Enhancing Strategic Partnerships in Higher Education: Developing and Implementing a Predictive Model

This article represents the first study of legal problems and the potential development of publicprivate partnerships (PPP) in science and higher education in Russia. The author considers PPP to be the most flexible and promising instrument for attracting private investments for such infrastructure, which support required enhancement of cooperation between scientific and educational institutions and real companies, and therefore facilitates achieving national goals and strategic tasks for the development of science in the Russian Federation. Compared to ordinary models of cooperation between the public and private sectors, this approach represents closer cooperation of scientific and educational potential of the public sector with investment, technology, and industrial resources from the private sector. At the same time, the government and universities themselves, competing for students and financing, more than ever require resources for infrastructure development. The author analyses advantages of PPP models for both the private and public sectors, general conditions for development of this mechanism in the country, and how public-private partnership in the traditional sense in higher education and science in Russia has better prospects than elsewhere, such as Great Britain, where higher education is private and in the best case partially financed from the public budget. Furthermore, the government does not play a considerable role in managing educational organizations and does not own its facilities. At the same time, considerable disbalances between needs of economic and innovative development of the country and the quality of PPP legislation is clearly noted, as well as particular legislative problems, and the author provies recommendations on how to improve laws.

BackgroundStudent-staff partnership (SSP) in higher education (HE) is rooted in democratic education and critical pedagogy, advocating for active student engagement. While widely recognised for fostering student success, SSP initiatives vary in definition, implementation, and impact. In Ireland, national policy has positioned SSP as central to student engagement, yet there is limited synthesis of the contextual factors and mechanisms influencing its success. Existing literature highlights benefits such as increased engagement and enhanced learning but often overlooks challenges, including power dynamics, resistance to change, and inconsistent institutional commitment.AimThis protocol outlines the methodology for a realist review, forming the first stage of a broader realist inquiry into SSP initiatives. The review will synthesise existing evidence to understand how, why, and in what contexts SSP initiatives succeed or face challenges in HE. Specifically, it will identify the contextual factors, mindsets, and engagement strategies that enable meaningful partnerships, as well as mechanisms for overcoming barriers. The review will generate initial programme theories (IPTs) to inform a subsequent realist evaluation within University College Dublin (UCD).MethodA realist review methodology will be used to explore the interactions between context, mechanisms, and outcomes in SSP initiatives. The study will follow a five-stage realist review process: scoping the literature, developing IPTs, systematically reviewing evidence, synthesising findings, and refining theories with expert input. The Context-Mechanism-Outcome Configuration (CMOC) framework will guide the analysis.ConclusionThis protocol sets out the approach for developing evidence-informed programme theories on SSP. These theories will underpin a subsequent realist evaluation within UCD to refine SSP implementation strategies. Findings will inform institutional strategies, policy development, and academic practice, with dissemination through academic and practitioner-focused outputs.

Purpose: This paper examines research on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to propose strategies for advancing sustainability beyond 2030. It argues for a renewed global-local responsibility framework to ensure transformative, community-driven action. Design/Methodology: A conceptual, qualitative literature review identifies emerging priorities for sustainability beyond 2030. Findings: The future agenda should move beyond existing objectives towards an inclusive, participatory model informed by Voluntary National Reviews, higher education, and cross-sector partnerships. Three priorities are emphasised: adapting sustainability indicators to local contexts and indigenous knowledge, fostering collaboration among governments, academia, business, and civil society, and promoting resilience and ethical use of technology. Originality/Value: The paper introduces the Adaptive Sustainability Triangle, highlighting context specific pathways, collaborative governance, and ethical, resilient systems. Implications: A shift towards practical strategies is essential to localise indicators, strengthen cross sector collaboration, and ensure ethical technology application for sustainable development. Keywords: Sustainable Development Goals; Post-2030 Agenda; Voluntary National Reviews; Indicators; Resilience; Adaptive Pathways; Collaboration; Ethics; Sustainability; Higher Education Partnerships. Citation: Mitchell, C. and Fardous, I. S. (2025): From goals to pathways: shaping the future of sustainability after 2030 Agenda. Sustainability Tracker (ST), Vol. 1, Nos. 1/2, pp. 27-42.

Accountability and transparency have been on the top of lists of the agenda about local governance. Unfortunately, a significant number of studies have tended to view accountability through the traditional model of public administration (supply side of accountability) at the expense of the demand side of accountability. Based on the experience with decentralization in Tanzania for the past four decades, this article argues that both the demand and supply sides are important for effective service delivery by local governments. In this arrangement, the fundamental principle of democracy is attained when citizens have the right to demand accountability and public officials are held accountable. The demand side, which is bottom up driven by non–state actors, or the supply side, which encompasses legal and fiscal governmental checks and balances may lead to effective local good governance. This article is based on these assumptions and therefore attempts to discuss the main avenues and challenges for exercising effective supply and demand sides of accountability in local governments in Tanzania. The study seeks to answer the question of how the demand and supply sides of accountability have been implemented in Tanzania, regarding local governments.

By analyzing current literatures (2012-2016) and using author's personal experience in bringing one Chinese university's students to have service learning projects in Africa, this chapter aims at 1. reviewing the current forms of and 2. explore the alternative way of Sino-African educational partnerships in higher education since the establishment of Peoples' Republic of China in 1949. The literatures have informed that Sino-African educational partnerships have received positive feedback. However, cultural challenges associated with the existing educational partnerships may result in lowering the partnerships quality. The motivations of the African students to pursue their studies in Chinese universities may subsequently be lowered. To deal with these potential problems, the chapter argues that one way to handle the cultural issues could be to let both Chinese and African students experience their cultures physically before educational partnerships.

By analyzing current literatures (2012-2016) and using author's personal experience in bringing one Chinese university's students to have service learning projects in Africa, this chapter aims at 1. reviewing the current forms of and 2. explore the alternative way of Sino-African educational partnerships in higher education since the establishment of Peoples' Republic of China in 1949. The literatures have informed that Sino-African educational partnerships have received positive feedback. However, cultural challenges associated with the existing educational partnerships may result in lowering the partnerships quality. The motivations of the African students to pursue their studies in Chinese universities may subsequently be lowered. To deal with these potential problems, the chapter argues that one way to handle the cultural issues could be to let both Chinese and African students experience their cultures physically before educational partnerships.

Social partnership as a scientific category is characterized by multidimensionality, breadth of understanding, and interpretation. In the modern education system, social partnership is presented as one of the aspects of state-societal governance of educational institutions' activities. The development of socially oriented education has brought the issue of social partnership to the forefront, identifying new components of this process. In the context of society's well-being, social interaction becomes an effective mechanism for addressing social problems, especially those that arise in the educational sphere. This article aims to elucidate the main contemporary trends of social cooperation in higher education institutions (HEIs) and identify the specifics of various sociological models of social partnership in higher education. Methodology. During the research, the authors used abstraction, idealization, logical and linguistic, comparative, analytical, and bibliographic methods to study the scientific literature on social partnerships in higher education. Results. The research results have identified the vital theoretical aspects related to social partnership in HEIs and have explored the characteristics of different models of social interaction in higher education institutions.

I explain, therefore I learn: Improving students’ assessment literacy and deep learning by teaching

From Process to Promise: Business Model Choices of Complex Service Providers

A systematic review of supply and demand side optimal load scheduling in a smart grid environment

Piracy has become a global scourge and its effects are seriously felt on products sold over digital platforms, especially music. It is not surprising if we hear that music is not often purchased with growing presence of torrents on the Internet. Broadly, piracy has been studied both from demand and supply sides, but the demand side has been inadequately researched yet. This paper attempted to explore the consumer (i.e. demand) side with a broad objective to explore the influence of perceived risk and value consciousness on music piracy. A survey on 225 respondents, all being students of management graduation, was conducted using a structured questionnaire. Results of the study indicated that both the variables explained a significant variance in the attitude towards music piracy. Managerial and academic implications were also discussed.

PurposeCircular economy firms, unlike those in a linear economy, encounter significant challenges due to the nature of nonstandardized products, such as asymmetric information on product specifications and highly dispersed supply and demand. Consequently, achieving large-scale operations becomes inherently difficult for them. However, when digital platform-based circular firms adopt diversified business models, their value creation has the potential to achieve significant scale. This study aims to answer “How do digital platform-based circular firms scale up value creation through business model diversification?”.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a qualitative case study design with a longitudinal (2011–2023) analysis of the various business models developed by ATRenew, a leading firm in the Chinese preowned electronics industry.FindingsThe authors find that the recycling business model can act as a “cornerstone” business model for a circular firm to integrate the business model portfolio by leveraging the most synergies (or complementarities) with other business models. Besides, digital platform-based circular firms can effectively scale up value creation by leveraging capability complementary on the supply side, through establishing industrial infrastructure shared with the platform ecosystem; and by leveraging customer complementary on the demand side, through activating the dual role played by platform users as suppliers and consumers.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to the circular business models literature with three mechanisms to scale up circular value creation through business model diversification and advance a set of propositions to be tested in future research. This also has important practical implications for circular economy platform businesses.

A review of electrical energy management tech-niques on the supply side and demand side is pre-sented. The paper suggests that direct load control, interruptible load control, and time of use (TOU) are the main load management techniques used on the supply side (SS). The supply side authorities normally design these techniques and implement them on demand side consumers. Load manage-ment (LM) initiated on the demand side leads to valley filling and peak clipping. Power factor correc-tion (PFC) techniques have also been analysed and presented. It has been observed that many power utilities, especially in developing countries, have neither developed nor implemented DSM for their electrical energy management. This paper proposes that the existing PFC techniques should be re-eval-uated especially when loads are nonlinear. It also recommends automatic demand control methods to be used on the demand side in order to acquire optimal energy consumption. This would lead to improved reliability of the supply side and thereby reducing environmental degradation.

Which conditions treated by neurosurgeons cause the worst economic hardship in low middle-income in countries? How can public health financing be responsive to the inequities in the delivery of neurosurgical care? This review article frames the objectives of equity, quality, and efficiency in health financing to the goals of global neurosurgery. In order to glean provider perspectives on the affordability of neurosurgical care in low-resource settings, we did a survey of neurosurgeons from Indonesia and the Philippines and identified that the care of socioeconomically disadvantaged patients with malignant intracranial tumors were found to incur the highest out-of-pocket expenses. Additionally, the surveyed neurosurgeons also observed that treatment of traumatic brain injury may have to require greater financial subsidies. It is therefore imperative to frame health financing alongside the goals of equity, efficiency, and quality of neurosurgical care for the impoverished. Using principles and perspectives from managerial economics and public health, we conceptualize an implementation framework that addresses both the supply and demand sides of healthcare provision as applied to neurosurgery. For the supply side, strategic purchasing enables a systematic and contractual management of payment arrangements that provide performance-based economic incentives for providers. For the demand side, conditional cash transfers similarly leverages on financial incentives on the part of patients to reward certain health-seeking behaviors that significantly influence clinical outcomes. These health financing strategies are formulated in order to ultimately build neurosurgical capacity in LMICs, improve access to care for patients, and ensure financial risk protection.

Since the enactment of the 2004 Regulations of Management of Foundations, only limited research has focused on the financial health of Chinese foundations. However, given their importance in the nonprofit sector, study of these foundations is essential. This study comprised an empirical evaluation of the financial health of Chinese foundations based on a sample of 2,763 foundations and 10,102 observations. The Tuckman and Chang (1991) model, which measures adequacy of equity, revenue diversification, administrative cost ratio, and operating margin, revealed three major findings: (1) two-thirds of the Chinese foundations were financially unhealthy; (2) from 2008 to 2013, foundations’ overall financial health experienced moderate improvement, with public foundations outperforming private foundations; and (3) newer foundations may improve their health more quickly than older foundations. However, because their level of improvement ranged from low to moderate, these financial health scores should be interpreted conservatively. The decreased number of unhealthy foundations does not mean foundations have improved on all measures. Public foundations did not perform better on all measures than private foundations. In the period mentioned above, newer foundations improved on equity ratio and revenue diversification.