 2 decades, with five of the six measures demonstrating upward trends. Improvements in health equity are stronger among younger children (age 0–3 and 4–7). Unlike previous work examining adults, both types of disparities narrowed over the study period. Conclusions for Practice Progress on health equity requires accountability to an objective metric. This analysis suggests some improvement over the past two decades, although these gains are under threat from potential decreases in government spending on programs affecting children and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gender Income Differentials in Malaysia

Studies related to distribution of income is very important for national development as it is related to efforts also to reducing the gender earnings disparity. Women have overcome many challenges within the labour market, but gender income differentials still persist in Malaysia. As reducing the gender income differentials is one of the ingredients for sustained economic growth, this article examines the gender income distribution in several submarkets within the Malaysian labour market and discusses some initiatives aimed at reducing income disparities therein Keywords: Differentials; Gender; Income; Labour, Malaysia