Dimitrios Vlachopoulos

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is becoming embedded in adult professional education, yet its capacity to accelerate academic work may also remove cognitive processes that underpin professional judgement. This qualitative study explored how educators working in Dutch academic medical settings perceive GenAI’s implications for students’ critical thinking and how they believe it should be integrated into medical curricula. Seventeen educators from Dutch academic medical settings participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed thematically using a mixed inductive–deductive approach informed by the Technology Acceptance Model and the Paul–Elder critical thinking framework. Three themes were identified: educational value and efficiency; threats to independent critical thinking; and conditions for responsible integration. Educators valued GenAI for personalised learning, writing support, research assistance, accessibility, simulation, and administrative efficiency. However, they associated low-friction use with cognitive offloading, weaker source appraisal, reduced information filtering, possible erosion of foundational knowledge, and difficulties verifying authentic student understanding. Participants proposed AI literacy, transparent use, institutionally governed models, comparative human–AI tasks, simulation, staged access, and AI-free oral or in-class assessment. The findings suggest that adult professional education should design GenAI as co-intelligence rather than cognitive substitution, preserving productive friction while verifying unassisted competence.

The paper aims at investigating the strategic planning process and its perceived effectiveness in universities based on evidence from five European countries (UK, Sweden, Greece, Cyprus and the Netherlands) and 10 higher education institutions. The investigation focused on the following: the characteristics of the strategic planning process; stakeholder involvement in strategic planning and their role in the process; and the major problems faced in relation to the effectiveness of strategic planning. The elements investigated relate to the process and effectiveness of strategic planning in an attempt to examine the development of strategy by higher education institutions and its perceived effectiveness. Qualitative research was used to collect data from academics and/or high‐ranking administrators with a role in the institutional strategic planning process. The data were subjected to thematic analysis. According to the findings, universities were more likely to subscribe to a top‐down model in strategic planning. Respondents drew attention to three categories of problems and/or limitations associated with the strategic planning process, namely, human resources/stakeholder problems, technical/content‐related problems, and external limitations and restrictions. The paper attempts to inform the higher education literature by providing evidence from five countries on an under‐investigated topic, i.e., the perceptions of higher education stakeholders regarding the process and effectiveness of strategic planning.

Graduate employability has become a central concern for higher education institutions as labour markets undergo rapid transformation driven by digitalisation, technological change, and evolving organisational practices. Universities are increasingly expected to equip graduates with a broad range of employability skills and to collaborate with industry to enhance labour market readiness. However, existing research on employability skills development and university-industry collaboration remains fragmented across disciplines, contexts, and stakeholder perspectives. This systematic review synthesises evidence on how universities prepare their graduates for the labour market through employability skills development and university-industry collaboration. Following PRISMA guidelines, 84 journal articles and conference papers published between 2015 and 2025 were identified through a systematic search of the Scopus database and analysed thematically. The findings reveal that graduate employability is conceptualised as a multidimensional and context-dependent construct encompassing discipline-specific, transversal, digital, career management, and professional disposition-related skills. Employability skills development is most strongly supported through pedagogical approaches that emphasise authentic engagement with professional contexts, including work-integrated learning, project- and challenge-based learning, and technology-mediated collaboration. Reported outcomes extend beyond immediate employment metrics to include enhanced confidence, skills acquisition, employability awareness, curriculum relevance, and organisational learning. However, the effectiveness and sustainability of these initiatives are shaped by structural and institutional conditions, including policy frameworks, resourcing, partnership coordination, and equity of access. The review contributes an integrative synthesis that connects employability skills, pedagogical design, and university-industry collaboration, and outlines implications for policy, educational practice, and future research.