To examine temporal changes in late diagnosis of HIV (LD) among migrant and non-migrant people with HIV in Sweden 2003-2023 and to assess demographic and socioeconomic risk factors for LD in these two populations. People with HIV diagnosed with HIV-1 in Sweden 2003-2023 were included (n = 6278). LD was defined as a first CD4+ T-cell count <350 cells/μL or an AIDS-defining event within 3 months of diagnosis. People with HIV with evidence of recent infection were reclassified as non-late. Temporal changes in LD were examined using descriptive statistics and regression analyses. To assess risk factors for LD, modified Poisson regression was employed. Risk factor analyses were restricted to 2010-2020 when complete sociodemographic data were available (n = 2778). Data were obtained from Swedish national registries. The absolute incidence of total and late HIV diagnoses decreased over the study period, whereas the annual proportion of LD varied between 46% and 60% and trended upwards. LD occurred in 41% of non-migrant people with HIV and 58% of migrant people with HIV. Among non-migrant people with HIV, having an upper secondary education or less was associated with LD compared to post-secondary education, as was male sex with heterosexual HIV acquisition and higher age. For migrant people with HIV, neither lower education nor income was statistically significantly associated with LD. Instead, higher age, certain birth regions, heterosexual acquisition and male sex with acquisition through injection drug use were associated with LD. LD declined in absolute terms yet constituted a high and increasing proportion of new HIV cases in Sweden 2003-2023, with differing sociodemographic determinants by migrant status.

ABSTRACT Research Question/Issue Do college application fees contribute to gender disparities in higher education, particularly at STEM‐focused institutions in decentralised admissions systems? Research Findings/Insights Using U.S. data from 2001–2020, we find that a 1% increase in application fees is associated with a 1.77 percentage‐point decline in the female share of applicants at STEM‐focused institutions, with larger effects at public universities. No comparable effect is observed at non‐STEM institutions. Additional analysis indicates that application fees primarily alter the composition of applicants rather than overall application volumes, with male applications responding more strongly than female applications. Practitioner/Policy Implications Although application fees are typically viewed as administratively neutral, our results suggest they can disproportionately deter women from applying to STEM‐focused institutions. In decentralised systems common across the Asia‐Pacific region, reviewing fee structures or introducing targeted fee waivers may help promote greater gender equity in STEM participation. Methods Used We use institution‐level panel data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and estimate fixed‐effects models exploiting within‐institution variation in application fees.

ABSTRACT Situated amid the dominance of child development as a paradigm for understanding early childhood education in Canada, three instructors who work with undergraduate students in postsecondary institutions discuss the particular context, inheritances, struggles and possibilities encountered when we work at creating postdevelopmental pedagogies with undergraduate student emerging educators. We begin by studying how child development is framed in postsecondary early childhood education programme course descriptions in Ontario to make visible the specific ‘lives’ that developmentalism takes as it becomes figured as an incontestable foundational knowledge for students. To anchor our approach to thinking otherwise to child development with emerging educators, we then elaborate our commitments in interrupting child development. We propose three imperfect proposals towards thinking with postdevelopmental pedagogies with emerging educators, offering these practices as our ongoing struggle with navigating frustrating, continual and consequential collisions of child development and postdevelopmental pedagogies. Throughout the article, we locate our work as an uncertain struggle of figuring out how to engage in our own teaching generatively, responsively, and with more than only a critical impulse in a postsecondary context loyal to child development.

The Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act of 2014 prioritizes supporting disabled youth and young adults by requiring Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies and schools collaboratively deliver pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS). The Pre-ETS are comprised of five key areas that impact employment outcomes: (a) counseling on postsecondary education opportunities, (b) instruction in self-advocacy, (c) job exploration counseling, (d) workplace readiness training, and (e) work-based learning experiences. This study examined the relationship between Pre-ETS and VR services on postsecondary education participation among youth with disabilities (ages 14–24). Additionally, we established a process to track exit and reentry specifically as a precursor to design longitudinal studies using the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA-911), a national administrative dataset that includes over 15,000 youth and young adults with disabilities who receive VR services. Our findings show that the combination of certain Pre-ETS (counseling on postsecondary education opportunities) and receipt of individualized VR services during postsecondary enrollment is particularly important for disabled youth. Implications for research and practice that enhance collaborative structures among professionals are discussed.

ABSTRACT This study critically examines how classroom participation is defined and assessed in postsecondary language education. While participation has traditionally been equated with verbal engagement, such as speaking in class or contributing to discussions, its pedagogical value and fairness as an assessment criterion remain contested. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach, this study analyzes 32 participation rubrics from multiple language courses (Spanish, Italian, French, Latin, Chinese, and Arabic) across national and international institutions. Specifically, this research explores the underlying criteria used to assess in-person participation. Rubrics were submitted voluntarily by language instructors, program coordinators, and teaching assistants. Employing open coding and reflexive thematic analysis, the study identified five recurring assessment criteria: (1) monoglossic language use; (2) voluntary and active engagement with in-class activities, materials, and peers; (3) attendance and punctuality; (4) technological and behavioral distractions; and (5) perceived student preparedness. These findings reveal that participation rubrics are often grounded in teacher beliefs, language ideologies, and anecdotal assumptions about language learning, rather than in evidence-based pedagogical principles. The study contributes to ongoing debates in language assessment by highlighting the need to reimagine participation through a more equitable lens.

Optimizing Thyroid Cytopathology Reports Focused on a Patient-Centered Approach: Mixed Methods Study.

Although research has identified that the transition to adulthood for young persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities is not linear, little is known about how young persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities, parents, and teachers conceptualise transition, particularly successful transition. The focus of this paper is on how the different stakeholders conceptualised transition and what constitutes successful transition, in general, and for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Thematic analysis was applied to 8 focus groups with 84 participants, exploring transition and successful transition in the Czech Republic. Five themes emerged, including gaining independence, having a job and opportunities as everybody else, satisfaction with life, and transition of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities as an important issue which needs to be addressed. Our findings point to the need for recognising different outcomes of successful transition from postsecondary education to adulthood, not just those primarily related to employment.

Nurse practitioner training and local medical provider supply.

This paper has discussed how an artificial intelligence-based vocabulary learning tool can effectively improve academic lexical competence of Pakistani university students at the University of Poonch, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Quasi experimental pretest post-test control group design was used. To conduct this study, two groups control and experimental groups were formed for undergraduate students. Experimental who were taught using an AI-based vocabulary learning system and control who were taught using the traditional vocabulary instruction. The Academic Vocabulary Test (AVT) and the Productive Academic Vocabulary Test (PAVT) were used to determine academic lexical competence in terms of receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. The analysis showed that there was greater improvement in both receptive and productive academic vocabulary in the experimental group as compared to the control group. The findings point to the idea that AI-driven vocabulary learning platforms yield successful assistance in vocabulary development based on the adaptable practice, contextualized learning, and instant feedback. The paper concludes that AI-based learning tools can be used in the field of upper secondary language teaching and learning and allow students to achieve better academic lexical competence as well as better vocabulary acquisition methods. References Academic Word List. (2025). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Word_List Ali, A., &amp; Rafiq-uz-Zaman, M. (2025a). Institutional inertia vs. ethical innovation: A comparative analysis of AI governance at The Islamia University of Bahawalpur and Cambridge University Press. Contemporary Journal of Social Science Review, 3(4), 91–102. https://doi.org/10.63878/cjssr.v3i4.1695 Chung, E., &amp; Wan, A. (2024). Examining the use of academic vocabulary in first-year ESL undergraduates’ writing: A corpus-driven study. Journal of Second Language Writing, 58, 100913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2024.100913 Leńko-Szymańska, A. (2019). Lexical competence and lexical proficiency. In A. Leńko-Szymańska (Ed.), Defining and assessing lexical proficiency (pp. 34–52). Routledge. Mohammadi, M., Valizadeh, M., Zohdi Jalal, P., &amp; Xodabande, I. (2024). University students’ academic vocabulary development through mobile-assisted learning: Exploring the impacts on receptive and productive knowledge. Heliyon, 10, e28103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28103 Polyzi, P., &amp; Moussiades, L. (2023). An artificial vocabulary learning assistant. Education and Information Technologies, 28, 16431–16455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11810-9 Punjab, A. A., &amp; Khan, F. (2023). Assessing general and academic lexical competencies: Evidence from online vocabulary assessments. International Journal of Innovative Education and Teaching, 13(8), 1931–1948. Rafiq-uz-Zaman, M. (2025b). Between adoption and ambiguity: Navigating the AI policy vacuum in Pakistani higher education. Research Journal for Social Affairs, 3(6), 877–885. https://doi.org/10.71317/RJSA.003.06.0523 Rafiq-uz-Zaman, M. (2025c). Use of artificial intelligence in school management: A contemporary need of school education system in Punjab (Pakistan). Journal of Asian Development Studies, 14(2), 1984–2009. https://doi.org/10.62345/jads.2025.14.2.56 Rafiq-uz-Zaman, M. (2026). AI-driven competency-based education: Shaping lifelong learning and skill acquisition in dynamic educational environments. Artificial Intelligence in Lifelong and Life-Course Education, 1(1), 61–77. https://doi.org/10.66053/aillce.v1i1.29 Winkler, S., Li-Jen Kuo, L., &amp; Eslami, Z. (2021). Best evidence synthesis of academic vocabulary interventions for post-secondary English learners. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 34(2), 131–148. Yang, Y. (2025). AI-supported L2 vocabulary acquisition: A systematic review from 2015 to 2023. Education and Information Technologies. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-025-13417-8

In the absence of adequate funding, the emphasis on enrolling a significant number of students in higher education sector often takes precedence over ensuring effective teaching and student achievement. Addressing persistent challenges such as improving academic outcomes, reducing university dropout rates, and maintaining access to quality higher education remains a critical concern in the sector. Even though admission to post-secondary education has increased, student success rates have not shown corresponding improvement. This qualitative study applied growth model theory to examine and evaluate the efficiency of tertiary education in South Africa. This research aimed to investigate the hurdles experienced by tertiary institutions in their efforts to produce graduates of high calibre. The research was guided by the question: How can misalignments within the education sector be addressed to enhance efficiency in higher education? The study sample comprised ten first-year undergraduate students. The research applied semi-structured interviews to gather evidence and thematic analysis was conducted to analyse data. In conclusion this study argues that in efforts to provide education to numerous previously disadvantaged groups, quality is often compromised in favour of quantity, creating an "articulation gap" Student unpreparedness represents a significant barrier to academic success, often resulting in high dropout rates or prolonged degree completion

Abstract Social capital—the benefits, such as access to information, support, and resources, that flow from personal relationships and social networks—can play a significant role in the transition from school to postschool life and can be particularly helpful for young people who are Deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). This article provides an overview of a two-stage qualitative study that, in the first stage, retrospectively investigated the earlier social capital experiences of DHH university students and how these had assisted their transition from high school to postsecondary education. The second stage explored these students' views on ways in which professionals and parents can support adolescents' development and use of social capital that most benefits their postschool transition. Ten DHH university students whose primary communication mode was spoken language participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis of the study's findings specific to the role of audiologists generated four major themes: deaf connections, encouragement, specialized assistive technology, and holistic support. Clinical implications of these findings and recommendations for audiologists working with adolescents and young adults are outlined.

College students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) programs face unique physical wellness challenges. However, the majority of scholarship highlights family and IPSE staff perspectives as opposed to centering student voices. This study explores the lived experiences of college students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in developing and maintaining physical wellness. We used consensual qualitative research to explore physical wellness experiences gathered from semi-structured interviews of 14 college students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in an IPSE program. Following CQR guidelines, we present four fully differentiated domains organized into development, maintenance, and mediating domains. We offer implications for educators, caregivers, and IPSE staff to better support wellness behaviors and address the interconnected challenges of being a college student and living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The purpose of this study is to answer the question: What are the sociological factors that have influenced the Canadian education system? With document analysis as the adopted research methodology, after a careful review of a significant amount of relevant literature on the education system’s history, structure, governance, and learning outcomes of different student groups, it is concluded that there are inequities in the Canadian education system with regard to race, gender, class, and religion. Indigenous students and Black students have especially been consistently disadvantaged over the years in the education system, lagging behind other student groups in terms of graduation rates and learning outcomes, which have enormous consequences for their lives after they leave school and transition to postsecondary education and eventually enter the labour force. To move forward, Canadian policy makers, education administrators, and teachers need to work together to make the education system inclusive, serving the interest of all students.

With the advent of the big data era, university budget management faces heightened demands, necessitating effective responses to challenges arising from diversified funding sources and expanded scale. To address these challenges, this study employs the Random Forest algorithm as the foundation for a budget information early warning model. It combines the Classification and Regression Trees (CART) algorithm to optimize the decision tree structure, introduces weighted ensemble voting to enhance the classification process, and achieves data balancing and parameter optimization through Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Techniques and genetic algorithms. The model was validated using two datasets: the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Experimental results demonstrated that for the classification task during the budgeting phase, the model achieved a maximum classification accuracy of 94% on the HESA dataset, with a recall of 92.18%, an F1 score of 92.87%, and a sample balance rate of 81.64%, with the lowest budget information early warning error at 3.7%. Additionally, the average runtime was 0.04 seconds, and CPU utilization was only 24.17%, significantly outperforming models such as DBN, XGBoost, and VAE-TSAD. The research results demonstrate that the proposed model possesses high accuracy, real-time capability, and computational efficiency in early warning for university budget management information, providing reliable technical support for higher education financial decision-making.

Undergraduate music programs in the United States and Canada have been critiqued for their heavy focus on skills and understandings associated with Western Art Music (WAM) traditions. Such traditions have been linked to Eurocentrism, colonialism, anti-Blackness, and inaccessibility. This is problematic for the field of music education when one considers that post-secondary music education programs—the de facto pathway for music teacher licensure—tend to share the same “Eurocentric core” (Walker, 2023, p. 53). This study quantifies the extent to which Canadian undergraduate music education program audition requirements and curricula reflect WAM values and content. The analysis process included database coding and analysis of specific audition requirements and courses required to complete each degree program. Findings confirm anecdotal perceptions that the majority of Canadian undergraduate music education curricula focus predominantly on WAM content.

ABSTRACT In this study, we present the Transborder College Student Sense of Belonging Model , developed to understand how to create an inclusive and validating campus climate for Transborder students in postsecondary and higher education institutions along the US–México borderlands. The study centers the experiences of joy and unrest that shape the educational journeys of Transborder college students. Using photovoice pláticas , we examined student affairs practices and programming that we, as scholar‐activists, implemented to foster a sense of belonging for Transborder college students. Through collaborative autoethnographic analysis, we identified three key findings, visually represented in a model highlighting the themes of (1) Transborder Institutional Agents and Allies, (2) Basic Transborder Needs, and (3) Transborder Sociocultural Validation, all in relation to the theorized transborder students’ sense of Belonging. We conclude with practical recommendations for educational leaders and student affairs professionals serving Transfronterizx college students. Summary We define Transborder College Students’ Sense of Belonging as a balance between providing systems of support for Transfronterizx students' most critical needs, while at the same time validating their sociocultural identity as Transfronterizx people. In the efforts to create initiatives dedicated to Transborder College Students’ Sense of Belonging, it is paramount to include Transfronterizx students, faculty, and staff in the forefront leadership of these programs and events. To begin to address Transborder College Students’ Sense of Belonging, we need to start by providing systems of support for the fundamental challenges Transfronterizx students face, perpetuated by the geopolitical obstacles of the US–México border. Alongside basic Transborder needs, Transborder sociocultural validation is an important factor in creating Transborder College Students' Sense of Belonging.

This paper examines the structures and persistence of institutional racism within Canadian universities through the combined lenses of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Indigenous epistemologies. Grounded in the author’s positionality as Indigenous faculty members in a publicly funded Ontario university, the inquiry investigates how racism is produced, normalized, and sustained across the continuum of compulsory mainstream schooling and post-secondary education. Drawing on a critical review of scholarly and popularized literature, the study identifies four interrelated themes that shape Indigenous and racialized faculty experiences in the Academy: (1) the reproduction of the status quo through mainstream schooling, (2) Whiteness as a mechanism of institutional control, (3) the performative nature of institutional documents and policy inaction, and (4) linguistic racism rooted in colonial nationalism and monolingualism.CRT is employed as an analytical framework to restory dominant narratives that obscure the racialized foundations of higher education, while Indigenous epistemologies—particularly relationality and responsibility—inform a reflective praxis oriented toward healing, accountability, and transformation. The paper situates contemporary manifestations of racism within historical and ongoing colonial structures, including residential schooling, curricular erasure, and governance practices that privilege Whiteness under the guise of equity and multiculturalism.The study concludes by offering praxis-based recommendations for institutional change, including collective bargaining advocacy, curricular reform, Indigenous and Racialized Course Requirements (IRCR), and the meaningful inclusion of Indigenous and racialized voices in strategic planning processes. By foregrounding lived experience, critical reflection, and ethical relationality, this paper contributes to ongoing conversations about reconciliation, decolonization, and anti-racist transformation in Canadian higher education.

Undermatching identifies high school graduates who do not attend selective colleges even if they have high academic performance. To date, the study of undermatching is restricted to access to selective colleges and to the United States and the United Kingdom. We expand this concept to identify students who, having high academic performance, do not undertake five critical educational transitions: graduating from high school, enrolling in higher education, taking the college-entry exam, enrolling in university, and enrolling in a selective university. Using the case of Chile and a novel population-level panel dataset combining administrative and survey data, we found that undermatching is prevalent, highly stratified by socioeconomic status, and stronger among disadvantaged boys than girls. A Gelbach decomposition analysis suggested that inequality in undermatching is largely accounted for by the students’ sorting across schools. We discuss the implications of undermatching for countries around the world.

Abstract This paper documents the bias introduced by attrition of individuals from administrative data with an application to the labor market consequences of postsecondary education. Attrition due to crossstate migration is non-trivial, particularly for high-earners, graduates from selective universities, and certain majors. Consequently, the premium associated with graduating from a most selective university is 23% higher than in-state earnings suggests, though this magnitude differs across context. The impact of obtaining a 2-year CTE credential is also understated, as are earnings differences across majors. Differences in missingness are systematically related to bias in measurement; we evaluate approaches to quantifying that bias.

There is increasing interest in perceived campus climate in the postsecondary education literature. However, conceptualizations and measurements of this construct have lacked reliability, statistical rigor, and validity. This study aimed to develop and validate a novel instrument to measure perceived campus climate. Across two studies with more than 1500 participants, we developed a 46-item novel instrument. This instrument has five factors: University Responsiveness (10 items), Community and Connection (10 items), Equity and Belonging (15 items), Campus Culture and Student Experience (8 items), and Student Satisfaction (3 items). We evaluated the psychometric properties of the novel instrument using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, hierarchical regression, paired-samples t-tests, correlation, and ANOVA. Overall, the results suggest that the novel instrument is reliable, valid, and provides additional predictive power compared to previous iterations of campus climate instruments.