The recent emphasis on refining the quality of higher education has incited insightful debates about numerous education reforms. Due to the demands of our ever-changing world, many institutions have begun to embed the 21st century skills into the curriculum design to better prepare the students for workplace success and lifelong career development. Despite its importance, there are disparities in regards to establishing an in-depth understanding of its significance. Thus, this study is aimed to investigate the perspective of undergraduate students in Malaysia on the importance of the 21st century skills for career readiness This study employed the quantitative research design wherein purposive sampling was utilized. The findings assert that data literacy is an essential skill to excel in the workplace, and similarly, problem-solving skill helps develop critical thinking skill, which contribute to the development of creative thinking skill. Recommendations are further deliberated.

Today, the shift toward technology industries has made the applicable skills in high demand in the workforce. However, job training and education in general have not changed enough to keep up with the on-going trends. Concerns over the skills gap in our global workforce have exploded. In response to the demands of labor market and to close the skills gap, educational institution should focus on supporting skill development to cultivate the competencies that students need, making education in twenty-first century skills essential to prepare the students for the new and unknown in this fast-changing world of technology. This research aims to investigate the importance of twenty-first century skills for the employability of undergraduate students. The findings indicate that twenty-first century skills are the needed employability attributes, which transcend beyond qualifications and experience, that employers are looking for. It is also discovered from this study that the most effective way to attain twenty-first century skill is to focus on integrating twenty-first century knowledge and skills into the education support systems for our nation to realize its goal of successfully meeting the challenge of the twenty-first century.

The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered a universal disruption over the past year, and has caused unforeseen and formidable changes, but simultaneously has also enthused a digital transformation for educational institutions of all levels. With the upsurge in the usage of digital technologies, some potential caveats should be addressed, in particular, the speculative effective methods, course design and structure. A prodigious deal of reappraising and reimagining the philosophy of what is deemed to be the most familiar is imperative, not only to promote student-centred learning, but also encourage online engagement. Considering the suspension of all face-to-face classes due to the rapid spread of the global pandemic, the purpose of this study was to assess the usability and adoption of the jigsaw method on the web-based platform, Microsoft (MS) Teams for both synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning. A pre-experimental research design was utilised with one post-test dataset obtained from the post-experiment learning analytics. Subsequently, the usability and adoption of the jigsaw method in MS Teams were evaluated based on the reciprocity of students’ responses towards the design. It is postulated that MS Teams stand out as a promising technological tool to facilitate the integration of the jigsaw method into an online learning environment. It advocates better students engagement and collaboration, and thus leads to the positive impact on students’ performance and enhanced comprehension of course content, specifically the availability of customized MS Teams features; channel and synchronous chat, which are recommended to support an engaged learning ecology.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming education, yet many institutions lack a comprehensive framework to integrate AI effectively. This paper develops an AI Education Competency Framework to guide the integration of AI in educational settings through a systematic literature review. Methodologically, a rigorous systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted following PRISMA guidelines, ensuring methodological rigor and empirical grounding. Key databases (e.g., Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, SpringerLink) were searched for studies on AI frameworks in education, yielding 21 relevant sources. The analysis resulted in a novel framework which is built on four pillars—Foundation, Integration, Innovation, and AI Citizenship, encompassing fundamental AI knowledge, curricular and administrative integration, AI-driven innovation in pedagogy, and ethical AI use. The proposed framework informed by findings from these studies, addressing gaps such as the lack of unified approaches that combine technical, pedagogical, and ethical dimensions. The framework provides a holistic strategy for AI integration in education, including for open and distance education contexts, bridging theoretical and practical aspects. In discussion, we highlight the framework’s contributions in filling identified gaps, its potential implementation challenges, and recommendations for educators and policymakers. The study concludes that the AI Education Competency Framework offers significant contributions by aligning AI advancements with educational competencies, ensuring stakeholders are prepared to navigate AI’s complexities responsibly and effectively.

This study explores the perceptions, intentions, and perceived barriers of academics regarding the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education. Utilizing qualitative data from structured online interviews, sentiment analysis was employed to determine the polarity and subjectivity of responses. The findings indicate a generally neutral to slightly positive outlook on AI's potential to enhance teaching and learning, particularly through personalized learning experiences and increased student engagement. However, significant challenges were identified, including technical and access issues, gaps in training and knowledge, data privacy concerns, and risks to academic integrity. Respondents provided constructive suggestions emphasizing the need for regular training, heightened ethical awareness, and robust institutional support. These results underscore the necessity for a balanced approach to AI integration, which leverages its benefits while addressing the associated challenges. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies to monitor changes in perceptions and barriers over time, assess the effectiveness of targeted training programs, and develop comprehensive AI policies that promote ethical and effective use in education.

Demographic change is transforming the way we communicate. In many parts of the world, the society has become increasingly multicultural and multi-ethnic. In this context, intercultural cognizance is one of the pivotal facets for intercultural communication. The recent years has seen the emergence of the intercultural communicative competence (ICC) concept permeating the education field thereby a large and growing body of literature has commenced to investigate the concept of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and its repercussion in the context of teaching and learning. The notion of ICC is incepted on the acquisition of several “savoirs” associated with attitudes and values, knowledge, skills of interpreting and relating, skills of discovery and interaction and critical cultural awareness. However, the process of acquiring and negotiating meaning in the context of intercultural communication lies a tremendous challenge and demands a continuous effort. Thus, the objective of this study is to probe on how students’ attitudes towards another culture affect their degree of cultural awareness and to deliberate how social and communication skills can foster intercultural competence that is influenced by the level of ICC acquisition. The findings indicate that the students possess intercultural competence in which they demonstrate positive attitudes towards individuals from other cultures; henceforth is reflected in the high cultural awareness amongst the students. Apart from this, the findings yielded also show that the students are able to exhibit and display significant competencies in both social and communication skills which are allied to the high level of ICC acquisition.