STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education has recently been encouraged and attracted much national attention. This qualitative study aimed to conduct a thematic analysis of college student STEAM open responses to provide an examination of college students’ perceptions of their STEAM experiences into the STEAM field. Based on transformative learning theory, a thematic analysis of 756 written responses to seven prompts by 108 college student participants revealed three primary themes: (1) exciting and challenging difficulties, and transdisciplinary learning in STEAM; (2) STEAM learning of gradual process, problem-oriented instruction, and creative problem solving; and (3) metacognition development in STEAM. The findings revealed that undergraduates’ STEAM perceptions provide strong support for STEAM implementation to enhance teaching effectiveness in higher education.

Small-scale businesses have long been recognized as an important part of economic development and integrating them with industrial parks is both recommended and necessary for long-term success. In line of this, the objective of this study was to investigate the role of IPs entrepreneurial ecosystem in boosting the capabilities of small businesses. Data were collected from 245 small manufacturing business owners via simple random sampling and analysed using multivariate regression analysis. Thus, the ability of small enterprises is positively impacted by the presence of a more robust and appropriate entrepreneurial ecosystem. Similarly, a firm’s resource capabilities are more impacted by the entrepreneurial ecosystem when there is a better link between academia and industry. Furthermore, entrepreneurial skills are found to play a mediating role between the entrepreneurial ecosystem and firms’ technological capabilities. Another finding revealed that managerial expertise significantly mediates entrepreneurial ecosystems and firms’ resource capabilities. This finding suggested that the policymakers, better to formulate policies that encourages small businesses to engage in the industrial parks which results in an inclusive firm’s performance.

This study aims to analyze how public debt influences economic growth in Kosovo, using quarterly data from Q1 2008 to Q4 2022 and employing the generalized method of moments (GMM). The research reveals that there is a negative relationship between public debt and economic growth when other factors such as trade openness, total investment, current account balance, and primary balance are considered. Furthermore, the findings confirm an inverted “U-shaped” relationship between public debt and economic growth, indicating that the optimal debt level is between 27.75% and 36.2% of GDP.

Introduction: In contemporary healthcare education, the integration of technology has emerged as an essential factor in enhancing the efficiency and efficacy of training methodologies. Particularly within the domain of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training, the adoption of technology-driven approaches holds considerable potential for enriching the skills and proficiencies of healthcare practitioners. Through the utilization of innovative technologies, such as simulation software and leveraging smartphones as primary tools, CPR training programs can be customized to provide immersive, interactive, and authentic learning experiences. This study aims to validate a comprehensive CPR training module tailored explicitly for healthcare professionals, to integrate it into smartphones as a medium for delivering CPR training. Methods: Two validity tests, namely content validity and face validity were conducted to evaluate the validity of the Smart-CPR training module. A self-constructed measurement scale was utilized to assess four parameters: consistency, representativeness, clarity, and relevancy. Content validity employed the content validity ratio, with scores ranging between 1 and −1, indicating the level of consensus among experts regarding the significance of each item. Face validity was assessed using two indices: the item face validity index and the scale face validity index. Ratings of 3 or 4 were given a score of 1, while ratings of 1 or 2 received a score of 0. Result: The content validity shows that CVI values for ‘consistency’ and ‘representativeness’ were 0.99 for the module and questionnaire, and 0.96 and 0.97, respectively. ‘Clarity’ scored 0.99 for the module and 0.96 for the questionnaire, while ‘relevance’ achieved 0.99 for both. All 44 items exceeded the 0.83 threshold for face validity. The Lawshe’s content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI) value were used to evaluate the content validity of both the CRSTP module and questionnaire, with CVR values result ranging from 0.80 to 0.99 across dimensions. These findings demonstrate robust content validity. Additionally, high CVI scores, mostly exceeding 0.95, suggest favorable outcomes and indicate no need for revisions. In face validity method, all 44 items surpassed the minimum threshold of 0.83, signifying a favourable outcome. Thus, all items were deemed acceptable. Conclusion: The Smart-CPR training module and questionnaires were meticulously developed to meet both face and content validity standards. All 44 items demonstrated appropriate levels of validity, ensuring they effectively enhance and maintain CPR competency among healthcare providers and potentially benefit the broader community. The positive results of the Smart-CPR training module confirm the high validity of the CPR competency assessment. Content validity, evaluated by experts, received a perfect score, demonstrating agreement on the relevance of each module component. Similarly, face validity, assessed by healthcare professionals, also received a flawless score, indicating consensus on the module’s clarity and relevance. These findings validate the module’s effectiveness in teaching CPR techniques to a diverse audience and ensuring compliance with established standards. With such strong validity, digitizing the module becomes more straightforward, facilitating easier sharing and use across digital platforms. Ultimately, the module’s high validity facilitates its integration into digital platforms, thereby enhancing CPR education and improving outcomes during real emergencies.

 Entrepreneurial intentions, considered to be the best predictor of entrepreneurial behaviour, have attracted extensive attention among academics, practitioners, and policymakers. This study examines the mediating role of the theory of planned behaviour between university students’ proactive personality, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial opportunities, and entrepreneurial intentions. The results of this study showed that both attitudes toward entrepreneurship and perceived behavioural control mediated these relationships, except that perceived behavioural control did not mediate the effect of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intentions, and subject norm did not mediate any relationship. Lastly, this study guides universities, policymakers and practitioners to fully focus on developing attitude entrepreneurship and perceived behaviour control through education and training among graduates and employees. Suppose there is a presence of good entrepreneurial opportunities. In that case, they will form stronger intentions to start new businesses and expand their businesses to drive socio-economic growth, innovation and job creation among graduates.

This paper analyzes the impact of wage subsidies on lower-skilled formal workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It employs a multi-sectoral, empirically-calibrated general equilibrium model to capture the economy-wide transactions between the formal and informal sectors and assess policy simulations in the DRC. The simulations, both in the short and long run, indicate that when the government provides wage subsidies to lower-skilled workers, it significantly improves the real disposable incomes of both formal and informal households. There is a general increase across formal and informal sectors in real household disposable incomes due to the wage subsidy. The results show that subsidy allocation narrows the income gap between high and low-income households, as well as between formal and informal sectors. The findings are insightful for wage policy simulations, as the wage subsidy targeting lower-skilled formal workers increases real GDP from the expenditure side by 1.19% and 3.19% in the short and long run, respectively, from the baseline economy.