In order to sustain quality in education, students' and teachers' skills and competencies must be continuously enhanced. We cannot be complacent with the skills and competencies that we currently possess. Not only must we seek to enhance them, we must also learn to use them in new situations. We may even need new skills and competencies to keep up with new developments, technologies and challenges. This book is a compilation of selected papers presented at the National Conference of Skills and Competencies in Education 2008. Generally these papers may be divided into two groups: English language skills and competencies and instructional strategies in developing students' skills and competencies. The book features in-depth discourses by various academic members on issues, challenges and new trends pertaining to skills and competencies learnt, gained and taught in today's education. It is hoped that the publication of this book will boost interest and promote further studies among educators and researchers in the development of skills and competencies in education. Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia

This book addresses the problems and possibilities of English language education in Southeast Asia from the point-of-view of researchers who are themselves also English language teachers. The researchers are from Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and New Zealand. The articles in this edited book examine teaching and language learning goals in relation to the desired development of linguistic knowledge. More importantly, the articles also reflect on the nurturing of appropriate learning abilities and independent thinking that is framed by the expanding learner awareness of identity, culture, and society within and beyond the classroom. Ultimately, the book tackles issues that emerge from the fact that we teach and learn English in a region that is hugely multicultural and multilingual.

Psychological assessments are used in the field of education to find answers for the questions raise concerning the student’s intellectual, academic, social and emotional functioning. The collection, integration, and interpretation of all information and data gathered from the assessment will enable better understanding of the student’s characteristics and capacities. More effective interventions, recommendations and referrals can then be implemented. This book offers researchers and practitioners insights on assessment concepts and practices that are in line with the demand of education in the 21st century. As the new horizon unfolded, there is a paradigm shift in assessment; moving from macro to micro level of learning, from accountability of school to supporting teaching and learning, from summative to formative and diagnostics, from assessing achievement of individuals to catering of learning needs of diverse learners. The new horizon of assessment serves as catalysis for more effective psychological assessment in educational research and practice.

This book reflects an exceptional collection of articles, literature reviews and research finding primarily linked to curriculum and material development activities. The book covers various aspects from the theoretical frameworks and research findings that govern curriculum and material development processes to actual classroom practices that incorporated learners’ needs and contexts. Articles and research findings selected and presented in this book are primarily based on practicing school teachers’ interest. In addition to its wide coverage in terms of topics and contents, the book authors and contributors are from both local and abroad. This is intended for university students, curriculum planners, teachers, school administrators and teacher trainers that serve as guide for courses in language material design and curriculum and instruction.

As the higher education landscape is ever evolving, sustainability continues to be an essential concern. This publication covers existing sustainability matters ranging from internationalisation and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to university social responsibility. The main contribution of this book is to reveal the efforts and issues of internationalisation of higher education for sustainable tomorrow from global perspectives. Since the institutions educate current and future decision makers, the play a key role in building more sustainable entities and creating new paradigms. The articles are written by a number of experts with various backgrounds in higher education that give global perspective on the issues of sustainability. Specific country studies give a timely review on the substantial growth of higher education institutions in certain parts of the world. This publication provides invaluable knowledge and skills to guide the reader in designing appropriate frameworks in critical problem solving of current higher education issues.

This book seeks to put together the voices, the diverse positions and views of policy makers, gatekeepers and actors involved in the internationalisation of higher education institutions in Malaysia higher education system. It begins with an exploration of the literature and then examines the critical issues faced on the ground by higher education institutions in Malaysia. Issues are identified and interpreted based on a survey as well as those obtained from interviews involving stakeholders and players from various academic backgrounds, administrative positions and practitioner experiences. The findings indicated that there are diverse and contested perspectives on the aims, challenges and complexities faced in internationalisation. Broadly, there seems to be general agreement that Malaysia has fairly clear policies on the internationalisation in higher education which emphasises the mobility of students with a focus on the recruitment of international students and academic staff. Increasingly the respondents agree that there are needs to be a shift to a more holistic view of internationalisation which is system wide including internationalisation at home, enhancing research and development, and the need for greater institutional autonomy. This book characterises the complex contexts and issues around internationalisation in the Malaysia higher education system including issues around access and equity, competition and/or collaboration, import oriented and/ or domestic internationalisation. It also aims to provide a theoretical, conceptual and empirical evidence based resources for more informed evidence based policy and practice for the internationalisation of higher education systems. Keywords: Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penerbit Universiti Sains Malayia, Penerbit USM

A competitive environment, which can even be hypercompetitive at times, requires an organisation to continually transform itself to ensure that it remains relevant and competitive. The challenge in effectively transforming an organisation lies in ensuring that its direction and strategy reflect changes in its internal and external environments. With this challenge in mind, the most common question is how and where the transformation programmes should begin? This book provides advice at a strategic level and demonstrates how the transformation program impacts on all areas of human resources. It gives sound advice on how to execute that strategy by discussing techniques to design and implement an effective change programme. Most importantly, it is written from a practical perspective that will appeal to both management practitioners and students. Utilising a scenario based approach, readers will gain useful insights on how to avoid common issues and develop a holistic understanding of the art of transforming organisations.