Since its inception in 2013, “The Belt and Road Initiative” has become an important engine driving global economic growth. The initiative has not only promoted infrastructure construction in countries along the Belt and Road but also strengthened financial integration, unimpeded trade, people-to-people exchanges, and policy communication. In this context, higher education, as an important avenue for talent training and scientific and technological innovation, is of great significance to promoting the economic and social development of countries along the Belt and Road. By strengthening academic cooperation with Chinese universities, Kyrgyzstan can enhance its curriculum, adopt advanced teaching methods, and integrate cutting-edge research to foster more skilled labor. In addition, innovation and technology transfer through higher education partnerships can drive sustainable economic growth and diversification. This paper explores the strategic path of integrating higher education into the Belt and Road. Initiative, focusing on academic collaboration, enhancing R&D capabilities, and fostering an entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This paper focuses on the analysis of educational institutions’ communication on social media, with an emphasis on the individual type of content used by these institutions to increase engagement and interaction with current and potential students. The authors examine how educational institutions tailor their communication content on Facebook and Instagram to meet the expectations and needs of their target audience. The analysis includes content evaluation, frequency of posts, user interaction, and integration of multimedia elements. In our research we focused on private school segment from kindergartens, through primary to secondary schools. The paper also presents an analysis of the differences of communication on different platforms (Facebook and Instagram) and their impact on the digital communication strategy of private schools. The results suggest that despite the increasing popularity of Instagram and higher interaction, educational institutions are communicating more on Facebook.

Introduction: Chatbots are increasingly utilized in education, offering real-time, personalized communication. While research has explored technical aspects of chatbots, user experience remains under-investigated. This study examines a model for evaluating user experience and satisfaction with chatbots in higher education. Methodology: A four-factor model (information quality, system quality, chatbot experience, user satisfaction) was proposed based on prior research. An alternative two-factor model emerged through exploratory factor analysis, focusing on “Chatbot Response Quality” and “User Experience and Satisfaction with the Chatbot.” Surveys were distributed to students and faculty at a university in Ecuador to collect data. Confirmatory factor analysis validated both models. Results: The two-factor model explained a significantly greater proportion of the data’s variance (55.2%) compared to the four-factor model (46.4%). Conclusion: This study suggests that a simpler model focusing on chatbot response quality and user experience is more effective for evaluating chatbots in education. Future research can explore methods to optimize these factors and improve the learning experience for students.

Despite being controversial, teacher tenure policies are understudied, particularly in higher education contexts outside the Western world. Using semi-structured interviews with 15 university faculty members, this study explored how tenure systems influence the teaching practices, motivations, and job satisfaction of language teachers in Macau's universities. It was revealed that Macau implemented competitive, “up or out” tenure policies that were based on research output. Faculty were anxious as vague expectations heightened research priorities over teaching quality and student support. Requirements also strained collegial relationships as faculty goals focused on promotion. Veteran professors demonstrated resilience, maintaining intrinsic motivation despite policies. They advocated improving policies by promoting transparency, balancing workloads, accommodating disciplines, and communicating effectively. Using empirical data, this study identifies key policy implications for supporting teacher motivation while balancing inequality constraints. It provides empirical insight into optimizing tenure for teacher engagement and fulfillment.

This study will explore the direct and indirect impacts of collaborative governance innovation on organizational value creation in higher vocational education in China in the context of the digital era. This paper employs a mixed research methodology to construct and validate a model of the relationship between collaborative governance, digital competence, value chain restructuring, and value creation. This study first adopted an exploratory sequential design. In the qualitative interviews, 15 experts from education, business, and other related fields were used as respondents to explore accurate variable factors and determine the value of the research framework. The quantitative research used structural equation analysis to analyze 979 valid online questionnaires. Finally, the rationality of the research results was verified through case studies.  The findings are clear: collaborative governance significantly positively impacts value creation, indirectly affecting organizational value creation through value chain restructuring. Furthermore, digital capabilities significantly contribute to the value chain restructuring process. This paper provides a theoretical basis and practical guidance for higher vocational education organizations to improve their governance and innovation capabilities.

Good health and well-being are embedded in the 3rd Goal amongst the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The primary objective of this research was to identify the most critical economic, social, and administrative barriers to implementing the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. A sequential exploratory design and case study technique were used, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. In the first stage, in-depth interviews with 50 key officials were conducted to identify the most critical barriers to the EPI program. A quantitative analysis was then performed based on the results obtained from qualitative analysis, and rank orders of barriers were received from the same health department experts. The results indicate that twenty-eight barriers can cause implementation problems for this program. Still, the ten barriers that gained the maximum hits are the most important barriers, which include Shortage of vaccinators, mismanagement of vaccines’ cold chain, biometric android application, ice-lined refrigerators, communication gap, inadequate legislation of EPI program, capacity building issues with EPI staff, Misconceptions about EPI program, lack of awareness of the parents and community, refusal cases and inadequate cooperation of lady health workers (LHWs). Coordinated efforts of the government and the public are highly recommended to address these barriers.