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Although there is great potential for diversity, library and information science (LIS) is a relatively homogenous profession. Increasing the presence of librarians of color may help to improve diversity within LIS. However, recruiting ethnic minorities into LIS has proven to be difficult despite various initiative including scholarships, fellowships, and locally focused programs. The central questions explored in this research can be divided into two parts: (1) Why do ethnic minorities choose librarianship as a profession? (2) What would motivate members of minority groups to join a profession in which they cannot see themselves?

The research was conducted through semi-structured, qualitative interviews of 32 ethnic minority students from one of four ethnic minority groups (African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American) currently enrolled in an LIS graduate program. Eleven themes emerged from the data: libraries, librarians, library work experience, LIS graduate program, career plans and goals, education and family, support, mentors, ethnicity and community, acculturation, and views of diversity.

The findings seem to support many assumptions regarding expectations and career goals. The findings related to libraries, librarians, mentors, and support illustrate that many recruitment initiatives are starting in the right place. However, the most noteworthy findings were those that centered on identity, acculturation, and diversity because they dealt with issues that are not often considered or discussed by many in the profession outside of ethnic minority organizations.

Using Kunming, the capital of China's southwest Yunnan Province, as an example, this mixed-methods research examines three interacting dimensions of social change in contemporary China: migration, ethnicity, and education. In particular, it sheds light on the issue of educational achievement of migrant children, especially children of ethnic minority background. The quantitative portion of the study is based on data gathered from over 700 sample students, teachers, and principals who participated in the “2008 Kunming Migrant Children's Survey.” A two-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) is employed to identify student- and school-level factors and to estimate the impacts of these factors on migrant children's academic achievement. The qualitative portion of the study is based primarily on the data collected through in-depth individual interviews and focus-group discussions with 97 migrant students, teachers, and school principals from 10 government and nongovernment migrant children's schools in Kunming between 2008 and 2009. The qualitative and quantitative results highlight four interrelated groups of educational barriers experienced by migrant students in pursuing compulsory education: institutional, socioeconomic, cultural, and psychological barriers. In particular, cultural and psychological barriers, including difficulty in school adaptation, low self-esteem, lack of family support, and discrimination against ethnic minorities due to their different religious beliefs and ethnic traditions, are found to have exerted particularly significant negative influences on academic achievements of ethnic minority students.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the main barriers to employability skills development of ethnic minority students in the context of higher education (HE) in Greece and recommends strategies to help higher education institutions (HEIs) overcome those barriers.

The study draws on a series of in-depth interviews conducted with 20 ethnic minority students and ten “traditional” students studying at three institutions of HE in Greece.

The study shows that there are many barriers facing ethnic minority students in HE including: poor self-esteem; lack of good advice about HE courses; isolation once in HE; discrimination by staff in HE; and unresponsive curriculum to ethnic diversity in HE. In this context, it is argued that there is an immediate need for decision makers in HEIs to develop policies that target ethnic minority students in order to help them secure employment. It is suggested that HEIs should: provide opportunities for students to discuss concerns with teachers and counsellors; address issues of motivation, self-perception and self-efficacy; encourage teaching staff to adopt various teaching methods to accommodate different learning styles; decrease competitive, norm-referenced environments; use multicultural education and counselling techniques and strategies; and provide work placement opportunities.

The paper suggests ways that can help HEIs embrace diversity and promote graduate employability among ethnic minority students in the context of widening participation agenda.

The study fills a significant knowledge gap in the existing literature in relation to the measures that HEIs can take to enhance graduate employability among ethnic minority students particularly in less developed countries like Greece.

Developing a sense of belonging among immigrant youth in multicultural contexts has attracted significant attention from scholars during the last few decades. Studies have already underscored how various educational factors hinder or facilitate students’ sense of belonging to the school or the larger society. Although most students in Hong Kong schools are ethnic Chinese, a significant number of non-Chinese children make students diversity an essential aspect of schooling. The study investigated how schools can develop a sense of belonging among ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong.

As the education system in Hong Kong lacks a multicultural education policy, how can schools help develop a sense of belonging to the school and the larger society among young ethnic minority people? To answer this question, this paper consolidates the two sets of data originally gathered for two research projects. The data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with nine secondary school teachers (Chinese and non-Chinese) and 15 students (non-Chinese) and analysed thematically.

The thematic analysis of the qualitative data identified several challenges and opportunities for developing ethnic minority students’ sense of belonging in Hong Kong.

Researchers in comparative education can further explore how multicultural education and inclusive education approach together can help ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all and cater to students' diverse learning needs across the education systems.

Given that the aims of multicultural education and inclusive education resonate with each other, schools can focus on the Whole School Approach to developing a sense of belonging among ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong. However, policymakers and practitioners may need to adopt a multifaceted perspective on inclusive education that strives to ensure equitable quality education for all.

The study contributes to the existing body of scholarship on multicultural education and inclusive education. The study findings underscore the importance of an interdisciplinary research framework in education and advocate an integrative approach to supporting students with diverse learning needs in multicultural contexts.

Cham Muslims are both an ethnic and religious minority group. Although reports indicate a bleak situation regarding school attainment and success, little research has been conducted exclusively on the experiences of Cham Muslims in Vietnam’s educational system. This study aims to investigate the challenges and supports that Cham Muslims may encounter during their years in public education. Additionally, this study explores how Islamic elements are received in various educational settings.

Using qualitative methods and purposive sampling, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Cham Muslim students enrolled in two Vietnamese universities. The data were analyzed to address the research questions and were interpreted through the lens of Bourdieu’s concepts of field and capital, as well as Appadurai's (2004) notion of “capacity to aspire.”

The findings of this study suggest that Cham Muslim students may encounter unique challenges compared to other ethnic groups residing in mountainous regions. Various forms of support, both from the state and individuals, have been identified as facilitators of educational engagement. However, this study also highlights the challenges associated with Islamic practices in both pre-collegiate and university environments.

Given the exploratory nature of this study, the findings should be interpreted cautiously to avoid overgeneralization. While additional sources were consulted for substantiation, the small sample size limits the generalizability of the results. However, this study can serve as a foundation for future research investigating the experiences of Cham Muslims in Vietnamese education institutions. Larger-scale studies conducted in multiple locations would contribute to the literature on ethnic and religious minorities, which often requires in-depth analysis using various theoretical approaches.

This study is among the pioneering efforts to investigate Cham Muslims’ educational experiences in Vietnam, which has the potential to contribute to both the ethnic and religious minority studies.

At first glance, it might seem from the statistics that 18- to 20-year-old members of minority ethnic groups are doing relatively well in terms of higher education. They are in fact better represented in UK colleges and universities than young whites. However, this is far from the whole story. Certain black groups, such as African–Caribbean males and Bangladeshi females, are significantly underrepresented in higher education in general and certain programmes in particular. For example, there has been difficulty recruiting Black and ethnic minority students into teacher training programmes (DfEE, 1998). The experience of participating in higher education is also often different for black and white students. Black and minority ethnic students are more likely to be concentrated in the new universities. In the mid-1990s, only 0.5 percent of the students at the older established universities came from a Black or minority ethnic background, compared with 14.4 percent in the new universities (DfEE, 1998). This inequality helps to perpetuate a system of white privilege, one that is entrenched in other areas of public life in the UK. Black and minority ethnic students are also more likely to study part-time than white students, are more likely to drop out of courses, and more frequently opt for lower-level qualifications (i.e., a diploma rather than a degree).

A strong relationship exists in many cultures between ethnic identity and educational success. This study was conducted at a teacher training university in Southwest China in 1997. It examines how ethnic minority students, through a series of micro-level interactions, construct “scholar selves” within their families, villages, and schools. The study also looks at how macro-level structural supports, built into the Chinese education system, help minority students overcome obstacles to academic success. These supports include special schools and classes for ethnic students, training teachers for nationality areas, financial support for minority education and additional points awarded on national examinations. The chapter suggests what scholars and practitioners might learn from an educational system that demonstrates the characteristics of flexibility, inclusiveness and cohesiveness.

Over the past several decades, scholars and universities have made efforts to increase the retention of students in higher education, but graduation rates remain low. Whereas two-thirds of high school graduates attend college, fewer than half graduate. The likelihood of graduation decreases even more for Black, Latino, American Indian, and low-income students, who have a 12–15% lower chance of earning their degree. The importance of psychosocial adjustment to student persistence has received relatively less attention than academic and social integration. Racial/ethnic minority students face unique challenges to psychosocial adjustment in college, including prejudice and discrimination, unwelcoming campus environments, underrepresentation, and a lack of culturally appropriate counseling resources. The current chapter will discuss the impact of these challenges on the persistence, academic success, and health of racial/ethnic minority students, and strategies that universities can employ to create inclusive policies, resources and campus environments that empower students of color and maximize their success.

The purpose of this paper is to explore affirmative action policy in higher education (HE) admissions in post-Soviet Georgia.

The study analyzed the effectiveness of the quota system from the perspective of the “minority rights protection” and “diversity” paradigms. The study used content analysis, focus group discussions, and interviews research methods.

Research revealed several important patterns: the problems of minority education are associated with academic achievements as well as social integration; although the importance of diversity is evident in the Government of Georgia, the benefits of diversity are not realized fully through affirmative action policies in institutions of HE. The authors have argued that the shift from the “minority rights protection” to the “diversity” paradigm is necessary to solve minority students’ existing problems and to benefit from the positive effects of diversity on academic and democratic outcomes for all students.

The findings of this study have practical importance. They can be used for the implementation of the affirmative action policy in HE admissions system of Georgia.

The paper is based on original research conducted in Georgia and the study contributes to the development of the field of multicultural and minority education in Georgia.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact that entrepreneurship education can have on succession in ethnic minority family firms that operate in the highly competitive UK economy.

The paper employs a complex conceptual model of ethnic minority graduates' economic activities and outlines the possible influence that entrepreneurship education can have on succession in their family firms. An illustrative case study is presented of an ethnic minority graduate who returned to work in the family firm.

It emerges that entrepreneurship education provision in UK HEIs is insufficiently customised to, and focused on, the specific entrepreneurial needs of graduates. Educators should take into account the complex socio‐economic and cultural differences between native and ethnic minority learning environments. Effective entrepreneurship education emerges as crucial to the survival and growth of ethnic minority family businesses in the UK and could contribute positively to ownership transfer in this type of firm.

The proposed theoretical model has not been empirically tested and it is only indicative of the impact that entrepreneurship education could have on succession in small ethnic minority family businesses in the UK.

Although prior research has explored various aspects of ownership succession, this article focuses specifically on the impact that entrepreneurship education can have on succession in small ethnic minority family firms.