Katalina Karikó won the award for helping pioneer mRNA technology, which was used to develop the COVID-19 vaccine. Before that, she fled authoritarian Hungary, failed to earn tenure and toiled as an underpaid research assistant for years, with few taking her ideas seriously. Yet she never gave up on her research. In this op-ed for…

Students can expect to pay $40,000 to $80,000 per academic year to attend a four-year American college or university, but there are ways to drastically reduce costs if you are an international student set on studying in the U.S. VOA’s Laurel Bowman has more. Camera: Adam Greenbaum, Saqib Ul Islam …

Sonoma State University, a public institution in California, is offering guaranteed admission to any high school student who meets the minimum academic standards. In doing so, it joins university systems like the State University of New York, which sent 125,000 automatic acceptance letters last year. The scheme could expand access to education by reaching students…

Part of competitive collegiate admissions is crafting a compelling narrative about yourself, and part of sales is telling a story about your product and why it matters. Businesses and graduate schools are turning to professional storytellers to help. Marlena Corcoran has some of their insights in Forbes. (October 2023) …

The Israel-Hamas war has animated students on college campuses across the United States. As young people voice their opinions, there are questions of safety, free speech rights and even future job prospects. VOA’s Tina Trinh reports from New York …

Andrew Raupp, a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) educator, contends that STEM degrees prioritize cramming facts over the thoughtful, questioning Socratic method once common in the humanities. Read the op-ed in Newsweek. (October 2023)  …

The group that successfully won a landmark college affirmative action lawsuit earlier this year is suing to end raced-based admissions at the United States Military Acadamy at West Point.   According to a report from CNN, the conservative group Students for Fair Admissions is asking that the academy be prohibited from considering or knowing an applicant’s…

A TVC News Nigeria report says that about 14,000 Nigerian students are currently studying in the United States, and more would like to join them. But they need information about schools and the proper processes to follow. (September 2023)   …

Janhavi Munde, a student from India, writes about her experiences going through international student orientation at Wesleyan University in the U.S. state of Connecticut. “We were all away from home, we were all converting kilometers to miles on a daily basis, and we would all make jokes about American food and deportation as our go-to,”…

The Teen Mag takes a look at the application process at U.S. colleges and universities, specifically the Common App. The Common App lets students apply to many universities at once via a common application. Writer Charu Yadav examines the process from an international student’s point of view. Read the article here.  …

With the highest number of international students since the start of the pandemic, one U.S. university is conducting a program to help foreign students feel more at home. Kent State University in Ohio hosts Conversation Partners, which pairs international students with students from the U.S. Yui Kaichi, writing for Kent Wired, explains how the program…

Enrollment declines and other financial pressures could lead more U.S. colleges to close or merge with other institutions, according to Fitch Ratings.  The company told Bloomberg News that half of its below-investment-grade ratings on higher education entities carry a negative outlook, Yahoo! Finance reports. (September 2023).      …

Within the past year, young journalists have produced investigations that led to the resignation of Stanford University’s president, the firing of Northwestern University’s football coach, and a school shooting graphic so striking that it led a veteran newsman to say, “I’ve never seen a better front page.” All while making sure to get their homework…

Some students at a few U.S. universities blamed Israel this week for the Hamas militants’ attack on the Jewish state, drawing a sharp rebuke from academic leaders at the schools as well as from prominent alumni and potential employers. The debate touched off at Harvard University, the alma mater of eight former U.S. presidents and…

For international students who have been accepted to a U.S. college or university, the journey has just started. One part of that is applying for an international student visa, and that can mean months of waiting.   The World reports that lengthy wait times can cause problems for students, but also for a nation trying to…

High school students’ scores on the ACT college admissions test have dropped to their lowest in more than three decades, showing a lack of student preparedness for college-level coursework, according to the nonprofit organization that administers the test. Scores have been falling for six consecutive years, but the trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students…

Cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings about issues like plagiarism and copying the work of others, but the penalties can be severe: A mistake can lead to a failed assignment, a failed class or expulsion.  U.S. News & World Report explains what international students need to understand about academic integrity.  (August 2023)  …

Leadership skills can help international undergraduate students land a scholarship in the United States.   According to U.S. News and World Report, a track record of teamwork and good writing skills will also help.  …

A sophomore business student from India says he’s living his dream as a student at Fordham University in New York. At Fordham, Om Bhosale says, he’s been able to combine two interests: entrepreneurship as part of his business administration major and global business as a minor. Read an interview with him here.  …

With easily accessible artificial intelligence programs available to write essays, and learning loss from pandemic restrictions hard to measure, some U.S. colleges are trying a new method to get to know applicants.   They are inviting potential students to campus.   Times Higher Education explains how personal interviews are being used to evaluate candidates. …

One of the first women’s colleges in the United States is the target of a federal lawsuit, with five current or former tenured faculty members saying the school pays female professors less than their male counterparts.  The New York Times reports Vassar College, in Poughkeepsie, New York, also faces allegations of delayed promotions for female professors…

U.S. policymakers are worried about losing potential American advances in science and technology to China, and this could lead to limits on academic exchanges. Fewer research papers are being jointly authored by scientists from the two countries, and there are signs that the United States is becoming a less desirable study destination for Chinese students. But…

The proportion of international students to the total student population in the United States has grown over the last 60 years, with 5.5% of students now coming from abroad.   Where do most of them come from? Check out these data visualizations from Visual Capitalist to find out. (September 2023). …

In the U.S., where an undergraduate degree typically takes four years, a national pilot program is graduating students a year early. By taking classes in the summer, students save time and money by doing so, and students who are adrift can benefit from the extra academic push. Jon Marcus has more for The Hechinger Report.…

That’s according to Inside Higher Ed’s annual survey, which finds that most officials think that the end of affirmative action will reduce racial diversity on campus. Read the rest of the findings in this report from Liam Knox. (September 2023) …

West Virginia University, the flagship public institution in one of America’s poorest states, has announced a plan to get rid of all foreign languages and creative writing, and fire about 7% of its academic staff. The move is unprecedented among large American schools, and faculty and students are not happy. Nick Anderson of The Washington…

Many of the students say they use ChatGPT to organize their notes and make outlines, not to cheat. But other students have used the AI chatbot to do just that. Confusingly, some students who don’t use ChatGPT are being flagged for plagiarism by AI-detection services, often because their work is of a suspiciously high standard.…

Colleges often require letters of recommendation, especially from a teacher who knows your academic work well. Ilana Kowarski and Cole Claybourn review what makes a good letter stand out in U.S. News & World Report. (August 2023) ]  …