The relationships between subjective status and perceived legitimacy are important for understanding the extent to which people with low status are complicit in their oppression. We use novel data from 66 samples and 30 countries (N = 12,788) and find that people with higher status see the social system as more legitimate than those with lower status, but there is variation across people and countries. The association between subjective status and perceived legitimacy was never negative at any levels of eight moderator variables, although the positive association was sometimes reduced. Although not always consistent with hypotheses, group identification, self‐esteem, and beliefs in social mobility were all associated with perceived legitimacy among people who have low subjective status. These findings enrich our understanding of the relationship between social status and legitimacy.

Purpose: This paper presents two educational gamified virtual labs and investigates different methods of including gamified elements in virtual labs used for teaching. The purpose of this study is to investigate if immersive gamified virtual labs can be used as effective pedagogical tools by properly incorporating them into higher education curricula to assist low-risk active learning and student engagement.Design/methodology/approach: This research design comprises two gamified virtual labs including nine essential experiments of biology and chemistry integrated into the higher education curriculum of the Foundation of Science at an international University. Students filled in a survey after participating in the lab to shed light on appropriate ways of using gamification approaches in virtual labs.Findings: From the predominant findings of the study, gamified virtual labs increase student involvement thereby enhancing knowledge development with active learning and may be a potentially suitable pedagogical tool for low-risk interactive learning.Research limitations/implications: Limitations of the study include findings based on gamified virtual labs but not comparing the gamified virtual labs to simple virtual simulations to further investigate the pedagogical approach and understand the student perceptions in a simple virtual simulation and a gamified virtual lab.Practical implications: The findings of this study will provide evidence that gamified virtual labs integrated into higher education curricula as supplementary tools for laboratory experimentation improve the educational delivery process.Originality/value: This research highlights an appropriate way of integrating 3D virtual labs into practical curricula while discussing the benefits.

Across societies, there is a tendency to associate members of low status groups with anger, and to associate members of high status groups with calm (i.e. the hunchback heuristic), but there is no empirical documentation for this phenomenon. Thus, in a pilot study (N = 30) we validated the stimuli that we generated to test the existence of a hunchback stereotype by distinguishing two interstatus contexts of skin-shade and race in terms of social status: Dark-skinned Indians (and Blacks) were perceived as lower in social status compared to light-skinned Indians (and Whites). Using a multi-method approach comprising an IAT-like protocol and explicit self-reports, Study 2 (N = 80) revealed that perceivers associated dark-skinned Indians with anger, and light-skinned Indians with calm: An effect that was explained by perceived social status. Study 3 (N = 114) corroborated the evidence from Study 2, but in the interstatus contexts of Blacks vs. Whites, and large men vs. slim men. Blacks (and large men) were associated with anger, and Whites (and slim men) were associated with calm. Additionally, Study 3 ruled out “racial prejudice” as an explanation for these trends. We conclude with an outline of the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

As the demand for high quality transnational education increases, the global higher education sector is facing growing pressure to professionalise teaching. In the UK, the Professional Standards Framework (PSF) has been a central element in advancing teacher professionalism in higher education. The framework aims to provide a way to benchmark, develop, recognise, and reward roles that support teaching and learning by offering an external validation of meeting certain standards. This chapter explores how recognised teaching fellowships play a role in addressing the global challenges of education through the promotion of professional development and enhancing teaching quality. Insights on the advantages of fellowship, common hindrances in obtaining fellowship, and best practices for supporting staff in their pursuit of fellowship will be discussed.

The transition to university requires students to adjust across academic, social, institutional, and personal–emotional domains. Although more studying is often assumed to support better university outcomes, less is known about how students with heavy study investment (HSI) experience this transition, especially when studying is driven by emotional demands. This study examined whether study engagement and studyholism mediate the association between emotional study demands and adaptation, and whether lecturer support moderates these pathways. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 336 university students. Structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed direct, indirect, and moderation relationships across four adaptation domains. Emotional study demands had direct negative associations with personal and academic adaptation, but not with social or institutional adaptation. However, emotional study demands were positively associated with study engagement, which was positively associated with adaptation across all four domains. By contrast, studyholism partially mediated the negative association between emotional study demands and personal adaptation. Lecturer support was positively associated with study engagement but did not moderate the relationship between emotional demands and engagement. Overall, the findings highlight the need to distinguish adaptive engagement from studyholism when supporting students’ transition to university.