Background/purpose – Laboratory Technology has helped to enhance teaching, as well as scientific research and development worldwide. This review aims to reveal why there is “neglect” and a “disconnect” between laboratory technologists/technicians in academic and research institutions with their respective management and higher authorities regarding their roles and responsibilities, and puts forward suggestions to some of the challenges faced.

Materials/methods – The review was conducted by briefly adopting both Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework and the PRISMA item checklist with some modifications. Information was obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC), JSTOR, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) bibliographic databases, as well as via Google Scholar and the Google search engine.

Results – The review highlights that the unique interdisciplinary nature of laboratory technologists/technicians’ roles should be afforded greater attention according to their diverse working environments. The challenges currently faced could be addressed through the formation of national regulatory and representative bodies for efficient governance in this area, to enhance both quality and performance, to create and implement a governance framework and associated policies, to bolster capacity building and training, consolidate self-administration and enhanced awareness of the role, quality assurance, accreditation, and regulations as well as to conduct high quality research related to laboratory operations.

Conclusion – This review suggests that a salient multifaceted approach could help foster a harmonic nexus among university laboratory technologists/technicians in scientific research and development. Finally, the paper reveals that academic and research institutions both in Africa and worldwide could meet today’s essential needs and champion sustainable development if laboratory staff were afforded appropriate and commensurable recognition.

Background/purpose – Recent evidence concedes that the modern workplace has recently undergone a tremendous change. Emerging workplace exigencies shifted the pendulum towards soft skills, a new [old] set of skills significantly required (from employees) by employers. In response, the “Bachelor System” has been adopted by the Moroccan Ministry of Education and Training as a panacea to accoutre university students with these on-demand skills.

Materials/methods – This systematic review was geared towards retrieving, synthesizing, and appraising the literature on soft skills development and workplace readiness attributes desired by stakeholders in the Moroccan context. The study shed light on (20) journal articles (as the main unit of interest) published over a decade, ranging from January 2011 to February 2021 on soft skills in both higher education and the business sector.

Results – Key results (generated via NVivo) accentuated the omnipresence of a soft skills gap (a mismatch) between academia and business, the extreme importance of soft skills in today’s local economy, and the urgent need to embed a specific set of soft skills in higher education curricula in order to prepare graduates for future jobs.

Conclusion – Based on the systematic review and analysis of 20 articles, there is solid evidence that building a stronger Morocco requires building a more soft-skilled workforce.

Background/purpose – There is consistent evidence that children who experience disabilities benefit from being included in pre-primary programs and other levels of education. This study focused on assessing the practices and barriers of pre-primary education for children who experience disabilities in two districts in Lindi Region, Tanzania.

Background/purpose – This study examines the validity of the Factors Influencing Teaching (FIT) Choice Scale, developed by Watt and Richardson (2007), in the Indian context, by understanding the influential factors that motivate individuals to choose teaching as a profession.