This study examined the level of understanding of sustainable development principles among students at the University of Wasit (Iraq), investigating statistically significant differences between scientific and humanistic specialization students, as well as by gender. A descriptive-comparative methodology was adopted. The sample comprised 200 male and female students distributed equally across four colleges: the Colleges of Science and Engineering (scientific track) and the Colleges of Arts and Education (humanistic track), with 50 students per college. The Sustainable Development Understanding Scale developed by Michalos et al. [1] and re-validated by Leal Filho et al. [2] was applied across four dimensions: general knowledge, environmental, economic, and social. Results revealed a moderate overall understanding level (M = 3.09 out of 5), with science students significantly outperforming humanities students in the environmental dimension (M = 3.71 vs. M = 2.86, t = 7.94, p < .001), while humanities students showed deeper understanding in the economic and social dimensions. A behavioural gap was equally evident in both groups, suggesting that disciplinary knowledge alone does not bridge the knowledge–behaviour divide. The study recommends integrating sustainable development courses as compulsory requirements across all University of Wasit specializations, alongside a cross-disciplinary institutional strategy.

The effect of astute thinking on social adaptation of students of the College of Education, University of Misan was investigated in this study. The research population consisted of 2406 students (1913 female and 493 male) for Academic year 2025-2026. The design used was descriptive correlational design. The data was collected from two instruments that were previously validated; the Arabic version of the Sternberg-Wagner Thinking Styles Inventory (AST) was used for measuring astute thinking, and the Bell Adjustment Inventory (Arabic version) was used for measuring social adaptation using 245 students selected from a stratified random sampling. Validity and reliability of both scales were checked in the context of Iraq. Results showed a high value of both variables and there was a positive correlation between the variables which was statistically significant. There was no gender or academic specialization differences.

Symbols of life and death are important motifs in Lol Soyinka's plays and are portrayed as more than opposites, as Soyinka explores the theme of life as a spiritual force and death as an end and a change, a sacrifice, a transition, and a source of political power. Death can be a communal responsibility, as in Death and the King's Horseman, in which ritual suicide is a means of ensuring cosmic and social order, or death can be a political tool as in The Man Died in which the power of death to control is resisted by the will to live. In Lol Soyinka's plays, the symbols of life and death are crucial elements of both thematic exploration and literary expression. Life, on the other hand, is depicted as a force of regeneration and spiritual metamorphosis, and Soyinka, like many African thinkers, views death as a means to renew the cycle of life, allowing for continued growth and the perpetuation of the cycle. For Soyinka, life itself is a journey of individual and communal spiritual rebirth and reintegration into a larger cosmic order, and his plays, while incorporating African cosmology, also draw on Western existential philosophy to challenge the very nature of existence, the nature of death, and the spiritual value of life itself. His plays syndicate African spiritual beliefs about the hereafter with the existential search for sense in a world of sorrow and ultimately challenge the spectators to rethink the relationship between life and demise, signifying that these forces are not opposite but part of a superior cycle of regeneration.