Opportunities and Difficulties in Conducting Internships in Higher Education from the Employers’ Perspective

This study explores the offline and online communication skills of students in higher education. A total of 402 bachelor’s and master’s students from different study programs participated in the survey, such as education sciences, philology, communication sciences, and public relations. The evaluation was based on the scale of online and offline communication skills, which included four components: sociability, emotion decoding, self-disclosure, and assertiveness. The Mann–Whitney nonparametric statistical method was applied to examine the potential differences between the online and offline communication skills of students for the assessed variables of sociability, emotion detection, self-disclosure, and assertiveness. The statistical data analysis led to the following results: significantly higher online sociability; significantly higher online assertiveness; significantly higher offline emotion detection; significantly higher offline self-disclosure; bachelor’s students had significantly higher online skills than master’s students; and there were many differences between the various fields of specialization.

Our study is rooted in a theoretical analysis of the concepts of personal self-efficacy and career choice, which are deeply interconnected. In response to the question, “What is the relationship between self-efficacy and career decision-making?” we have synthesised various insights from the literature with potential applications in career counselling within higher education. This study was conducted with a group of 377 students and focused on three hypotheses: H1 - we assume there are significant differences among participants regarding how general self-efficacy is influenced by the students’ level of education; H2: general self-efficacy positively predicts job searching self-efficacy; H3: career crafting positively predicts students’ self-efficacy in career searching. The results obtained, as well as the validation of the hypotheses based on these results, allow us to recommend that it is important to assess self-efficacy in career counselling activities and to initiate action plans aligned with the findings.

The aim of this study is to assess students’ ethical attitudes towards social networks (SNs) in order to identify ethical norms and principles, which should be implemented in universities. A self-reported survey was conducted on 583 Bachelor and Master students majoring in different domains in a Romanian university. The results revealed that students in higher education express an overall positive attitude towards the ethical use of SNs, taking seriously various ethical concerns such as the use of appropriate language, the selection of the content they share, and copywriting. Students also expressed a positive attitude towards the use of emoticons in their SNs communications. Significant differences were detected between different groups of students according to their gender, age, and specialization. The model of ethical attitudes provides a new perspective on how students and teachers know and respect the rules of using social networks in the academic environment.

Inclusive education is a key aspect of quality assurance in higher education, closely linked to equity and diversity issues. The attitudes of higher education teachers play a crucial role at the decision-making and policy levels, as well as in their practical teaching approaches. This study aims to explore teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education both theoretically and practically. A review of the scientific literature revealed five main attitudinal trends: 1) predominantly positive towards the inclusion of students with special educational needs; 2) predominantly negative; 3) uncertain or undefined; 4) reported as positive but with undefinable behaviour; and 5) positively proactive. Our research was carried out using the methods of focus groups and qualitative content analysis, gathering data from 64 participants across five focus groups held between May and July 2024. The findings highlighted a gap between what academic staff teach and their practical actions, with many expressing support for inclusion in theory but showing reluctance or insufficient skills to implement inclusive practices effectively.

Introduction: Assertive communication is a fundamental component of effective teaching, particularly in the context of the increasing shift toward online higher education. Despite its importance, there is a need for validated instruments specifically designed to assess assertive communication in online teaching environments. The present study aims to examine the psychometric properties and factorial structure of the Assertive Communication Scale in Online Teaching (ACSOT). Methods: The study involved 374 students from “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacău, Romania. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to investigate the factorial structure of the ACSOT. Correlational analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among the identified dimensions, and group differences were assessed by gender and age. Results: The exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure comprising expressiveness, communicativeness, and conflict management. Significant positive correlations were found among the three dimensions. Gender differences indicated that women demonstrated stronger conflict management skills than men. Age-related differences showed that older participants reported higher levels of assertive communication in terms of expressiveness and communicativeness compared to younger participants. Conclusions: The findings support the factorial validity of the ACSOT and suggest that the instrument is a reliable tool for assessing assertive communication in online teaching contexts. The identified gender and age differences underscore the importance of considering demographic variables when developing training programs designed to enhance assertive communication skills in higher education.