A common feature of many citizen science projects is the collection of data by unpaid contributors with the expectation that the data will be used in research. Here we report a teaching strategy that combined citizen science with inquiry-based learning to offer first year university students an authentic research experience. A six-year partnership with the Australian phenology citizen science program ClimateWatch has enabled biology students from the University of Western Australia to contribute phenological data on plants and animals, and to conduct the first research on unvalidated species datasets contributed by public and university participants. Students wrote scientific articles on their findings, peer-reviewed each other’s work and the best articles were published online in a student journal. Surveys of more than 1500 students showed that their environmental engagement increased significantly after participating in data collection and data analysis. However, only 31% of students agreed with the statement that “data collected by citizen scientists are reliable” at the end of the project, whereas the rate of agreement was initially 79%. This change in perception was likely due to students discovering erroneous records when they mapped data points and analysed submitted photographs. A positive consequence was that students subsequently reported being more careful to avoid errors in their own data collection, and making greater efforts to contribute records that were useful for future scientific research. Evaluation of our project has shown that by embedding a research process within citizen science participation, university students are given cause to improve their contributions to environmental datasets. If true for citizen scientists in general, enabling participants as well as scientists to analyse data could enhance data quality, and so address a key constraint of broad-scale citizen science programs.

In the academic year 2022/2023, over 103,000 students were enrolled at La Sapienza University of Rome, the largest Italian university. Pegaso online University followed with 95,000 enrollments. Around 79,000 students attended classes in Bologna, the oldest university in the world and the best in the country. Finally, the University of Turin collected 72,000 students. In total, 1.9 million undergraduates were enrolled at Italian universities. Ancient, public, and digital higher education Among the 20 largest Italian universities, 16 of them are public institutes. The four private universities are the Catholic University of Milan and three online universities. Among them, Pegaso University was founded in 2006 and counts 95,000 students. Many of the world's oldest higher-learning institutions are located in Italy. The University of Bologna is the oldest university, continuously operating since 1088. In 1222, scholars from Bologna founded the University of Padua. Two years later, in 1224, the University of Naples Federico II was established, the oldest public and secular institution globally. In the 14th century were constituted the universities of Perugia, Siena, Pisa, and Pavia. Popular courses of study Back in the Middle Ages, the University of Bologna offered mainly subjects of liberal arts, law, and theology. However, these seem to rank lower among the most common degrees nowadays. Almost 264,000 students in Italy enrolled in economics programs, the most popular field of study. Moreover, medicine was the second most chosen degree program.

The average salary of a Kellogg/ Hong Kong UST Business School EMBA graduate three years after graduating was over 652,000 U.S. dollars in 2023. Students graduating from Ceibs could expect the second highest salary, reaching 530,000 U.S. dollars the same year.

EMBA

The Executive MBA (EMBA) program is a graduate level business degree program and primarily designed for executives, managers, and similar business leaders. These programs are usually targeted towards working professionals, often in the middle stages of their career, and are often flexible to allow for part-time attendance while the student still works. An EMBA program allows a student to increase career options and update or add to their existing skill set.

The best universities worldwide

In the United States, Princeton University was considered one of the best colleges, with graduates earning a median of 177,000 U.S. dollars after 10 years. According to the Times Higher Education ranking of the best universities worldwide, the University of Oxford in the UK was considered the best.