The validity and specifically the convergent validity of a course's online assessments (i.e. the extent to which the online assessments really measure what is measured by other assessments meant to measure the constructs of the course's learning outcomes) so far receive little attention, especially for business mathematics courses. Based on a…

This paper examines interactions between the presence of top-ranked universities and other conditions that encourage regional competitiveness. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was conducted to assess the combined effect of the conditions. The analysis yields several noteworthy conclusions. First, no single condition is necessary…

The academic library plays multiple roles in the university, making even a nuanced analysis of service numbers inadequate for assessing the complexity of the library's value and contributions to the university's mission and success. This exploratory study uses social network analysis and a unique interlibrary loan (ILL) data set to examine…

Each country in the world has its own individual approaches to the quality assurance system of higher education, so the quality of educational services in each country is different. The developing countries should be guided by the standards and recommendations put forward by the world's leading countries in the field of the assurance system of…

This paper considers the widening access and participation agenda, its implications for higher education institutions (HEIs) and contends that it must be underpinned by strategic measurement and monitoring. Access is viewed through the following lenses: (i) supporting participation, and (ii) facilitating equity. Using mixed methods, the paper…

The paper analyses the grades assigned by the professors of the University of Milan to their students at the end of written exams, comparing what happened in academic year 2018-19 and in academic year 2020-21, i.e., before and during the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the lockdown closed the classrooms, stopping…

This study aims to critically and systematically investigate the contemporary discourse within scholarship on world-class universities in different higher education context. It applies critical discourse analysis to review articles from some top higher education academic journals and books published between 2000 and 2019. Exploring the notion of…

When seeking to explain the eventual outcomes of a higher education experience, do the personal attributes and background factors students bring to college matter more than what the college is able to contribute to the development of the student through education or other institutional factors? Most education studies tend to simply ignore…

First Language (L1) has been assumed to play a role in Second Language ability (Bachman & Palmer, 1996). However, the interplay between them across skill, task, or scoring criteria is more complex (Hamp-Lyons & Davies, 2008). Using Many-Facets Rasch Measurement, this study investigates the main effects of examinee ability, rater severity,…

Within the global higher education structure, many nations have followed various strategies to become one of popular destinations for international students. Similarly, employing national strategy focusing on internationalisation, Turkey achieved to become an emerging regional hub as the tenth most popular destination for international students.…

Positioning strategy and ranking are critical issues in an increasingly competitive higher education landscape. Unless there is conceptual congruence between positioning strategies and rankings, the signals may become diffused and confusing for prospective students. This paper seeks the congruence between positioning strategies and ranking. Since…

Today's global knowledge economy has highlighted the need for the comparison of higher education quality. This need has been largely met by international university rankings. Although it is widely recognized that no one ranking system is completely objective, higher education stakeholders across the world still take rankings' results seriously.…

Higher Education (HE) plays an active role in nation building by developing and transforming the human capital holistically. This lifelong endeavour is by no means smooth sailing as HEs have to face many challenges. One prominent challenge is of university ranking, which is highly Westernized and exceedingly quantitative. "Creatical…

An increasing effort has been put into dealing with the question of time-series analysis regarding institutional efficiency, including in the area of higher education. Universities are important institutions for economies and societies and are expected to provide excellence as well as efficiency in their processes and outputs. This is reflected in…

Globalizing forces have both transformed the higher education sector and made it increasingly homogenous. Growing similarities among universities have been attributed to isomorphic pressures to ensure and/or enhance legitimacy by imitating higher education institutions that are perceived as successful internationally, particularly universities…