Interests and attitudes of G.C.E. (A/L) physical science stream students on university education in STEM: A case study in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has a free education system that gives access to higher education opportunities through the G.C.E. (Advanced Level) examination to a limited number of students. Students can choose their preferred university course if they have fulfilled the required minimum results for university admission. This paper discusses the general interests and attitudes of a sample of physical science stream students towards university education in STEM as a case study in Sri Lanka. The study has investigated several perspectives of the selected sample of G. C. E. (A/L) students through an online survey that includes questions regarding students' attitudes and perceptions on university education and different STEM-related undergraduate courses. The study has covered several schools of three provinces in Sri Lanka, and some of the investigated results are discussed with respect to the provinces. The results revealed career prospects, the academic quality of the undergraduate courses and the reputation of the university as the most influencing factors for undergraduate course selection in STEM disciplines, while engineering-related undergraduate courses were the most preferred ones among the students. The study results can be an asset to further studies since this topic has been rarely explored in the Sri Lankan higher education context.

Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning based Information Retrieval Framework for Assessing Students Performance

Improving the quality of education is a challenging activity in every educational institution. Through this research paper, a model has been proposed representing the challenges in order to manage the trade-off to maintain the philosophy of continuous quality improvement and strict control based on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Several standards criteria, performance parameters, and Key Performance Indicators are studied and suggested for a quality self-assessment approach. After the data is collected, the significant features are selected for analysis of data using dedicated gain, which are designed by integrating the information gain and the dedicated weight constants. After that, deep learning methodologies like regression analysis, the artificial neural network, and the Matlab model are used for evaluating the academic quality of institutions. Finally, areas of development have been recommended using the probabilistic model to the administrators of the institutions based on the prediction made using a deep neural network.

How Harmful Is the Commercialization of Higher Education for the Academic and Social Environment?

The commercial market for higher education in Europe is expanding as governments cut spending on universities in the wake of the 2008 global economic crisis, and universities must be self-sufficient to survive. This commercialization is mainly reflected in the fact that universities begin to pay more attention to fund accumulation rather than improving academic value. With the continuous increase of tuition fees in colleges and universities, students are regarded as consumers and universities are essential commodities needed by consumers. Although commercialization of higher education has some beneficial aspects, such as more funds for schools to provide students with more advanced equipment and more comfortable learning environment, overall, the threat of commercialization to academic quality and social environment cannot be compensated for by those advantages. This paper aims to find out the two main reasons for the commercialization of higher education and the three threats to the social and academic environment brought by the marketing of higher education. Also, the paper also puts forward corresponding solutions for the three major risks; the two reasons analyzed in this paper are mainly the economic crisis and the development of globalization. The three threats are mainly aimed at the teaching quality of educational value and the financial pressure of students. At the same time, the paper gives three corresponding solutions to the threats. This paper argues that the commercialization of higher education severely hinders the improvement of educational value, reduces teaching quality, and brings heavy pressure to students' economy, which directly hinders the healthy development of higher education. If higher education institutions can adopt corresponding strategies to mitigate the threat of commercialization, the commercialization market of higher education may bring many opportunities for the development of higher education industry.

Evaluation of Academic Quality Assurance Program at Sultan AMAI State Islamic Institute Gorontalo

This study aims to determine the evaluation of the academic quality assurance program at the Sultan AMAI State Islamic Institute of Gorontalo. The method used in this research is the descriptive method with the CIPP model (Context, Input, Process, Product). Data collection techniques used were observation, interviews, and documentation. The results showed a lack of alumni readiness to enter the business and professional world so that there were some alumni from one of the departments who had a long waiting period; There are still many departments/study programs that are accredited C. There is still a lack of professional staff in the field of research and community service; There is still a lack of research and community service involving students; Lack of application/transfer of technology as a result of community service with community needs; Internal service programs were still dominant; The community service partnership network has not been maximized; Not yet well-coordinated the target areas/villages; Weak monitoring and evaluation of community service programs, so that it cannot be ascertained that its implementation is in accordance with the scientific field.

“Let Me Enjoy Teaching” Improving Academic Quality Assurance Practices to Attain Teaching Excellence: Case Study of Selected Private Higher Education Institutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The purpose of this study was to identify the academic quality assurance practices that should be employed to attain teaching excellence at selected private higher education institutions in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The study adopted a qualitative interpretive research design and utilized one-to-one, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 participants. The sample was purposefully selected and comprised six faculty members, four program directors, one senior academic staff member, and one junior non-academic administrator, from three private higher education institutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Findings revealed four categories of practices: a) Must-keep practices, b) Must-modify practices, c) Must-add practices, and d) Must-avoid practices. Some of the practices relating to quality assurance that the study identified are maintaining important evaluation-related practices while providing feedback for improvement, closing the loop, educating all employees about and increasing their reengagement in quality assurance practice, and reducing paperwork and work duplication. This study concludes by recommending that higher education institutions employ the strategies discussed in the findings to promote teaching creativity and to improve the quality of teaching and learning, to achieve teaching excellence.

A comparison of systematic reviews and guideline-based systematic reviews in medical studies

The question of how citation impact relates to academic quality accompanies every decade in bibliometric research. Although experts have employed more complex conceptions of research quality for responsible evaluation, detailed analyses of how impact relates to dimensions such as methodological rigor are lacking. But the increasing number of formal guidelines for biomedical research offer not only the potential to understand the social dynamics of standardization, but also their relations to scientific rewards. By using data from Web of Science and PubMed, this study focuses on systematic reviews from biomedicine and compares this genre with those systematic reviews that applied the PRISMA reporting standard. Besides providing an overview about growth and location, it was found that the latter, more standardized type of systematic review accumulates more citations. It is argued that instead of reinforcing the traditional conception that higher impact represents higher quality, highly prolific authors could be more inclined to develop and apply new standards than more average researchers. In addition, research evaluation would benefit from a more nuanced conception of scientific output which respects the intellectual role of various document types.

The Mediating Role of Professional Commitment in Self-efficacy and Learning Burnout of Special Education Majors — Take China's Southwestern Part as an Example

Through the questionnaire for the professional commitment, self-efficacy, academic burnout of the southwestern part, and explore the relationship between the three and its intrinsic mechanisms, in order to reduce learning burnout of normal students in special education, improve their Academic quality provides effective recommendations. The results showed that self-efficacy positively affected the low sense of achievement in learning burnout, negatively affected the inappropriate behavior, and had no significant effect on the depression. Among them, self-efficacy positively affects professional commitment, and then significantly negatively affects low sense of achievement in learning burnout. Professional commitment has a complete mediating effect between self-efficacy and low sense of achievement, while professional commitment has no mediating effect between self-efficacy, low mood and inappropriate behavior.

Implementation of School-Based Management in Improving the Quality of Learning in the City of Bekasi

The importance of evaluating the implementation of School Based Management in providing innovative learning improvements in improving the quality of education, but the reality is that there are still elementary school educational institutions that do not know much about the benefits of implementing School-Based Management. The objectives of this study are 1) Determine the implementation of School-Based Management in improving the quality of learning; 2) Determine the factors supporting and inhibiting the implementation of School-Based Management in improving the quality of learning. Methods: The type of research used is descriptive qualitative research. The research data collection method was carried out by observation, interviews, and documents. Analysis of research data was carried out by presenting data, reducing, and drawing conclusions. The research location was conducted at one of the elementary schools in Bekasi City. Results: This study showed that 1) The implementation of school-based management was carried out through well-executed planning, organizing, implementing, and supervising management process by the essence of management in an autonomous, flexible, participatory, transparent and accountable manner; 2) Supporting factors, namely the role of the community, parents and committees in school activities, complete class teachers and almost all of them meet academic quality. Conclusion: The inhibiting factor is active, creative, effective, and fun learning which requires a lot of funds, time, and energy because it has to be prepared but in implementation, it can be handled properly.

Implementation of School-Based Management in Improving the Quality of Learning in the City of Bekasi

The importance of evaluating the implementation of School Based Management in providing innovative learning improvements in improving the quality of education, but the reality is that there are still elementary school educational institutions that do not know much about the benefits of implementing School-Based Management. The objectives of this study are 1) Determine the implementation of School-Based Management in improving the quality of learning; 2) Determine the factors supporting and inhibiting the implementation of School-Based Management in improving the quality of learning. Methods: The type of research used is descriptive qualitative research. The research data collection method was carried out by observation, interviews, and documents. Analysis of research data was carried out by presenting data, reducing, and drawing conclusions. The research location was conducted at one of the elementary schools in Bekasi City. Results: This study showed that 1) The implementation of school-based management was carried out through well-executed planning, organizing, implementing, and supervising management process by the essence of management in an autonomous, flexible, participatory, transparent and accountable manner; 2) Supporting factors, namely the role of the community, parents and committees in school activities, complete class teachers and almost all of them meet academic quality. Conclusion: The inhibiting factor is active, creative, effective, and fun learning which requires a lot of funds, time, and energy because it has to be prepared but in implementation, it can be handled properly.