Popular college courses, yes, but how long’s a piece of string?
So what are the most popular college courses in the world? Crazy question. May as well ask how long’s a piece of string. And the answer? Depends who’s holding the said string, and more to the point, who’s pulling it. In academia’s rarefied atmosphere, that usually means the top universities in the world – Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, for example, and MIT, Harvard, Berkeley and Stanford in the US.
There are others, of course, big players with enormous reputations and budgets. So they tend to call the shots, and pull the strings, offering the range and depth of courses which attract the brightest minds from across the planet and which smaller universities struggle to match.
In the UK, 2013 university applications are up. But rising student numbers are not confined to UK nationals. According to the UK’s Guardian newspaper, applications from EU countries have increased by 4.9% and the number of applicants from outside the EU has risen by 9.6%. At the same point last year, applications were down from the UK and European countries. Of the non-European countries, Malaysia recorded the biggest rise in applicants at 22% followed by Australasia with a 12% increase.
And the most popular courses? The big winner seems to be computer sciences, up more than 12% compared to the same time last year. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone given how much computers and the Internet tend to dominate all our lives. At the other end of the academic spectrum, social sciences, arts and languages are feeling the popularity pinch.
It’s a slightly different emphasis across the Middle East, for example, where a degree is a highly-cherished attainment. In recent years, Persian Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates have deliberately diversified their economies away from over-reliance on oil, an ever-diminishing resource, choosing instead to expend greater energy in developing construction, media, finance, tourism and other industry sectors. Thus it’s no surprise to find universities in the UAE reflecting the diversification process, or that a business degree remains the top choice for Emirati students.
If you’ve ever thought about studying for a degree overseas, perhaps even in the UAE itself, there are some fairly obvious benefits. Of course, sun, sea and sand springing immediately to mind. But there are other more important benefits, too, like the tax-free earnings potential once you’ve graduated. That alone is well worth considering as you contemplate the mind-expanding experience of living in a completely different culture.
There are also a diverse range and number of universities to choose from. One of the most popular is the American University of Sharjah (AUS) which offers students an international American university experience, its curriculum mirroring the American pattern of semesters and courses. Based in the city of Sharjah, the university, although a fairly new kid on the block, has rapidly built up a reputation for both academic excellence and multiculturalism. According to the website topuniversities.com, AUS has more than 5,000 students from 82 different nations and a highly qualified, full-time faculty of more than 350 professionals.
The website adds, “Typical of the American system of higher education, AUS also places great stress on the development of the non-academic aspect of a student’s university life. Students are encouraged to participate in all manner of extra-curricular activities,form clubs and societies, stage events, work for the university student newspaper and literary magazine, and join the various sports and athletic teams on campus.”
Sounds like the place to be. For more on AUS and other universities, click here.
