Support for Iranian Students in the USSR by the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries at the Turn of the 1920s - 1930s

Many persons with serious mental illnesses are interested in pursuing postsecondary education and are doing so in increasing numbers. Accommodations can be essential, but limited research suggests that few formally seek accommodations, although increased efforts to heighten awareness may be changing this. The purpose of this study was to examine whether students with mental illnesses are increasingly aware of, and utilize, accommodations and academic supports and to identify the supports that are most used and perceived to be most helpful. A national Internet survey was conducted from July 2005 to July 2006, resulting in responses from 190 current and 318 former students with mental illnesses. The study found modest but significant negative correlations between how long ago students left college and their familiarity with accommodations, their request for or receipt of accommodations, and their use of the Office for Students With Disabilities. These results were particularly noticeable when comparing current and former students. Moderate positive correlations that were significant were found between familiarity with accommodations, use of campus disability offices, and request for or receipt of accommodations. There is increased awareness and use of accommodations among students with mental illnesses, but it is also clear that most receive supports directly from instructors without going through the formal accommodations process. Encouraging students to utilize disability offices and greater attention to accommodation barriers may further increase support seeking. Supports that are most used and viewed as most helpful provide direction for service providers and campus personnel in their efforts to facilitate students' educational goals.

Higher education has seen an unprecedented global development which led to its increased political, economic and cultural role. As knowledge and the capacity to apply it in practice become the strategic resources in contemporary time. Today, the role of higher education is increasingly growing in the foreign policy of countries as a tool for soft power. Developing the country's soft power and a positive image abroad by working with foreign publics is now key to creating an enabling environment for its foreign policy strategies and international standing in general. This article discusses the impact of higher education as a soft power on foreign policy the case study of Russia and Turkey in the Middle East and North Africa. The concepts of soft power and public diplomacy have become the catchwords among Turkish and Russian foreign policy. Over the past twenty years, Russia's and Turkey’s vision and understanding of soft power have developed. Starting by focusing on an image-heavy perspective of Russia's and Turkey's soft power tools development, one of the spheres in Russia and Turkey with a strong public diplomacy potential in terms of promoting direct and long-term people-to-people contacts is higher education. Russia and Turkey have a long history of higher education cooperation with foreign countries particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. Positioning Russian higher education system as one of its soft power tools is not only an efficient way of boosting the country's attractiveness and global competitiveness, it is equally a key means of developing its most resource. Higher education is one of the soft power tools of Turkish foreign policy and to enhance the attractiveness it’s in the middle east and north Africa. The article responds to the question, the extent to which higher education is a soft power on Russian and Turkish public diplomacy in the Middle East and North Africa.

Companies should chooseproper competitive tools to be successful in their environment. Beingsuccessful is closely associated with being competitive. Therefore, at the beginning of this work, ageneral look to Competitiveness is taken. In addition to this, the reasons forcompanies to compete are explained. Furthermore, the external and internalfactors related to competitiveness are listed. In further sections, the exampleof Gübretaş is assessed with internal and external competitive factors and itscompetitive tools are explained. Advices for Gübretaş to be more competitiveare also given. In this paper, the reasons for companies to compete are statedand external and internal factors affecting the competition level of companiesare explained. Combination of these external and internal factors affects levelof the competition, In other words, it affects the success of thecompanies. Therefore, the companiesshould deeply analyze these factors, so that they can choose the bestcombination of tools for competition. Being more competitive let the companiesgain more market share in their field. Being big gives advantages for companies. The reason for this is thatbig companies can have more sources than other ordinary companies. Thesecompanies use tools like price, promotion, etc to compete with ordinarycompanies. Therefore, if today’s companies want to obtain success in thecompetition, they should increase their sources as much as possible to defendthemselves against attacks by their competitors. To do this, they shoulddetermine the best practices for competition.

The development of education is the priority direction of the state policy of Azerbaijan. In all countries, education is a very important part of society, but in Azerbaijan it is a decisive element in people’s lives. For this reason, the reforms carried out in the field of education in Azerbaijan after gaining independence have an international character and cover all its fields. The article examines the international aspects of higher education in Azerbaijan and analyses external and internal factors influencing higher education. The aim of this article is to explore the forms of studying abroad available to Azerbaijani citizens, analyse the external and internal factors influencing the country’s educational policy, and evaluate the impact of educational reforms on the international competitiveness of Azerbaijan’s higher education system. The object of the study is Azerbaijan’s higher education system. The subject of the study is the analysis of external and internal factors influencing Azerbaijan’s higher education system in the context of expanding foreign economic relations. This article has used the methods of observation, statistical analysis and statistical grouping of technical and economic indicators for the 1992/1993 – 2022/23 academic years in Azerbaijan in percentage. The research tasks are as follows: 1) How many forms of higher education have been formed in Azerbaijan? 2) What external factors influence higher education in Azerbaijan? 3) How can political, economic, social and technological factors (PEST analysis) be revealed in the field of Azerbaijan’s higher education? 4) What internal factors influence the higher education system in Azerbaijan? 5) Does the analysis of internal factors (SWOT analysis) sufficiently reveal the true situation in the higher education system in Azerbaijan? The results of the analysis reveal several key findings about Azerbaijan’s higher education system and its external and internal factors of influence. It has been highlighted that, historically, Azerbaijan’s higher education served as a factor of fostering international collaboration, as evidenced by the influx of foreign students during the Soviet period. After proclamation of independence, educational cooperation expanded through bilateral and multilateral agreements, leading to an increase in the number of Azerbaijani students studying abroad and foreign students entering Azerbaijan. It has been found that economic stabilization after 1996 significantly boosted educational service imports and exports. Government programs, such as the “National Program for the Education of Azerbaijani Youth in Foreign Countries”, facilitated access to global educational opportunities. Statistical data indicate a consistent rise in the number of students studying abroad, despite temporary declines during the pandemic. Cooperation agreements with the countries like Turkey, Russia, China, and the EU initiatives, such as ERASMUS, have strengthened international partnerships. Internally, state-driven reforms have prioritized human capital development, adapting education to meet modern standards, including the Bologna Process principles. There is a number of challenges remained, such as limited private sector involvement and disparities in access to ICT-based education in rural regions. Conducted SWOT analysis highlighted the system’s strengths, such as innovation adoption and program creation, while addressing weaknesses like the lack of distance learning methodologies and resistance to change among older teaching staff. It has been defined that opportunities for aligning education with labour market needs and global standards are counterbalanced by threats, including unequal ICT infrastructure development. It has been concluded that the development of the higher education system in Azerbaijan is close- ly linked to the introduction of innovations, modern technologies, and digital transformation. The ongo- ing reforms aim to integrate modern teaching methods and information technologies into the education- al process.

The article deals with the analysis of the country studies vector of Ukrainian comparative studies on the development of higher and university education in order to identify the achievements, bottlenecks and prospects for the formation of historiography of this problem. It has been revealed the complexity, multidimensionality and interdisciplinary nature of Ukrainian historiography on the development of foreign higher and university education. Taking into account the territorial-spatial and thematic-content orientation of the research, its structure includes five conditional interrelated blocks of works that consider higher and university education: 1) as a global and regional education system; 2) in the context of the phenomena «Bologna Process/European Education Area - foreign countries – Ukraine»; 3) in certain regions (mainly European); 4) in different countries; 5) in terms of the main subject of the study. The paper identifies three stages of development of the historiographical process, which reflected the peculiarities, nature, and trends in the study of national systems of higher and university education in foreign countries: 1) the post-Soviet period (1991-2001), when their targeted study began in the mid-1990s; 2) pro-European (2002-2011/12), when the perspective of studying this problem moved to the context of understanding the process of integration of foreign countries into the European Higher Education Area; 3) country studies (since 2012), when scholars began to study foreign higher education systems as separate socio-cultural phenomena. It has been revealed a narrow country studies vector of Ukrainian comparative scholars, who focused on the study of mainly five to six national higher education systems. The author characterises the phenomenon of numerous studies that have the same subject matter: on the one hand, it is objectively determined by the research interests of the authors, on the other hand, it leads to duplication of factual material and theoretical provisions.

Among the key strategies in higher education is to prioritize the development of the entrepreneurial university. An appropriate entrepreneurship ecosystem in universities promotes higher education–industry relationships. Third-generation (innovative and entrepreneurial) universities and other higher education institutions depend on creativity, innovation, discovery and novelty. The aims of the present study were (a) to investigate the attitudes of Iranian students towards entrepreneurial university activities; (b) to investigate the psychometric properties of the Entrepreneurial University Activities Scale (EUAS); (c) to explore the factorial structure of the EUAS; and (d) to estimate gender-related differences. The EUAS was administered anonymously to 225 Iranian students. The mean of the EUAS total score was 43.44 (standard deviation = 26.61); Cronbach’s α was 0.98. The indicator total correlations ranged from 0.82 to 0.95 (all significant at the 0.01 level). One component was extracted, labelled ‘Entrepreneurial University Activities’ (70.89% of the total variance). Gender-related differences were significant. Iranian students’ evaluation of entrepreneurial university activities was negative, with entrepreneurial university indicators rated from none to very low. Iranian universities need to engage with industry and business. Knowledge-based companies should be supported. Technology parks, growth and accelerator centres should be equipped and updated. A sustainable financial strategy to support the development of creativity, innovation, technology, commercialization and entrepreneurship should be developed. Internationalization, as an important part of entrepreneurship strategy in a university, should be considered. The analytic hierarchy process network analysis technique is recommended for the evaluation of entrepreneurial university activities and the components influencing it.

The transformational processes in the field of higher education in Russia, associated with the introduction of new educational practices, actualize the importance of studying changes in the social behavior of university students. The main purpose of the study was to clarify the characteristics of the social behavior of university students, conditioned by external and internal factors. The methodological construct included synthesis of socially deterministic and neoinstitutional approaches, the theory of mental programs, the theory of generations, the value approach of M. Rokeach, as well as the activity-based approach to the study of social practices. Reforms in the higher education system in Russia, which were accompanied by the emergence of a new educational environment and excessive social inequalities, were studied as external factors. Mental programs were studied as internal factors, which included ideas about education as a terminal and instrumental value, attitudes and motives of practices. The research was based on the data of the authors' questionnaire survey of 382 students from 7 universities of the Rostov region. Identifying the features of the mental programs of university students and their educational practices made it possible to identify six types of social behavior of students in the educational sphere: traditional, career, pragmatic, traditional and career, traditional and pragmatic, and career and pragmatic. The analysis of the results allows drawing conclusions about the high readiness of students to new educational practices, which are still poorly implemented. At the same time, motivation depends on mental programs, and the educational practices themselves depend on the conditions created in universities. The results of the study may be of interest to specialists dealing with the issues of social behavior of students in the context of transformations of the higher education system.

This article provides a brief overview of the development of Russian-Turkish relations in the 21st century against the backdrop of changes in Turkey’s domestic political situation at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. Special attention is paid to the evolution of Turkey’s foreign policy strategy. It is noted that the Russian Federation is a particularly important partner for the Republic of Turkey. The relevance of the topic lies in the fact that currently, the relationship between the two countries continues to develop actively, despite external political challenges. At the same time, the history of Russia-Turkey contacts requires further study, as this period is not well represented in the existing literature. The novelty of this research lies in the use of new sources to study state relations. The authors of the article come to a justified conclusion that the Turkish government seeks to develop its relationship with the Russian Federation while maintaining ties with both Western and Eastern countries. This demonstrates their efforts to utilize the opportunities provided by Turkey’s geographical location, which serves as a “corridor” between various parts of Eurasia.

Small states are very weak in the political area. That is why there is a need for them to try to choose the various foreign policy strategies to defend themselves. Belarus is a small state that needs to survive in our rapidly developing and politically unstable world. Having emerged as a newly independent state as the result of the collapse of the USSR, Belarus faced a difficult choice in the decision where it was going to move further and on whom it could rely. In particular, in recent years, Belarus needs to make a subtle strategic calculation as to how to manage its relations with two important partners: Russia and China. This article considers the theory of small states’ foreign policy strategies in detail. It analyzes the choice of Belarus’s foreign policy strategies towards China and Russia. It shows that Belarus combines some characteristics from the classic small states’ foreign policy strategies, and it does not fully follow any of them.

The focus of education during K-12 and Higher Education (HE) in Iran is on theoretical empowerment of students; therefore, our students get an illusion of knowing. In fact, what happens is not learning and understanding; rather, it is verbatim transfer of available information in the textbooks into the students’ minds. It might be because the students and teachers (as the main stakeholders of the education) are the least powerful parties within the pyramid of power amongst educational practitioners and policymakers. It means their voice, feedback, needs, and ideologies have no place in the educational decisions and policies. In alignment with the mainstream of the present research; it is an innovative idea to explore the students’ living/ studying experience during K-12, and their ideals and expectations from higher education studies. To do so, we asked 60 university students to portray their experience (in a phenomenological research design) concerning living and studying through K-12 and their ideals and expectations from Higher Education. Students’ drawings are the main source of data collection and inductive analysis of data is administered to find students’ responses which are categorized under three major and six minor themes, respectively.

Since January 2020, the Russian Federation and Iran have been involved with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Restriction in routine life, physical and social activities created many physiological and psychological difficulties for many students during quarantine. In between, international students also had more concerns such as health care in a foreign country, language barriers, and the wellbeing of their families. Therefore, some students, including Iranian students, came back to their home country in the summer of 2020. Unfortunately, many Iranian students studying in Russian universities cannot return to Russia for more than a year because of border closure and the Russian deterrent rules. However, Russia has opened its borders according to health protocols to travelers from many countries, including Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, etc. And also all football fans from all countries, even Iranian people. By studying the World health organization's protocols, pandemic situation statistics in Russia, and Russian policies about opening borders, we can observe how Russian Federation strictly follows the health protocols for international travelers. Unwavering, Russian Federation continuously works hard to overcome the covid-19 epidemic and was one of the first countries to produce the coronavirus vaccine. Yet, this is singly not enough to defeat the pandemic, and developing herd immunity among society is another important factor in achieving public health during the covid-19 pandemic. Unquestionably, to rapidly remove the pandemic limitations and return to the normal situation for immigrant students, studying Iranian students' immigration barriers during the covid-19 pandemic and eliminating these barriers can be helpful to organize international immigrants.

Introduction: the COVID-19 pandemic and the acute confrontation between Russia and Western countries jeopardized the implementation of a number of international projects in the early 2020s. Closed borders made it much more difficult for the academic and expert community to maintain personal and professional contacts. The opposing sides pursue a policy of “withdrawal culture”. This unfavorable international political environment stimulates the search for new formats of cooperation and rethinking of long-known channels of interaction. In the current foreign policy circumstances, the tools for open dialog and preserving the climate of trust between the regional communities of Russia and foreign countries are rising their importance: even though they turn out to be very limited, these were not completely closed, as it happened at the interstate level. Objectives: to identify the public diplomacy dynamics as an instrument of “soft power” in modern geopolitical conditions using the case of the Republic of Karelia (border region in the North-West of the Russian Federation). Methods: terminology analysis, document analysis and comparative method. Results: the experience of public diplomacy development in the Republic of Karelia, the challenges faced by the participants of international dialogue and the forms of further communication are presented. Conclusions: the depoliticized nature of subnational international interaction will allow the parties to use the potential of “soft power”, identifying the directions significant for the Russian Federation and the conditions for the progressive development of cross-border interactions with different states in the new international political reality.

This paper explores India’s evolving foreign policy towards South Asia in the 21st century, with a particular focus on balancing the country’s strategic aspirations with the geopoliti-cal and economic realities it faces. India has long sought to assert itself as a regional lead-er in South Asia, with aspirations to enhance its security, economic influence, and diplomat-ic standing. However, its ambitions are consistently challenged by internal and external fac-tors, including territorial disputes, the rise of China, regional political rivalries, and the changing dynamics of global power. The primary objective of this study is to examine how India navigates these competing aspi-rations and realities in its South Asia policy, particularly since the turn of the 21st century. The study seeks to answer several key research questions: How has India’s foreign policy towards its South Asian neighbours evolved in the face of new geopolitical challenges? What are the primary drivers behind India’s regional strategy, and how does it balance eco-nomic cooperation with security concerns? How do India’s relationships with its neigh-bours, such as Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, reflect broader regional dynam-ics? The paper employs a qualitative methodological approach, drawing upon an analysis of both primary and secondary sources, including government documents, academic literature, and reports from regional think tanks. It also includes critical analysis of India’s relations with South Asian countries to illustrate the practical application of its foreign policy strate-gies. The study finds that while India’s regional aspirations remain strong, the country’s policy is often constrained by the complex realities of a fragmented South Asian region. India’s re-gional policy has adapted to include pragmatic diplomacy, economic partnerships, and se-curity arrangements, but challenges such as the ongoing India-Pakistan conflict and Chi-na's growing influence remain central to its strategy. The paper concludes by offering rec-ommendations for India to better align its aspirations with the evolving regional and global context, focusing on strengthening multilateral cooperation and regional trust-building

PurposeDespite promising conceptual developments in value co-creation behaviors, the scholarly attention afforded to the importance of the university website features in strengthening the university brand image and reputation through students’ value co-creation behaviors is limited. University website features are conceptualized as a hierarchical construct with three dimensions: usability, availability and information. This study aims to investigate the effect of university website features and value co-creation behaviors of students on promoting brand image and brand reputation at Islamic Azad University in Iran.Design/methodology/approachThis study is quantitative. Using convenience sampling techniques, a responsive group of 384 students was chosen from the Islamic Azad University of Tehran in Iran. Survey methods were used for data collection. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the derived hypotheses.FindingsThe findings of this study indicated that website features have a positive effect on fostering value co-creation behaviors (participation and citizenship behavior), and participation behavior, in turn, improves university brand image and reputation. At the same time, among value co-creation behaviors, citizenship behavior has no impact on the university’s brand image. Finally, the brand image formed through website features and participation behavior positively affects brand reputation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was conducted in the higher education (HE) sector in one cosmopolitan Iranian city (i.e. Tehran), to which Iranians from other cities travel for studying. Thus, the results of this survey include a variety of subcultures. In the future, a study that incorporates all major metropolitan cities of Iran may increase the generalizability of the findings. Unrelated to the purpose of this study, a future research study may extend the currently studied geographical dimensions and examine the antecedents of university brand reputation across different nations using a cross-cultural approach.Practical implicationsPragmatically, the findings of this study urge university policymakers, information technology managers and marketers to consider the university website’s unique role in assisting co-creation behavior, which in turn promotes university brand image and reputation in the HE market. One of the ways to assess a university’s brand image and reputation is through the university ranking system. Ascending the ranking system can allow a university to attract qualified students.Originality/valueThese findings contribute to the marketing literature by empirically validating the three elements in the website features construct, providing intelligence on how website features can drive value co-creation behaviors, brand image and reputation. Also, results revealed that the brand image of universities positively affects brand reputation. This study highlights the importance of national and international rankings of universities and students’ sensitivity to such rankings. Undoubtedly, this is evident in Iranian students’ behavior in selecting their university.

XVIII International Scientific Symposium in honor of Academician M.A. Usov ''Problems of Geology and Subsurface Development'' (for students and young scientists) was organized under the guidance of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. Being one of the oldest technical higher education institutions which trains specialists who contribute to scientific research in geosciences, The Institute of Natural Resources of National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU INR) was chosen to hold the symposium. In 2014 The Institute of Natural Resources celebrated its 113th anniversary. It was founded in 1901 by V.A. Obruchev, the first geologist in Siberia, member of USSR Academy of Sciences, Hero of Socialist Labor, and the first Laureate of the Lenin Prize. He was recognized all over the world as a prominent scientist in the area of geology.