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The global COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the health of individuals and leading to psychological problems. Students in higher education who are graduating, facing online learning challenges, and future job opportunities are among the most at-risk group for psychological issues. Due to the new normal of the COVID-19 pandemic, limited studies have been conducted concerning the mental health of students, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, this study aimed to assess student’s depression, anxiety, and stress status in four countries in the Asia Pacific region, namely, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and China. This study employed a quantitative research design with a pool of 1,195 student participants. The DASS-21 questionnaire was used for data collection through an online platform to measure the severity of depression, anxiety, and stress. Descriptive statistics were conducted to achieve the research objectives, and all reliability values were reported greater than 0.70. Findings revealed that up to 38% of the students reported mild or moderate depression, anxiety, and stress, while 20.5% reported severe or extremely severe anxiety. Overall, anxiety was reported to be the most significant problem among the students, followed by depression and stress. Students are at risk of mental health challenges during the coronavirus pandemic, likely due to unexpected life changes. This study contributes an overview report of students’ mental health problems and discusses the support and services in preventing students’ psychological problems. The comprehensive discussion has provided scientific information and suggestion to policymakers in maintaining the student academic and welfare.

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Rural teacher recruitment and retention has become a common concern globally including in China. In order to understand the underlying reasons that cause rural teachers’ attrition, this study aims to explore the school culture and professional development of the teachers from urban and rural areas of China provinces, by examining three study objectives: teaching location and socio-demographic factor; challenges faced by rural teachers; and strategies to develop teaching professionalism in rural schools. A mixed-method approach involving survey forms and interview sessions was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using SPSS and ATLAS.ti which included inferential and thematic analysis. A number of 1547 teachers under Compulsory Education in Jiangxi, China were involved as participants. Results indicated that teaching location is significantly related to the socio-demographic condition. Additionally, five challenges reported by rural school teachers include parental involvement, working environment, salary, personal growth, and family environment. Meanwhile, three main strategies used for professional development are educational beliefs, collaboration relationships, and teacher self-training. The outcome of this study would contribute towards effective and feasible measures to stabilize rural teachers, promote educational and social equity, and promote the integration of urban and rural teachers. Findings conclude the importance to explore further and propose the corresponding measures to improve the working and living status of rural teachers.

Sustainable Development Goals defined that quality education and youth employment are two inter-related indicators that reflect the economic growth. It is important to conduct early assessment of graduate employability to better equip them with necessary knowledge and skills to increase their chance of achieving more sustainable future in their career path. This study aims to develop and validate an instrument termed as the Graduate Employability Instrument to measure the employability attributes among the undergraduate students. This involved five stages of scale development. The technical analyses are done according to the accepted standards in psychometric testing comprising exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis and confirmatory factor analyses. Total 425 Malaysian undergraduate students were involved in the study. The findings supported the main proposed model with 33 items grouped in 7 constructs; work and career resilience, human and social capital, teamwork, conscientiousness, critical thinking, academic, and leadership. This study contributed in measuring self-perceived employability of undergraduate students, which reflected the dimensions of strengths in the higher education institution studied towards preparing youth to fit in the competitive working environment. This can be used for continuous programmer improvements and intervention plans to improve the quality of education and resolve youth unemployment issues.