The study was conducted to investigate the level of service quality for different dimensions based on the perception of private school teachers towards service quality. The investigation indicated level of perception for different dimensions namely tangibles, responsiveness, empathy, reliability and assurance. A questionnaire on Service Quality (SERVQUAL) was administered to a total of 93 teachers in private schools in Selangor, Malaysia. The findings indicated that teachers at the selected private schools had significant higher perception when the level of perception was compared with the middle score of the scale (middle score =5.5 with full scale ranging from ‘1’ to ‘10’). On the other hand, the results indicated that the teachers’ perceptions for all the dimensions were significantly more than the middle scale of ‘5.5’. The dimensions in the service quality were significantly correlated. Dimensions of assurance and empathy have been identified as important dimensions in the service quality. These two dimensions were highly correlated with responsiveness as well.

The topic of affirmative actions in higher education consists of two interrelated areas of inquiry which have long been discussed in many different contexts. This article gives accounts about affirmative action and its cases in higher education in Malaysia. Beginning with a summary of various aspects of affirmative action, the article highlights important milestones in the development of higher education in Malaysia, particularly those related to affirmative action. In the next part, it describes the metamorphosis of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) as a case study of the implementation of affirmative action in higher education in Malaysia.

Generally, this study explains the digital divide among older workers of age 50 to 58 years in public and private sectors in the state of Melaka. The main purpose of the study is to reveal and distinguish the factors that contribute to digital divide among older workers of age 50 to 58 years in public and private sectors. According to the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications digital divide is a reference that is given to the circumstances in which part of the community is not likely to ease of use of information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure caused by factors such as accessibility, capability, ability to use computer and lack of local content. The study focuses on factors that cause digital divide namely demographic factors (socio-economic backgrounds, education level, and geographical location of residential area), accessibility of ICT infrastructure, computer skills, and perception towards ICT. The study is conducted to achieve three objectives: namely to examine the ability to use computer and digital divide among elderly between public and private sectors, to investigate distinction level of digital divide arising among elderly workers in public and private sectors and lastly to identify factors that cause digital divide among the elderly. Population of elderly workers of age 50 to 58 years are stratified into public and private sectors. From each of the sectors, samples with the stated quota, that is, those workers of age between 50 and 58 years old are selected. From the results of the analysis obtained, there is a distinction that indicates emergence of digital divide among elderly between public and private sectors. As such, government should take more effective initiatives to address the digital divide issue among the elderly. Through these initiatives the digital gap among the elderly in public and private sectors can be bridged in helping the elderly to be more independent and competitive to face the challenging old days.

The research methodology known as Q Methodology is relatively unknown in the Malaysian sphere. Nonetheless, if you are uncovering ‘points of view’ held around a topic, Q Methodology is one of the methods to consider. There are seven (7) steps in Q Methodology implementation which combine both qualitative and quantitative methods. The aim of this article is to give an overview and steps to implementation of Q Methodology. Q Methodology, in this article is exemplified through a study on the conceptions of Autonomy in Language Learning.

Standing for Neurolinguistic Programming, the acronym ‘NLP’ has become an emergent approach to communication and personal development which has gained worldwide interest. Containing a set of strategies that is highly claimed to be effective in enhancing oneself personally, NLP has also become progressively more recognisable in the education sector. Nevertheless, NLP is still considered to be virtually absent from the academic realm, particularly in relation with learning and pedagogy. This silence suggests a dire need to expand academic practices studying and discussing NLP. Hence, this paper depicts the current state of knowledge regarding NLP in both the philosophical and the pedagogical aspects. This review suggests that there exist the bridging links between NLP, its philosophical foundation and pedagogy through certain theories like Constructivism and Information Processing. Some pedagogical relevance of NLP is also discovered in catering to its widespread into the educational world at all levels. Besides offering practicable knowledge to the teaching and learning stakeholders, this article is anticipated to create a more dialogic discourse within the academia, especially to add to the dearth of the discussion pertaining to NLP in philosophy and pedagogy.

Amongst extensive research on thesis writing quality, few provide a detailed account of common writing challenges/errors as perceived by examiners vs. students. In this study, eight recent English theses marked-up by examiners and defended in Iranian universities were selected randomly among those thesis made available (n=45). Based on an appraisal of comments written by examiners, a set of common challenges were drawn, which was confirmed by observations made by the researcher in viva voce sessions and then inspired questions about thesis writing quality. When administered to twenty examiners and seventy students, the most recurring themes in their practice were confirmed. The results draw a more precise picture, than previously available, of what examiners actually expect of a thesis and found four major areas of challenges in thesis writing, classified under lack of clarity in explaining, thesis formatting, grammatical errors and organisational inconsistencies. Findings also discussed the most significant practices in writing each chapter and reveal differences in perceptions of students/ examiners.