By Jonathan Wolff. Hundreds of hours are spent on each appointment, says Jonathan Wolff. But does anyone know a better way? A friend who worked in a bank told me that academics are prized customers for credit card companies. Our tastes tend to be more expansive and expensive than we can finance with our income, but our salaries are highly reliable and we are not the sort of people to walk away from debts. More...

By Rebecca Ratcliffe. Statistics suggest that people with a master's are more likely to find work, but such figures should be treated with caution. It was a love of comedy that encouraged Alex Blower to study a postgraduate degree in drama. After taking a year out to work as activities vice president at his student union, he decided that a master's qualification would allow him to specialise in his area of interest. More...

By Kim Thomas. Experts from a recent online discussion offer their top tips on the qualities university leaders need to be effective. More...

By Harriet Swain. New research shows undergraduates from China studying at British universities get fewer firsts than those from other countries. For Yali Liu, the hardest thing about UK higher education is having to go to the pub. More...

• How we compiled the tables
• How to use the tables
• What do the tables tell us about the state of postgrad study?
• Our new hub for postgrad students

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Agriculture, forestry and food
American studies
Anatomy and physiology
Anthropology. More...

By Anonymous academic. The risks of taking maternity leave as an early career academic are never made clear. One postdoc shares her story. For a good few years I have known that having a child as an early career academic might be risky. More...

By Maddy Potts. Are you putting the final touches to a dissertation? Let's pass on some tips to those who'll be doing them next year. The sun is shining but many students won't see the daylight. Because it's that time of year again – dissertation time. More...

By Rehema Figueiredo. Policy at many students' unions has been hijacked by a vocal minority in what can look like action at the cost of democracy. Just before Christmas my students' union removed from sale the national newspaper with the second largest circulation in the country. More...