This study explores the establishment of communities of practice within teaching and learning centres (TLC) as strategies for advancing faculty development in higher education, examining their implementation in the US and Europe, with a specific focus on Italy. Utilising organisational benchmarking, we employed an explanatory, comparative, and…

Higher education's rapid expansion is paired with growing social expectations of its benefits and concern on its teaching quality. In response to these, institutional/national surveys based on an array of theories are widely used in universities for quality assurance, enhancement, and benchmarking. This paper reviews three major types of…

This study employed a concurrent embedded design to compare the accounting curricula of selected universities in Africa, America, Asia, and Europe, guided by International Education Standards (IES) 2, 3, 4, and 5. Fourteen universities from different continents were conveniently selected, and a descriptive content analysis was conducted to analyse…

During this research, the author attempted to locate institutions and background information about spaces that would be similar in scope to a digital scholarship lab (or scholar's lab being proposed in a university library. The information is meant to serve as a guide for the space design project, but it will be an important benchmarking tool for…

Today's teacher operates in a globalised space where people everywhere are inextricably connected, and whose lives no longer exist in an isolated vacuum, but intersect and collide as part of a dynamic vortex. Teachers must now think, and teach beyond local boundaries, such that definitions of teacher professionalism will be reshaped by forces of…

This study compares the literacy and numeracy proficiencies of higher education (HE) degree holders in 21 OECD countries based on primary analysis of the national data sets collected via the OECD's Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) 2012 study. The differences in the graduates' average literacy and numeracy…

This paper derives efficiency scores for around 8,500 schools in 30 countries, using Programme for International Student Assessment 2012 data and a nonparametric approach called data envelopment analysis as method. On average, achievement scores of schools can be increased by 27%, holding inputs constant. Efficiency scores vary considerably both…

Health literacy supports individuals', families', and communities' health-care decisions. As mediators between health information seekers and medical literature, librarians are essential purveyors of health literacy. Users' trust in libraries as sources of reliable and current health information presupposes the appropriate training of librarians;…

This report projects Northern Ireland's skills base through to 2030 and compares this to a number of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The report shows that on current trends Northern Ireland will continue to lag many other countries on a number of measures of learning and skills in 2030. These shortfalls can…

Sufficient and state-of-the-art research equipment is one component required to maintain the research competitiveness of a R&D organisation. This paper describes an approach to inform more optimal allocation of equipment expenditure levels in a large and diverse R&D organisation, such as CSIRO. CSIRO is Australia's national science agency,…

This article reviews research on the achievement outcomes of elementary mathematics programs. 85 rigorous experimental studies evaluated 64 programs in grades K-5. Programs were organized in 6 categories. Particularly positive outcomes were found for tutoring programs. Positive outcomes were seen in studies focused on professional development for…

This study uses bibliometric data to assess the performance of educational research in Australian universities. It provides an alternative perspective to the Australian government's Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment. ERA results suggest that the performance of educational research is substantially less compared to other…

The Education Council of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) commissioned a review of the current approach to the presentation of the National Assessment Program -- Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) data including information published on the "My School" website. The review was framed by four Terms of Reference, namely: (1)…

Women's underrepresentation in mathematics-related careers continues to concern policymakers, economists, and educators. This study addressed the issue by examining data from two international databases, namely IEA's "Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2015," and the World Economic Forum's "Global Gender Gap…

Participation in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has continuously expanded: from 43 systems in 2000 to 65 systems in the 2012 cycle, with 71 signed up for PISA 2015. There also has been a growth in sub-national participation, expanding PISA's reach beyond the…