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This study aimed to explore the relationships between school cost, school quality, and students' achievement in private schools in the UAE. Moreover, it also aimed to determine the extent to which socio-economic factors influence student outcomes.

A quantitative survey research design was employed by distributing a survey to students' parents in private schools (n = 400) who were selected randomly. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. Therefore, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, linear regression, and multiple regression analysis were used to provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationships between the variables.

A significant positive association was found between school costs and school quality. Furthermore, parents reported that their children's outcomes were significantly associated with the costs that they paid to schools. Additionally, school quality had a significant impact on students' achievement and explained approximately 38% of the variation in students' achievement. The results also demonstrated a significant association between school cost, parents' income, and students' outcomes.

This study explores the relationships between school cost, school quality, and students' achievements. Additionally, it examines the influence of socioeconomic factors on the relationships between the study variables. The context of this study is the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This chapter discusses the findings of a study at a public university in Malaysia, which reflect the country’s evolving situation regarding sustainability education. The study aimed to explore the knowledge of and attitudes to sustainability of the academic staff at the university, and the pedagogical approaches they used in curricula. Through a mixed method approach, primary data were collected through an online quantitative survey containing 90 statements related to Education for Sustainable Development Goals, knowledge, attitudes, pedagogical techniques, and learning objectives. Following the survey, a focus group discussion was conducted involving several academic staff from the university to explore their perspectives on current sustainability teaching practices and to identify emerging issues. Findings revealed that there were generally positive levels of understandings and attitudes among the academic staff toward education on sustainability development (ESD). Furthermore, the staff agreed highly with ESD learning objectives, and various pedagogical approaches were in use. These are important findings as the levels of awareness and attitudes among academics play a key role in shaping successful implementation of a range of pedagogical techniques for ESD goals. As well as the challenges identified in the study, the chapter puts forward useful insights and key aspects to enhance ESD practices at all levels in the country. Options for policy and practice to move beyond sustainable development as a goal or aspiration for teaching and learning to a practical and pedagogical reality of ESD practices in Malaysian higher education institutions are also discussed.

The need for sustainable development (SD) of higher education (HE) is recognized in the UN 2030 Agenda for SD. Central to the SD of HE is information literacy and information use. This study aims to investigate information literacy, information use and SD of HE in Nigeria.

A descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population for the study was the staff of public higher educational institutions in Southern Nigeria. A self-structured online questionnaire was sent to the respondents via social media. The data generated were analysed using mean, frequency count and percentages.

It was reflected that information literacy played a significant role in the SD of HE and that the extent of information use was high. It was revealed that the areas of HE that require SD include economic/finance and investment priorities; administration, mission and planning; and research and scholarship.

The study emphasizes that SD of HE in the current educational enterprise requires that people are information literate and information is extensively used.

Education is a strong pillar to national development. It is vital to ensure sustainable higher education development (SHED) in a bid to facilitate global development. This study aims to investigate academic libraries, information and communication technology (ICT) use and SHED.

Descriptive survey research design was used for this study. The population of the study was 607 librarians in the 41 public university libraries in Southern Nigeria. Total enumeration and purposive sampling techniques were used for this study. The instrument of data collection was questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used for the data analysis.

It was found that qualified teachers and promotion of scholarship constitute SHED. The extent of contribution of academic libraries to SHED is high. Academic libraries face a number of challenges in their effort to provide information services for the actualisation of the SHED. The extent of use of ICT in SHED is high. It was therefore recommended that academic libraries and ICT should be adequately used to accomplish SHED in Nigeria.

This study will contribute to the body of literature on how academic libraries and the use of ICT can contribute to SHED.

While SHED is central to global development, the role of academic libraries and the use of ICT should be unanimously embraced by all the stakeholders in education industry.

SHED is inevitable in the contemporary era. This study reveals that academic libraries and ICT use are vital in achieving SHED.

This study examined the impact of the Input Credit Scheme (ICS) by the Integrated Water Management and Agriculture Development (IWAD) on the productivity and food security of smallholder rice farmers in Ghana.

Cross-sectional data from 250 rice farming households in the Mamprugu Moagduri district of the North East Region obtained from a multi-stage sampling technique were used for the study. Inverse Probability Weighted Regression Adjustment (IPWRA), Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Kendall's coefficient of concordance were the methods of analysis employed.

Empirical results show that education, rice farming experience, dependency ratio, FBO membership, farm size and farm age were the significant factors influencing participation in the input credit scheme (ICS). Also, participants had an average rice productivity of 1,476.83 kg/ha, whereas non-participants had 1,131.81 kg/ha implying that participants increased their productivity by about 30%. In addition, the study revealed that participant households increased their household dietary diversity (HDDS) by 0.45 points amounting to about 8% diversity in their diets. High-interest rates associated with credit received, the short periods of credit repayment and the high cost of inputs provided under the scheme were the most challenging constraints associated with partaking in the ICS.

The available literature on agricultural interventions have predominantly emphasized input credit as a key factor for improving cropt productivity and food security of smallholders. This study provides compelling evidence that participation in ICSs can result in substantial benefits for agricultural development, as evidenced by increased productivity leading to improved food security. The significance of these findings is highlighted by the fact that, through participation in input credit schemes, smallholder rice farmers in many developing countries see substantial improvement in their capacity to access productive resources, thereby improving their productivity, while simultaneously reducing food insecurity.

Leveraging on the improved productivity of participants in the ICS, this study advocates that such input credit schemes should scale up to more food-insecure farming communities in Ghana.

The study uses a doubly robust econometric approach to evaluate the impact of ICS on smallholder rice farmers' productivity and food security in Ghana, making it the first of its kind. The findings offer a solid basis for future research and provide guidance for policymakers looking to boost agricultural development in Ghana.

This paper aims to verify whether the integration of sustainability in executive compensation positively affects firms’ non-financial performance and whether corporate governance characteristics enhance the relationship between sustainability compensation and firms’ non-financial performance and to expand the domain of the impact of sustainability on non-financial performance.

This analysis is based on a sample of companies listed on the Milan Italian Stock Exchange from the Financial Times Milan Stock Exchange Index over the 2016–2020 period. Regression analysis was used by using data retrieved from the Refinitiv Eikon database and the sample firms’ remuneration reports.

The findings of this paper show that embedding sustainability in executive compensation positively affects firms’ non-financial performance. The results of this paper also reveal that specific corporate governance features can improve the impact of sustainability on non-financial performance.

This analysis is limited to Italian firms included in the Financial Times Milan Stock Exchange Index; however, the findings are highly significant.

The findings provide regulators with useful insights for considering the integration of sustainability goals into executive remuneration. Another implication is that policymakers should require – at least – listed firms to fulfil specific corporate governance structural requirements. Finally, the findings can provide investors and financial analysts with a greater awareness of the role played by executive remuneration in the long-term value-creation process.

This paper contributes to addressing the relationship among sustainability, remuneration and non-financial disclosure, drawing on the stakeholder–agency theoretical framework and focusing on Italian firms. This issue has received limited attention with controversial results in the literature.

Criticizes previous research on price/earnings ratios (PER) for neglecting their historical links with interest rates and analyses the causal links between interest ratres and the PERs of the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 Index (TSE300) and of seven major Canadian industries 1965‐1997. Explains the methodology and identifies three “distinct PER regimes”: 1965‐1974 (average PER 17.17), 1975‐1982 (average PER 8.92) and 1983‐1997 (average PER 17.2 with a higher standard deviation). Looks at the economic conditions for each period and suggests that current PERs “may not be too high”. Finds a negative correlation between PERs and treasury bill rates, differing between industries; and that the bill rate explains 95 per cent of PER variation for the TSE300, although it is not significant for the gold and silver industry. Adds that divided payout ratios and lower investor risk aversion are positively related to PERs, but that growth rate has a more variable influence. Summarizes the findings and their implications for PER forecasters.

This paper aims to examine the interaction effect of regulations (monetary and macro-prudential) in explaining the possible non-linear effect of bank risk exposures (credit risk and insolvency risk) on banking stability in Africa.

The study uses a two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator for a data set of banks across 54 African countries over the period 2006–2020.

The authors find that the relationships between bank credit risk–bank stability and bank insolvency risk–bank stability are non-linear and characterized by the presence of optimal thresholds, which are 5.3456 for credit risk and 2.3643 for insolvency. Contrary to their positive effects below these optimal thresholds, credit risk and insolvency risk become negatively linked to bank stability in Africa. The authors find that macro-prudential action and monetary policy both have a positive and significant relationship with bank stability. The authors provide evidence to support that the marginal effect of excessive credit risk and insolvency risk on bank stability is reduced when interacted with monetary and macro-prudential regulations, and the impact is significant in strong institutional environment.

Future research should extend data to include developing and emerging economies in the world. Also, policymakers, researchers and practitioners should consider different regulatory and institutional frameworks in explaining the relationship between the thresholds of bank risk exposures and bank stability in the world.

Regulatory authorities should have to deeply reform their financial systems, develop risk-based regulatory framework and effective supervision mechanism relating to appropriate techniques that maintain an optimal and desired level of bank risks and risk-taking behaviours required to ensure a stable banking system.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine how different regulatory frameworks shape the non-linear impact of bank risk exposures on bank stability in Africa.