The internationalization of higher education began to take shape during the period of the Republic of China. This trend manifested in various forms and encompassed a rich array of activities, including the construction of teaching staffs, the exchange of international students, and the presence of overseas scholars giving lectures in China. Between 1899 and 1945, Japanese institutions sent nearly 200 academic overseas students to China. With the establishment and improvement of the internal system of universities in the Republic of China, these students were able to study and interact with Chinese scholars. The forms of communication were diverse, the content was rich, and the channels were smooth, making the process lively and interesting with distinct characteristics of the era. Consequently, this group became both participants and witnesses in the internationalization process of universities in the Republic of China. However, the full-scale Anti-Japanese War disrupted the internationalization of universities, causing it to deviate from its normal trajectory. Some Japanese academic overseas students who had previously studied in China became instruments of Japanese imperialism’s cultural invasion and educational colonization. These students played a significant role in promoting the “alternative internationalization” of universities in the Republic of China. In short, examining the involvement of Japanese academic overseas students providing us a unique insight into the general situation and processes of internationalization at universities in the Republic of China during different historical periods.

Leadership and the academic freedom of the Universities in a digitally changing world are the generators of innovation in society. This study is a qualitative and quantitative empirical research of the Leadership at the public and private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Kosovo, that examines their communication, authoritarian or liberal communication, and dominant perceptions and attitudes towards social, political, and financial strategies in HEI as a basis of social and economic wellbeing. The theory of research, as elaborated by Tight (2022), emphasizes the evolving nature of academic inquiry and the significance of context in shaping research practices. Waite (2013) highlights the pivotal role of communication strategies in determining the effectiveness of both democratic and authoritarian leadership styles. Effective communication in democratic leadership fosters transparency and collaboration, while in authoritarian leadership, it can be used to consolidate control and manage dissent The research was conducted at public and private HEI, through personal interviews and a structured questionnaire, which was carried out by the staff of higher management of HEI, academic staff, administrative staff, and students of the public and private Universities. The results demonstrated that academic and financial autonomy has a high impact on academic ethics and academic integrity and has a high impact on the increase of the economy and well-being in society, compared with the lack of academic and financial autonomy and interference of politics in the management of HEI which has an impact on lower quality and integrity of HEI in society. Leaders of Universities need to think about new leadership models more socially responsible and more ecologically sensible consumption oriented, from Society, to society for society.

This study examines the effectiveness of Kazakhstan’s grant funding system in supporting research institutions and universities, focusing on the relationship between funding levels, expert evaluations, and research outputs. We analyzed 317 projects awarded grants in 2021, using parametric methods to assess publication outcomes in Scopus and Web of Science databases. Descriptive statistics for 1606 grants awarded between 2021 and 2023 provide additional insights into the broader funding landscape. The results highlight key correlations between funding, evaluation scores, and journal publication percentiles, with a notable negative correlation observed between international and national expert evaluations in specific scientific fields. A productivity analysis at the organizational level was conducted using non-parametric methods to evaluate institutional efficiency in converting funding into research output. Data were manually collected from the National Center of Science and Technology Evaluation and supplemented with publication data from Scopus and Web of Science, using unique grant numbers and principal investigators’ profiles. This comprehensive analysis contributes to the development of an analytical framework for improving research funding policies in Kazakhstan.

Universities play a crucial role in supporting sustainable development. In recent decades, indicator-based assessment tools have emerged to quantify universities’ efforts towards sustainability. The most widely known is the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings (UI-GWUR): In our paper, we examine the sustainability performance of the three greenest Hungarian universities. The University of Pécs, the University of Szeged and the University of Sopron were among the top 200 higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UI-GWUR in 2023, which proves that they have successfully integrated sustainable development into the components of their system. The aim of the paper is to identify the sustainability measures implemented by the three-top Hungarian HEIs. Their experiences shed light on how it is possible to move forward in the UI GWUR for a Hungarian higher education institution. In order to evaluate the sustainability efforts of the universities, the UI GWUR database was first examined. The websites and sustainability reports of the three universities were also analyzed to gain insight into their activities. Identifying the sustainability actions of the three institutions will help other universities to successfully plan and implement their sustainability initiatives. In the last part of our paper, we evaluate how the three Hungarian universities communicate sustainability through their websites. The results show that advancement in the UI Green Metric World University Rankings primarily requires conscious planning, which means a deeper understanding of the ranking methodology on the one hand, and a clear strategy creation and implementation on the other hand.

Industry 4.0 is revolutionizing businesses’ operations and relationships with the communities to which they cater. The widespread use of computing and network programs compels firms to digitize their operations and offer novel goods, solutions, and business for practice. Universities appear to be slow to adapt to the changes in the education sector. This study suggests using consolidated digital transformation sources to evaluate the level of ability that universities have achieved in the implementation of digital procedures and to compare it to that of other business sectors across all cities and provinces in Vietnam. The text outlines specific factors that universities should consider when implementing the model. Although the objective with the expectation of education from digital transformation is high, compare it with other industries. And the scores achieved in structural agility and create of benefit for the transformative goals are 3.4, but the score of benefit of technologies is 3.0 lower than. Additionally, the organizational component’s scores were primarily focused on leadership and culture, digital strategy, market digitalization, dynamic and digital capabilities, and strengthened logistics within each industry during the digital transformation. Our findings indicate that universities lag behind other industries, perhaps as a consequence of inadequate leadership and cultural shifts. This is exacerbated by a lack of innovation and inadequate financial assistance.