Earlier this month, Republicans and Democrats came together to extend the 3.4 percent interest rate for  students enrolling in the 2012-2013 school year who opt for a federally funded Stafford loan. The interest rate was scheduled to return to the original 6.8 percent, but the lower rate is scheduled to remain for at least a

The STEM gender gap – the relatively low number of women pursuing science, technology, engineering and maths degrees and careers – has most recently come to the fore with the EU’s short but controversial film, ‘Science: It’s a Girl Thing!’ The video, which was rapidly retracted by the EU, prompted widespread criticism – not of

As the world’s attention turns to London for this year’s Olympic Games, UK universities and students are playing a major role in Olympics preparations – from hosting training camps for Olympics teams, to training as professional security staff. With the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics due to commence on 27 July and 29 August respectively, Olympics

Two days ago, the University and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) revealed the details of the drop in university application in the United Kingdom (UK) for 2012 tuition fees months after the government announced that universities would be able to charge up to £9,000 for tuition fees. Students had from September 2011 until 30th June 2012

Affirmative action is designed to help give disadvantaged students equal opportunities, but not everyone agrees with current policies. In the United States, affirmative action has been a part of many universities’ enrolment for several decades. The term refers to policies which favour typically disadvantaged groups, with African Americans the most common intended beneficiaries. The end

The arts and humanities rankings cover English language and literature, geography, history, linguistics and philosophy. One of the most interesting things that the QS University Rankings by Subject 2012: Arts and Humanities  reveal is a concentration of strength in certain regions of the world in certain disciplines.

This year’s QS World University Rankings by Subject cover a record 29 disciplines, and the headline figure tells a familiar story. MIT and Harvard underline their place at the forefront of global academia in a range of fields, topping the tables in 11 disciplines apiece, with fellow US institution Stanford University taking 3 top spots.

The release of the QS World University by Subject revealed some interesting trends. The big picture for natural sciences is much the same as in most subject areas: overall US domination, interspersed with fairly stable performance from universities in other well-established higher education destinations, and – in general – the most exciting upwards movement coming