News that Ucas is removing the requirement for applicants to declare if they have relevant unspent convictions when applying to university is a significant step forward. It recognises how, for the past two decades, access to higher education in the UK for people with a criminal record has been perceived as very difficult and has deterred many […] … learn more→

Russia is a top destination for international students and the most popular place for students from former Soviet countries to study. The country currently hosts more than 243,752 international students and considers international recruitment to be an important geopolitical goal. More recently, Russia has resurrected and intensified the Soviet tradition of politicising student mobility. The government has requested that Russian students […] … learn more→

South Africa’s minister of Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has released a report from a ministerial task team that recommends a major overhaul of the history curriculum at schools. Most of the debate around the report has focused on its main recommendation – to make history compulsory in the final three years of high school from 2023. […] … learn more→

A little stress around exam time can be a good thing, as it motivates you to put in the work. But sometimes stress levels can get out of hand, particularly at the end of an academic year. When you become stressed, the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system gets switched on. Initially this is a […] … learn more→

When the number of international students at U.S. colleges and universities declines, commentators often focus on the economic impactthe decline will have on individual universities and communities. As experts who specialize in global affairs and international education, we see a more serious threat: A diminished ability for the United States to shape and influence future leaders of the world. Studies […] … learn more→

Gender equity in academic science may seem like a pipe dream, with the percentage of scientific leadership positions held by women in institutions a mere 5-20% However, new data from science societies – the professional associations that bring researchers of a particular speciality together – tell a different story. Published today, research from my colleagues and I shows […] … learn more→

Multiple studies have shown children who learn a second language achieve more academically and have far better linguistics than students who only know one language. Regardless of what age you are, learning a new language is a great idea. If you are looking for a Russian or Spanish school to teach you a new language, […] … learn more→

In order to encourage more of the nation’s young people to pursue careers in science, it pays to help them dress the part. That is the key finding of a study we conducted recently to determine what kind of effect a simple article of clothing – in this case white lab coats – have on […] … learn more→

Joe Knott, one of the Republicans who dominate the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, published an op-ed on May 25 that imagines an alarming future for higher education under the headline “We need more conservative professors. Here’s how we can do that at UNC.” Knott generously declares his support for academic freedom: “If scholars are […] … learn more→

Visibility in the mass media matters for scientists. It gets funders’ attention. It attracts top students. It can be a pathway to policy influence. Media coverage may even boost the number of times a piece of research is cited in scientific literature. There are imbalances all over the world, and white men tend to get the lion’s share of […] … learn more→