This study explores the role of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and STEM education in building the soft infrastructure necessary for economic development within Kazakhstan’s transforming education system. The authors conducted an interdisciplinary analysis, emphasizing the cognitive and communicative aspects of foreign language education in secondary schools, proposing a model for integrating ICC through the use of information and analytical technologies. The research focuses on personalized education, teacher competencies, and student engagement, with experimental methods applied in a Karaganda-based school. The study aims to identify mechanisms and principles that enhance ICC development, contributing to Kazakhstan’s modernization efforts in fostering globally competitive graduates prepared for the demands of the international arena. This research lays the foundation for further practical experimentation in profiled schools, aligning education with national development goals.

The competencies of public health professionals serve as the cornerstone for curriculum development ensuring that educational programs are pertinent efficient and attuned to the requirements of both the public health workforce and the communities they serve. This study endeavors to investigate the knowledge competency of public health professionals in Thailand with the intention of refining the suitability of knowledge competency for curriculum development tailored to the needs of public health professionals in Thailand. Employing a qualitative study, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 university lecturers in public health programs in Northeastern Thailand. The data collected were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. The findings elucidate that the lecturers articulated a core knowledge content pertinent to public health professionals in Thailand delineated across five principal themes and thirteen subjects within the public health curriculum. These themes encompassed: 1) Epidemiology and disease prevention (comprising two subjects), 2) Health promotion and community health (comprising four subjects), 3) Research methods in public health and biostatistics (comprising two subjects), 4) Public health administration, health system, and laws (comprising three subjects), and 5) Environmental health and occupational health and safety (comprising two subjects). Subsequently, this study scrutinized five core courses to formulate a model curriculum for public health. The proposed model curriculum is intended for application in both planning and the development of the public health workforce, fostering interdisciplinary learning and nurturing public health professionals rooted in the authentic context of Thailand.

The provision of clean drinking water is an important public service as more than 700 million people do not have access to this basic need. When it comes to delivering public services in developing countries, government capacity is a crucial element. This study investigates whether state capacity is a significant determinant in the provision of safe drinking water using panel data from 88 developing countries from 1990 to 2017. The paper applies ordinary least squares and fixed effects regression approaches and uses the Bureaucratic Quality Index and the Tax/GDP ratio as metrics of state capacity. The findings indicate that in developing nations, the availability of clean drinking water is positively correlated with state capacity.

Leadership and personality traits of leaders always remained a hot debate among researchers and practitioners. However, there is still limited literature in the context of higher education. Thus, this research aimed to identify the most important personality traits in the workplace from the perspectives of higher education system leaders in four countries. The data were gathered by interviewing six participants from different nations, and those participants identified six personality traits that they considered positive at work. These traits include integrity, passion, adaptability, positivity, creativity, and compassion. Moreover, the findings revealed how program leaders can modify their recruitment and placement strategies to promote positive workplace practices and what methods can be used to reduce bad practices and their elimination, leading to higher business prospects. The results of this study can serve as guidelines for managers, program administrators, or intermediaries who want to improve their organizational performance. Moreover, the propositions developed by the findings can be investigated empirically.

The paper proposes a methodology for the analysis and evaluation of the traffic scheme of Bulgarian cities. The authors combine spatial, network, and socio-economic analyses of cities with transport operators’ financial-economic evaluation, sociological studies of transport habits, and the possibilities of new information technologies for transport modeling (such as geographic information systems). The model proposes several approaches to optimize the municipality’s transport scheme. It results from a new need to improve urban traffic, the quality of transport services, and the integration of urban transport into the regional economy of Stara Zagora municipality. It presents a description, analysis, and outline of the opportunities for developing urban transport connectivity and mobility in Stara Zagora municipality. The research results show a deficit of transport connectivity between the different parts of the city, reflecting on the regional economy’s development and the efficiency of the environment and the population.

In the highly competitive employment environment, most college students have left their jobs for a short time after employment, and attention should be paid to students’ career adaptation. However, the further influence of skilled goal orientation, social support and career-determined self-efficacy on college students’ career adaptation needs to be confirmed. This study analyzes the effects of these factors on college students’ career adaptation. This study aims to analyze the impact of mastery goal orientation, social support, and vocational decision self-efficacy on career adaptation among 224 university students in East China. The results indicated that university students generally exhibit positive levels of mastery goal orientation, social support, vocational decision self-efficacy, and overall career adaptation. Female students demonstrate higher levels of mastery goal orientation, social support, vocational decision self-efficacy, and career adaptation compared to male students. As students progress in their academic years, their levels of mastery goal orientation, social support, vocational decision self-efficacy, and career adaptation tend to increase. Students majoring in humanities and social sciences have higher level than students majoring in science and engineering in all factors. Students majoring in humanities and social sciences exhibit more optimism in all factors compared to students in science and technology fields. The relationships among these factors show positive correlations. Mastery goal orientation, social support, and vocational decision self-efficacy all have positive effects on career adaptation. Among these, family support stands out as the most influential subordinate factor of social support on career adaptation. The most influential subordinate factor of vocational decision self-efficacy on career adaptation is conscious decision-making. Therefore, male, lower grade, science and engineering college students are the groups that need to be paid attention to in improving career adaptation. Skilled goal orientation, family support and conscious decision making have a better effect on the improvement of career adaptation. These results can provide important reference information for universities, counselors and college students in the training of career planning, and theoretically enrich the relevant research on college students’ career adaptation, and provide certain enlightenment for future researchers.