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Enhancing the role of private sector partners in education can lead to significant improvements in education service delivery. However, the realization of such benefits depends in great part on the design of the partnership between the public and private sectors, on the overall regulatory framework of the country, and on the governmental capacity to oversee and enforce its contracts with the private sector. Under the right terms, private sector participation in education can increase efficiency, choice, and access to education services, particularly for students who tend to fail in traditional education settings. Private-for-profit schools across the world are already serving a vast range of usersâ€\"from elite families to children in poor communities. Through balanced public-private partnerships (PPPs) in education, governments can leverage the specialized skills offered by private organizations as well as overcome operating restrictions such as salary scales and work rules that limit public sector responses. 'The Role and Impact of Public-Private Partnerships in Education' presents a conceptualization of the issues related to PPPs in education, a detailed review of rigorous evaluations, and guidleines on how to create successful PPPs. The book shows how this approach can facilitate service delivery, lead to additional financing, expand equitable access, and improve learning outcomes. The book also discusses the best way to set up these arrangements in practice. This information will be of particular interest to policymakers, teachers, researchers, and development practitioners.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought massive online activities and increased cybersecurity incidents and cybercrime. As a result of this, the cyber reputation of organisations has also received increased scrutiny and global attention. Due to increased cybercrime, reputation displaying a more important role within risk management frameworks both within public and private institutions is vital. This study identifies key factors in determining reputational damage to public and private sector institutions through cyberattacks. Researchers conducted an extensive review of the literature, which addresses factors relating to risk management of reputation post-cyber breach. The study identified 42 potential factors, which were then classified using the STAR model. This model is an organisational design framework and was suitable due to its alignment with organisations. A qualitative study using semi-structured and structured questions was conducted with purposively selected cybersecurity experts in both public and private sector institutions. Data obtained from the expert forum were analysed using thematic analysis, which revealed that a commonly accepted definition for cyber reputation was lacking despite the growing use of the term “online reputation”. In addition, the structured questions data were analysed using relative importance index rankings. The analysis results revealed significant factors in determining reputational damage due to cyberattacks, as well as highlighting reputation factor discrepancies between private and public institutions. Theoretically, this study contributes to the body of knowledge relating to cybersecurity of organisations. Practically, this research is expected to aid organisations to properly position themselves to meet cyber incidents and become more competitive in the post-COVID-19 era.

This book investigates trends in skills demand and supply over the past two decades for insights into ways to build (and use) the critical skills needed to sustain competitiveness of the Philippine economy. Part one of the book investigates trends in demand for skills in the country overall and by sectors, explores its possible determinants, and attempts to identify emerging skills gaps. Part two turns to the analysis of the supply of skills in the country with a focus on the ability of education and training to provide highly skilled labor, keeping workers' skills updated, and providing skills development opportunities for the unskilled. It explores employers' perceptions on the quality of institutions and provides detailed analysis of the main characteristics, outcomes, and challenges in four key (or growing) subsectors of the provision of skills in the country: higher education, postsecondary technical-vocational education, non-formal secondary education, and postemployment training. It concludes with a summary of policy recommendations.

The publication output from Indian institutions has been steadily increasing during the last few years. This may be attributed to the higher investment in research and also linking the number of publications with career advancement. There is a need to analyse the publication output of Indian institutions in terms of quality of publications. In this study, output in the top 10 percentile, as computed by SciVal (a product of Elsevier), has been used as an indicator of the quality of research output, since it reflects the percentage of an institution's publication in the top 10 percentile of the most cited articles. Out of the 15 subject areas listed in SciVal, 7 contribute to more than 65% of publications from Indian institutions. Accordingly, Indian institutions with output in the top 10 percentile greater than the national average in these 7 major subject areas have been identified to compare their research output in terms of quality.

Governments are becoming increasingly aware of the important contribution that high performance, world-class universities make to global competitiveness and economic growth. There is growing recognition, in both industrial and developing countries, of the need to establish one or more world-class universities that can compete effectively with the best of the best around the world. Contextualizing the drive for world-class higher education institutions and the power of international and domestic university rankings, this book outlines possible strategies and pathways for establishing globally competitive universities and explores the challenges, costs, and risks involved. Its findings will be of particular interest to policy makers, university leaders, researchers, and development practitioners.

The performance of tertiary educational institutions is heavily influenced by their governance arrangements, management structures, accountability mechanisms, and regulatory environments. 'Legal Frameworks for Tertiary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa' analyzes 70 examples of tertiary education legislation and individual statutes of selected public institutions in 24 Sub-Saharan African countries. It identifies the range of formal governance and management practices for university educational systems set forth in these legal documents. These factors are fundamental for determining the responsiveness, adaptability, and flexibility of tertiary education systems, and ultimately the capacity of these systems to manage change and maintain relevance under continually shifting circumstances. Overall, the analysis finds general tendencies to increase institutional autonomy, to strengthen accountability mechanisms, to shift from appointment to elective representation in the filling of higher governance and management positions, and to expand university links with civil society, the private sector, and regional and international institutions.

This work addresses the importance of food and nutrition in promoting the health of the elderly population, with a specific focus on the qualitative evaluation of menus provided by a social solidarity institution in Portugal. The aim of this study is to conduct a qualitative evaluation of menus furnished by a social solidarity institution situated in the northern region of Portugal in order to prevent and/or treat malnutrition in the elderly. The methodology involves the evaluation of four weekly menus, totaling 28 complete daily menus for the elderly, using the Avaliacao Qualitativa de Ementas Destinadas a Idosos (AQEDI) tool. This assessment tool comprises six domains: general items, soup, protein suppliers, carbohydrate suppliers, vegetable suppliers, and dessert, each consisting of various parameters. The findings reveal that all menus were classified as acceptable, with percentages ranging from 60.73% to 68.84%, and suggest that there exists room for improvement. This study emphasizes the necessity for coordinated efforts within the institution to enhance menu planning, taking into account both nutritional guidelines and sensory aspects of food. Effective coordination within the institution is crucial for maintaining positive aspects and rectifying inadequacies in menu planning.

An institutional perspective is employed to illuminate the complexity of frauds in various diverse economies, in order to enhance the efficacy of previous accounting concepts. In this study, the effects of the legal, regulatory and human framework of the strength of auditing and reporting standards, and the governance capital related to global sustainable competitiveness and economic growth, etc. are analysed by linear regression (OLS) methods. Moreover, the role of other indicators i.e. financial freedom, the extent of director liability and legal origin, are interrelated with the number of fraud cases. From the results, it appears that an increased level of governance capital, financial freedom from government pressure, strengthened transparency and more protected minority investors through liable directors might increase the number of reported fraud cases in the countries and years examined. The existence of legal origin also seemed to be an appropriate proxy for an improved understanding of fraud characteristics. This evidence suggests it is worth investigating in depth the nature of financial crimes across countries for a better understanding of this phenomenon. In this way, these findings might have sufficient potential in the case of adequate policy implications within a less litigious business environment to resolve the undesirable consequences of impending financial downturns, and to achieve sustainable competitiveness and economic development.

In Colombia, the beginning of a new century has brought with it a palpable feeling of optimism. Colombians will need new and better skills to apply to new challenges and prospects. The past underperformance of Colombia's education system is both a cause and an effect of a system unable to provide high quality education to all. An \"education revolution\" has begun and progress is being made. Basic and secondary enrolment, quality and learning outcomes are trending upward. The government's main policy goals at the tertiary level focus on the key challenges: expanding enrolment and improving equity, increasing quality and relevance, and making governance and finance more responsive. To achieve these goals, policy makers and stakeholders must find ways to reach consensus, work together and overcome inertia. Colombia has drifted away from focusing exclusively on the needs of students, the graduates they become, and the society in which they live and work. Restoring the focus on how tertiary education can serve these needs is a good organizing principle for reform. The government developed a proposed reform of Law 30 - the main statute governing tertiary education - and vigorous national debate accompanied its dissemination. Opposition to for-profit education dominated the headlines, but, in the review team's view, other aspects of the proposed reform were and are more important. The dramatic increase in tertiary enrolment witnessed during the last decade has also resulted in a more equitable distribution of access to tertiary education. The goal of enrolling 50% of the age cohort is appropriate and achievable, but it implies new challenges for access and student finance policies. The tertiary system covers the full range of the Colombian economy's needs for skilled manpower, if not necessarily to an equal extent. The government has clear and well-founded plans and aspirations for future tertiary growth and development. The Colombian government and people are well aware that they need not only more, but also better and fairer, tertiary provision - growth in coverage must be accompanied by quality, relevance and equitable access. The Colombian system of propaedeutic cycles is a good step towards allowing students to progress up through the tertiary levels. Colombian tertiary institutions have considerable autonomy, which is valuable in many ways though limiting in others.

Type of the article: Research Article The voice of the customer, trust, value, and Customer Relationship Management are essential in improving educational service quality. However, assessing their impacts remains difficult due to the intangible nature of educational service delivery and parents’ rising expectations. Lebanese schools, especially in urban areas such as Akkar, often overlook the negative effects of these factors on relationships with parents as decision makers, leading to a perceived gap between promises and actual experiences. This article aims to evaluate the influence of a customer’s voice on educational service quality through the mediating roles of perceived trust, perceived value, and customer relationship management. A quantitative method with a deductive approach was employed, using a questionnaire administered to parents of students enrolled in French and English private schools in Akkar, North Lebanon. Data collection was cross-sectional and concluded on November 30, 2024. The sample consisted of 390 participants, selected through simple random sampling after securing the school managers’ consent for data collection. Hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling. The study confirmed that a customer’s voice has a direct statistical effect (β = 0.083) on educational service quality and an indirect effect through perceived value (β = 0.021) and customer relationship management (p < 0.001), except for perceived trust. Parents perceive institutional responsiveness and cost-benefit optimization as crucial indicators of quality. Trust seems to function through autonomous mechanisms that are independent of formal feedback processes. The findings emphasize that schools can enhance service quality by establishing systematic feedback systems, refining CRM strategies, and leveraging perceived value to close the gap between expectations and actual experiences.