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Some countries have managed to increase both the quality and quantity of their research

When it comes to big countries, more individualistic nations are more altruistic 

This graph shows that Japan’s top-ranked universities now rely on their hospitals for about 40 per cent of their income as they struggle with deep cuts in government spending.

This map shows that across Africa, India, Central America and parts of the Middle East, people are more likely to believe that one of the “bad effects” of science is that it “breaks down ideas of right and wrong”

This graph shows the dramatic rise of open access mega-journals such as Plos One, which offer to publish papers based on their scientific soundness rather than the significance or novelty of the results, and which accept research across a broad range of disciplines

As the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rises comes into force this month, these are the universities that have, between 2011 and 2015, produced the environmental science research with the greatest impact

America is head and shoulders above other nations in attracting and retaining prizewinning scientists

This graph compares how UK, US and Japanese universities perform on measures of the economic impact of their research

This graph shows the dominance of Russell Group universities in attracting quality-related research funding from Hefce, which is based on the results of the REF

These graphs show that as academics in the US have become more liberal since 1990, trust in science among conservative members of the public has declined (while liberals’ has held steady)

Academics split over importance of research impact

Data reveal that countries such as China and Saudi Arabia produce only a tiny fraction of the history and political science papers of democracies

In 2012, the open access biomedical journal eLife was launched to challenge the dominance of titles such as Nature, Science and Cell

What insults have people used to disparage intellectuals over the past century?

These maps show which universities do research that goes on to have an impact on London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Birmingham

These data show how scholars used their time at different types of university in the period 2012 to 2015

Scientists are increasingly working in collaboration with overseas academics, according to OECD figures

This graphic shows to what extent tertiary education increases people’s sense that they have a say in politics

This graph shows an explosion in the number of so-called predatory publishers and journals in the past five years

This graphic shows the extra earnings of workers aged 25-64 holding a bachelor’s, or master’s or doctoral degree, in 10 countries

The proportion of male and female students varies widely across different subjects in UK universities

Despite a record number of full-time undergraduates entering universities this year, the overall demand for higher education has been more challenging in recent times thanks to the decline of part-time study, a report highlights

The UK is the second most popular destination for internationally mobile students, and its share is on the rise

Saudi Arabia is the top country of origin for international postgraduate students on medicine and dentistry courses in the UK

China remains the leading source of London’s international student population, with 13,460 students from the country residing in the UK’s capital

Government statistics reveal that white school-leavers are less likely, proportionally, to enter higher education than those from other ethnic groups

Securing a job after graduation, improving earning potential and enjoying personal interaction with a course leader have been cited as the main perceived benefits of UK higher education by future international students

This graphic shows the cost of journal subscriptions to seven of the most popular publishers for 24 UK universities in 2014

Post-crisis, UK academics’ pay stays flat

Graduates of Russell Group institutions were the least likely to be unemployed three and a half years after leaving university, with just 1.7 per cent falling into this category, figures show

Minority scholars less likely to be submitted to research excellence framework

More than 44,500 people registered on an access to higher education diploma course in England and Wales in 2013-14, new data show

Participation up among students who had free school meals

Pharmaceutical firms were mentioned most often in universities’ impact case study submissions to the research excellence framework, according to a report

Research councils spend just £11 per person on R&D in Northern Ireland, almost seven times less than the spend per person in London, new figures suggest

A graph shows acutely how the representation of black and minority ethnic scholars drops away with the increasing seniority of academic posts

The graduate earnings premium has fallen over the past nine years, new data suggest

Improving partnerships with overseas universities is seen as the biggest challenge facing internationalisation staff in European universities, according to research

The number of people employed by social enterprises spun off from universities rose by almost 150 per cent between 2012-13 and 2013-14, figures reveal

The cost of academic staff in medicine, dentistry and health departments is more than double that of some other disciplines

Ten research-intensive universities in the South of England will get more than £2,000 each year in quality-related research funding for every student at the institution, an analysis has shown

Less than a quarter of people in the North East of England agree that it is essential to have a degree in the current job market

Publishers Elsevier and Wiley have each received about £2 million in article processing charges from 55 institutions as a result of RCUK's open access policy

About £7.6 billion worth of research and development was carried out in higher education in 2013

More than half of subjects at English universities cost more than the average tuition fee to teach, according to data presented in a report

Students who spend part of their degree overseas achieve higher final grades than those who choose to stay put, according to a report

The proportion of part-time staff on teaching-only contracts is now more than 60 per cent after climbing almost 4 percentage points in a year, according to a report

People with a PhD in the social sciences earn the largest average salary seven to nine years after graduation, whereas those with a doctorate in the biological sciences go on to earn the least, according to research

Biological sciences and business are among subjects to have experienced a surge in popularity over the past seven years, according to data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

The employment rate among young people graduating in the UK is higher than that of the US, Australia and Japan, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

Part-time students are much less likely to secure an upper second-class degree than their full-time peers, data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency reveal

People of working age with a master’s or PhD earn on average £9,000 a year more than those with only a bachelor’s degree, according to data from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The number of people taking undergraduate-level vocational qualifications is largely in decline, according to a report by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills

About 13 per cent of academics who left their higher education institution between 2011-12 and 2012-13 joined the private sector

More than half of part‑time academic staff are on fixed-term contracts, compared with only a quarter of those who work full-time, a new report has revealed

The UK has a lower share of researchers in its labour force than the US and Japan, according to an EU Commission report

The proportion of top research papers published in elite journals has fallen over the past 18 years, according to research from Google

A group of medical charities spent more on health research last year than two government funding bodies, according to a report